Chris Shugart wrote:
> I suppose that the America Sucks crowd has a valid point somewhere in
> their tired litany.
This is backhanded. To label people with valid concerns as having an
"America Sucks" perspective is not productive.
> Please. We get it. We got it a long time ago. The existing scene in
> America must change. But into what? What real-