Thoughts on the Day

• I was wrong about Santorum when I predicted that he would drop out after FL, since he’s obviously in it now to the end.  Too bad after last nights primaries that he is losing because Dems would LOVE to face him in the general.  I was very uncomfortable with Santorum’s call for Dems to vote for him in the open primary in Michigan.  I don’t like it when either side does these kinds of things (see Limbaugh and 2008 race).  It’s unethical AND it subverts the system.  I thought it was VERY funny that Romney condemned Santorum for doing it but was called out by the MSM (for once they did their job!!!!!!) by noting that Romney had done the same thing back in 1992.
• MSM concern trolling is in full force re: Romney’s win in Arizona. What a lot of non-Arizonans don’t realize is how powerful the Mormon subculture is in the state. And since Romney is very Mormon and Santorum has been pretty honest in the past about the feelings of most Christians that Mormonism is a cult (which implied that he felt that way), then there was no way on God’s Green Earth the GOP in AZ would vote for Santorum.
• Last night, during a conversation with a Libertarian acquaintance about taxes, I began to think about why people pay taxes. Many people feel “compelled” to pay, right? It’s the law and if you don’t they will come after you and can put you in jail, garnish your wages, etc.  And people often don’t like to be forced to do something. I know that I am the kind of person that if someone tries to force me to do something I become resentful and I will often do the opposite of what they want (mature, I know).  Fortunately, I don’t feel compelled to pay my taxes.  I gladly pay them for the services I receive, for the services I may someday, heaven forbid, need, as a form of charity for the  suffering, and out of patriotic duty. Indeed, there is evidence that previous generations felt that paying taxes was patriotic. Maybe this was because we were involved in war after war that required Americans to sacrifice; whereas the recent wars we have been in have required very little sacrifice from the population at large (not a small sacrifice, of course, for soldiers and their families). But there does appear to be an attitudinal shift toward taxes. This attitudnal difference generally appears to match up against political orientation. It may be at the heart of why many people on the right become tax protesters. Ironically enough, and I don’t mean this observation to be at all derogatory….I find it strange that these personality types will so readily accept compulsion from other authority figures such as religious authorities (i.e., the Catholic Church), political and social leaders (e.g., Ron Paul), etc., while rejecting the compulsion of their country to do something so necessary.  IMHO, even if we had a country that only did what Ron Paul wants the federal government to do, we would still need to pay taxes to make that happen.   So tell me, I’m curious, why do YOU pay taxes?
  
• Speaking of taxes, guess how much AZ citizens will have to pay for the GOP primary we just had? $2.6 million And that brings the following image to mind:

• Former Sheriff’s captain, Joel Fox, was trying to get his job back–he was fired for quite a lot of alleged misconduct on behalf (allegedly) of Sheriff Arpaio. Unfortunately for Fox, testimony in the hearing had to be stopped because there appears to be an ongoing criminal Federal investigation into fundraising violations within the MCSO and Fox’s attorney didn’t want him to inadvertantly incriminate himself.  Muy interesante, no?
• Big surprise, another state representative, this time a Democrat from Tucson, had a domestic violence dispute and it’s causing a kerfluffle in the legislative community (not that it shouldn’t, mind you-but it does seem to happen a lot here in AZ, see the case of former state Senator Scott Bundgaard)
  
• At 10 am (AZ time) Richard Moormann is supposed to be executed by lethal injection at the state prison in Florence. His crime was pretty horrific but he is extremely mentally disabled–think of an 7 year old boy in the body of a grown man, with all that strength and those physical impulses, over which he would have little control. Typically AZ doesn’t execute anyone with an IQ less than 70, but it seems that everyone given in the Death Penalty in this state are conveniently determined, at least by the state, to be above that score of 70 (particularly at the point when they committed the crime).  The prosecutors’ argument was Moormann had a particularly good, lucid day, the day he committed murder so that his IQ was at least 71.  /sarcasm  His last appeals were denied. However the DOC (as I explained in a post yesterday) has been ignoring their own protocol, essentially violating the law and skirting constitutional violations to the point that the Judiciary is warning them.

Although a three-judge panel declined to delay Moormann’s execution, it issued a strong warning to Arizona officials who have continuously changed and violated the state’s execution policy, saying the state has forced the court “to engage in serious constitutional questions and complicated factual issues in the waning hours before executions.”

“This approach cannot continue,” the panel wrote. “We are mindful of the admonition requiring us to refrain from micromanaging each individual execution, but the admonition has a breaking point.”

Sources:

http://www.azcentral.com/community/pinal/articles/2012/02/29/20120229arizona-execution-robert-henry-moormann.html#ixzz1nmpnPxeJ

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/04/santorum-mormonism-cult-christians-2007_n_1183814.html

http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/2012/02/28/20120228joel-fox-hearing-new-information-brings-halt.html

http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/2012/02/28/20120228arizona-republicans-ethics-hearing-patterson-premature.html

http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/2012/01/03/20120103judge-asked-block-senators-ethics-hearing.html

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/28/democrats-in-michigan-explain-crossover-vote-campaign/

http://www.factcheck.org/2008/03/republicans-go-for-hillary-in-tx-ohio-primaries/

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/28/10529940-flashback-romney-voted-in-92-dem-primaries

Liberal values are American values

“You want to talk about values?” he (Obama) asked. “Hard work — that’s a value. Looking out for one another — that’s a value. The idea that we’re all in it together — that I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper — that is a value.”

He continued: “But they’re still talking about you as if you’re some greedy special interest that needs to be beaten. Since when are hardworking men and women special interests? Since when is the idea that we look out for each other a bad thing?”

From speech to UAW today.

The killer in me is the killer in you

“Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies.”
–Elie Wiesel

Two weeks before the scheduled execution of two Arizona inmates, the AZ Department of Corrections issued notice that they would be switching from a multi-drug concoction to a single drug for lethal injection executions. The reasoning behind the switch is that the 3 drug protocol has been brought into question because there is the possibility that if the knockout drug doesn’t work, the inmate would painfully suffocate to death.

Now this would seem like a good thing, right? That the AZDOC is trying to adjust to what they call “perceived concerns” ahead of time. Here’s what isn’t so obvious. The REAL reason they are making the switch is that they had been lobbied for quite some time without any change by DOC officials. Then during a recent rehearsal (yes, they practice executions, because it is something that can go very horrifyingly wrong) and they noticed that the second drug in the three drug process had expired! So they are going to a one drug protocol because they don’t have a choice.

Furthermore, what you may not find out if you read the wrong news sources (i.e., conservative news sources) is that the DOC is in violation of their own protocol, because they must provide to the inmate the decision in writing 7 days before the execution. They have scheduled an execution for Robert Moormann (won’t even go into his story, that’s an entire post on its own) next Wednesday, so they’ve given him only 6 days notice. Now I know many readers will say, ‘who cares?….He’s a murderer and I don’t care if he suffers. I don’t care if they give him notice or not.’

Well, you should care. The power to take a life given to the State is the most important power that citizens give away to their government because it is final and it can be the most egregiously abused by the State. If we are going to continue to allow the State to execute on behalf of the people, then the State MUST act in accordance with the law and its own very simple rules. Otherwise the Rule of Law is meaningless. That’s the theoretical/sociopolitical reason why you should care.

Here are some more pragmatic reasons you should care. According to one source (see links below) since 1973 about 141 people were released from Death Row from all over the nation because they were considered innocent. Of those 17 were exonerated by DNA, 46 were outright acquitted, 86 had the Charges Dismissed and about 7 were Pardoned. Note that the reason for release is not necessarily meaningful because it is not uncommon to have someone exonerated by DNA evidence or eyewitness testimony changes but the DOC or Court refuses to let them go. Under those circumstances it is not uncommon to see those individuals pardoned. The number of years of incarceration for all those individuals adds up to 1,418 years lost. Can you imagine? Over a thousand years taken from just these 141 men?! On average they spent a total of 12.5 years incarcerated.

Can you imagine being innocent, living on Death Row where you are isolated 23 hours a day, with one hour of exercise a day, for 12 years of your life, with the threat of execution hovering over your head for a crime you did not commit. To an innocent person, this amounts to torture. And these are just the ones we KNOW about. How many innocents have been executed in the U.S. since our inception? I shudder to think of it.

Furthermore, of that total 50% were African-American, 39% were White, Non-Hispanic and the rest were a mixture of Latino or Other. Now compare that to the U.S. population. African-Americans make up about 12% of our population but they comprise 50% of innocents release from Death Row. Now there will be some that say (bigots) ‘they must commit more crimes, particularly violent crimes’. We can categorically deny that this is the case. The majority of crimes in the U.S. are created by White, Non-Hispanic perpetrators and this includes violent crimes. This overrepresentation of a minority population is absolutely disgraceful. This fact alone should be enough for the U.S. to cease all executions…but, sadly, it hasn’t been enough to stop this foul practice.

I used to support the use of the death penalty, but as I learned more about it, saw men exonerated time and time again after spending decades in prison, and then seeing the stats on it, I can no longer say that the system works in this regard. It is not okay to execute the innocent in order to maintain the illusion of deterrence and the illusion that the country has everything “under control”. Either we do it right or we don’t do it at all. That’s why so many other industrialized nations have chosen to stop executing people….because the potential for making mistakes is simply too great. Would that all the pro-lifers in the U.S. were pro-lifers when it comes to executions but they throw those principles out the window when it comes to living, breathing people.

So we should care that the State of AZ is getting it wrong, even with something as simple as proper, timely notification. If they don’t follow their own protocols, who holds them accountable? We should. Do it right, or don’t do it at all–that should be the message that we all send to our officials when it comes to the Death Penalty. Ultimately, if an innocent man or woman is executed it is not only the State that bears the guilt, it is us as a people as well.

Sources:

http://azstarnet.com/news/state-and-regional/article_06137136-baac-58b4-a5ed-50ed2fd8bd2e.html

http://tucsoncitizen.com/arizona-news/2012/02/27/arizona-switching-to-1-drug-for-next-execution/

http://www.americanbar.org/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/irr_hr_fall97_deathpen.html

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-list-those-freed-death-row

One of these guys is just like the others

The separation of Church and State has been much on my mind lately because Rick Santorum, whose poll numbers seem to have been soaring lately in the race to become the GOP nominee, has been all over MSM talking about it. He said some things that Americans need to pay close attention to, very close attention to. Let me show you what I mean. Look at the following quotes below and tell me if you identify who said which quote. Your choices are: Rick Santorum, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Osama Bin Laden, Muammar Gaddafi, Pat Buchanan, and Pope Benedict XVI (currently in that office)–Answers are here.

On a Lack of Morality

1. “Measures that are taken outside religious morality, politics minus morality, economics minus morality, culture minus morality only turns the world into a hell for nations and humanity.”

2. “…Since they have zealously promoted moral relativism by sanctioning “private” moral matters such as alternative lifestyles.”

3. “In today’s wars, there are no morals.”

4. “We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as definitive and has as its highest value one’s own ego and one’s own desires…”

5. “the world is in need of change, and Marxism, liberalism, humanism…..could not solve man’s problems”

On Satan’s Influence

6. “I condemn all pressures, all satanic pressures, pressures on the government….”

7. “This is a spiritual war. And the Father of Lies has his sights on: a good, decent, powerful, influential country.”

On Birth Control/Fertility Rates

8. “…. I don’t think it’s [Birth Control] a healthy thing for our country.”

9. “…without swords, without guns, without conquest—[higher fertility rates] will turn it [Europe] into a Muslim continent within a few decades.”

10. “The reason the West is dying is simple: children are no longer so desirable.”

11. “year by year birth rates are going down [in the U.S.]…[there is a] demographic winter in Europe….”

12. “[Our country] has the capacity for many children….[we want] a baby boom to almost double the country’s population”
On homosexuality

13. “…we believe this act [homosexuality] is against the human spirit and humanity.”

14. “…they [homosexual acts] undermine the basic tenets of our society and the family”

15. “…reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling, and usury….”

16. “[Homosexuality] is however ‘objectively disordered’ and homosexual practices are ‘sins….”

On education

17. “Our educational system has been affected by [many] years of secular thought and has raised thousands of people who hold Ph.D.s. Changing this system is not easy and we have to do it together.”

18. “Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air”

19. “We’re going to bring back God and the Bible and drive the gods of secular humanism right out of the public schools of America.”

20. “They don’t need to go to college.”

21. “Today, students should shout at the president and ask why liberal and secular university lecturers are present in the universities.”

On freedom and Equality

22. “I tell you, freedom and human rights in America are doomed.”

23. ” I would argue that the future of America hangs in the balance….”

24. “What’s left is a government that gives you rights. What’s left are no unalienable rights.”
25. “Where equality is enthroned, freedom is extinguished.”

26. “I have no problem with income inequality.”

So how did you do? Can you tell them apart? Why are they so similar? Well they all use fear and negativity to motivate people so that is the most obvious thing. The other thing is that they all have a religion behind their worldview driving everything they think and everything they do. I know I wouldn’t want any of the other individuals quoted here to be President of the U.S., so why are a certain percentage of the GOP base even considering Santorum? Here is what Santorum, and many Americans, believe:

I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state are absolute,” he told ‘This Week’ host George Stephanopoulos. “The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country…to say that people of faith have no role in the public square? You bet that makes me want to throw up.

You know what makes me want to throw up? Ignorance, particularly historical ignorance. Check out this very good article in The Nation discussing why weren’t then and aren’t now a “Christian” nation, but one built upon the principle of separation of church and state to protect not only the government from religious intrusion but also to protect religion from government intrusion. I knew everything in the article already by reading biographies of and letters written by the Founding Fathers except for the bit about Tripoli. Here’s a quote:

Our Constitution makes no mention whatever of God. The omission was too obvious to have been anything but deliberate, in spite of Alexander Hamilton’s flippant responses when asked about it: According to one account, he said that the new nation was not in need of “foreign aid”; according to another, he simply said “we forgot.” But as Hamilton’s biographer Ron Chernow points out, Hamilton never forgot anything important.

Notes:

Some of the quotes begin and or end with ellipsis because the rest of the quote gives away the answer. You can look all of them up though, using the sources I have linked below. This wasn’t done to confuse anyone or make anyone look bad, it was just very hard not to give away the origin of the quote if it said “The Church” or “Islam”…Also if there is something in brackets I added it to clarify the meaning of a pronoun.

Sources:

http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2006/09/coals-hauled-to-newcastle.html

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/288148/more-merrier-andrew-stuttaford

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8022125/Mahmoud-Ahmadinejad-his-outlandish-quotes.html

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/302964/20120222/controversial-santorum-anti-women-gay-protestant-quotes.htm

http://www.thenation.com/article/our-godless-constitution

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Muammar_Gaddafi

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-09-22/world/un.ahmadinejad_1_iranian-state-run-news-agency-iranian-prison-hijack/2?_s=PM:WORLD

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/21/rick-santorum-obama-christianity_n_1291645.html

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/rick-santorum-in-2008-theres-no-such-thing-as-a

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/oct/23/iran.roberttait

http://equalitymatters.org/blog/201108120010

http://equalitymatters.org/blog/201104140009

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rick_Santorum

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden

http://fresnobeehive.com/opinion/2006/09/those_vile_liberals_on_campus.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/15/rick-santorum-on-fox-news_n_1207478.html?ref=politics

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/15/rick-santorum-on-fox-news_n_1207478.html?ref=politics

http://www.towleroad.com/2011/01/ahmadinejad.html#ixzz1nbn16F1U

_____________________________________________________________________________
 

ANSWERS

 

On a Lack of Morality

1. “Measures that are taken outside religious morality, politics minus morality, economics minus morality, culture minus morality only turns the world into a hell for nations and humanity.”  ( Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)

2. “…Since they have zealously promoted moral relativism by sanctioning “private” moral matters such as alternative lifestyles.” (Rick Santorum)

3. “In today’s wars, there are no morals.” (Osama Bin Laden)

4. “We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as definitive and has as its highest value one’s own ego and one’s own desires…” (Pope)

5. “the world is in need of change, and Marxism, liberalism, humanism…..could not solve man’s problems” ( Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)

On Satan’s Influence

6. “I condemn all pressures, all satanic pressures, pressures on the government….” (Ahmenijad)

7. “This is a spiritual war. And the Father of Lies has his sights on: a good, decent, powerful, influential country.” (Rick Santorum)

On Birth Control/Fertility Rates

8. “…. I don’t think it’s [Birth Control] a healthy thing for our country.” (Rick Santorum)

9. “…without swords, without guns, without conquest—[higher fertility rates] will turn it [Europe] into a Muslim continent within a few decades.” (Mahmoud Gaddafi)

10. “The reason the West is dying is simple: children are no longer so desirable.” (Pat Buchanan)

11. “year by year birth rates are going down [in the U.S.]…[there is a] demographic winter in Europe….” (Rick Santorum)

12. “[Our country] has the capacity for many children….” ( Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)

On homosexuality

13. “…we believe this act [homosexuality] is against the human spirit and humanity.” ( Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)

14. “…they [homosexual acts] undermine the basic tenets of our society and the family” (Rick Santorum)

15. “…reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling, and usury….” (Osama Bin Laden)

16. “[Homosexulaity] is however ‘objectively disordered’ and homosexual practices are ‘sins….” (Pope)

On education

17. “Our educational system has been affected by 150 years of secular thought and has raised thousands of people who hold Ph.D.s. Changing this system is not easy and we have to do it together.” ( Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)

18. “Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air (Rick Santorum)

19. “We’re going to bring back God and the Bible and drive the gods of secular humanism right out of the public schools of America.” (Pat Buchanan)

20. “They don’t need to go to college.” (Rick Santorum)

21. “Today, students should shout at the president and ask why liberal and secular university lecturers are present in the universities.” ( Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)

On freedom and Equality

22. “I tell you, freedom and human rights in America are doomed.” (Osama Bin Laden)

23. ” I would argue that the future of America hangs in the balance….” (Rick Santorum)

24. “What’s left is a government that gives you rights. What’s left are no unalienable rights.” (Rick Santorum)

25. “Where equality is enthroned, freedom is extinguished.” (Pat Buchanan)

26. “I have no problem with income inequality.” (Rick Santorum)

My Brother’s Keeper

According to a recent report on poverty in the U.S. the National Center on Family Homelessness there are an estimated 53,000 kids living below the poverty line in Arizona and families are the fastest growing homeless population in the country. In fact, families becoming homeless increased by 10% in AZ. If this bothers you wait until you learn how poverty is defined.

The poverty threshold for 2011 was $22,350 per year for a family of four. Let’s put this in perspective. I made about slightly more than that right out of grad school as a probation officer back in 1992. At the time I was single and I had to live very frugally. There was no way I could have supported another three individuals on that salary. Although many will debate whether this standard under or over estimates the real level of poverty in the U.S., I don’t think it’s debatable. Seriously?! $22,350 per year for four people?! So anyone making over that with a family of four isn’t poor? I gotta call BS on that.

Far too often this topic is used as a political football because there are two competing philosophies behind our attitudes toward the poor in this country that directly affect public policy. The first philosophy holds that since wealth can be obtained though hard work, then poverty must result from a lack of hard work. Such an approach implies a moral judgement on the poor because they have to act and sloth is one of the 7 Deadly sins, right? This theory is bolstered by three important historical aspects of the American story¹. First, there is the Calvinistic legacy of pre-destination. What was once a concept applied only to those early Protestant settlers has been adopted by various religious groups and inevitably to subcultures in the U.S. You can see it’s influence in beliefs such as “Manifest Destiny”, “City on a Hill”, and Prosperity Gospel. Unfortunately, this belief is more often misused to explain why others have not achieved success. After all, it’s very hard to offer an argument to “God wanted me to have this buttload of money” unless you routinely talk to God. Of course, to the non-religious and even to many religious people of all faiths think this is poppycock, believing instead in Free Will. Either way there is still an aspect of morality and judgement involved in this theory about who deserves to be wealthy.

The second concept is individualism. The idea that Americans were rugged individualists was mostly formed through the exploration and migration into the frontier by individuals and families. One of the most well known symbols of this rugged individualism was Daniel Boon. Taken to the extreme this concept creates an expectation that an individual should always be self-reliant and should be able to attain wealth and success. This concept while demonstrably true in many instances, is not the entire story. Indeed while rugged individualism was a crucial part of our heritage, equally crucial and equally demonstrable are numerous instances of collective effort to explore, settle and conquer the frontier. However, to hear politicians and demagogues speak you would think that everything worthy of praise was done by individuals but never groups. This is, of course, patently absurd².

The third and last concept is equality. When the country first began, the concept of equality mainly meant equal rights before the law so as to avoid the development of a nobility and royalty. Equal rights such as this meant that everyone should receive the same measure of punishment for criminal misdeeds and protection against criminal misdeeds. Most likely the Founding Fathers³ did not, however believe it should be applied to commerce between individuals. Over time as people moved up the social ladder and the American Dream became more attainable by more people than ever before, the concept of Equal Opportunity (which had actually been around in Europe before America ever existed became more and more accepted. Spurred on my the Suffragettes and later the Civil Rights Movement, minorities were now supposed to be competing on a level playing field. However whatever is true in law is not always true in fact. Thus was born Affirmative Action, which I won’t address here. But this concept of equality is crucial to the functioning of our democracy and to our economy. What Americans, particularly wealthy and upper class citizens, fail to recognize that Equal Opportunity doesn’t exist in fact. Certainly every child born in America can go to college…there are no legal barriers in their way. Yet there are a host of circumstances, wholly of someone else’s doing or created by chance that can and will prevent them from taking advantage of the opportunity of higher education. Essentially they fail to take into account sheer luck.

Combine all three of these together and what do you get? You get the attitude that anyone in the U.S. can become wealthy on their own AND if they suffer misfortune they can pull themselves up by their bootstraps. If I had a nickle every time I’ve heard this theory, I’d be wealthy! The reality is that sometimes no amount of bootstrap pulling will result in an individual achieving success. Sometimes people just need help and that’s what society is for. Too many people have forgotten the phrase, “there but for the grace of God, go I”. Grace is not given for merit and it’s not given to those who ask…it is handed out, as religious would say, by God in mercy. The non-religious call it good luck. Either way, we’re all subject to it-all either recipients or not of grace/good luck and we have no more idea of how/when/why it happens than a plant knows why it rains. It only knows that it happens and they need it.

The poor aren’t poor because they deserve it, particularly poor children. And speaking of need, back to children in need. A VERY worthy charity that helps homeless and at risk children here in AZ is getting ready to have a fund raiser to gather enough to build a facility to expand their school up to the 12th grade–Children First Academy. They do wonderful things. You should check them out, especially if you believe that poverty is not the result of laziness or immorality, but often just bad luck.

Updated: For accuracy on the source of the estimate of 53,000-a link to their website is added below. The 10% growth came from the NPR article linked below but they don’t cite a source.

Sources

http://www.familyhomelessness.org/
http://ktar.com/?nid=249#/?sid=1505955&nid=867
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121925591
http://cfaphoenix.org/

Notes:

1. You should recognize these concepts from Social Studies courses in junior high…they form the American psyche and personality, insofar as it can be generalized–which is increasingly no longer the case as the country becomes more and more diverse. To my mind, this is a good thing but I am sure there are many who would argue with this opinion.
2. If self-reliance was such a critical part of human beings existence, why did we ever form families, villages, towns, cities, countries, etc? Because we are social animals and rely on each other for many things–mutual protection, mutual entertainment, necessary social interaction and species propagation, and yes, the sharing of resources.
3. Let’s not kid ourselves about the Founding Fathers. The majority of them were land owners of the upper classes (but not all, like Adams). They did, after all limit the right of voting to white adult males who owned land, the presumption being these kind of men would have more discernment, education and involvement in governing and being governed. And there is an implied judgement in that, isn’t there? You must concede that it is a snobby view to take in relation to what we know today about the equally capable women, non-whites, non-land owning people, etc.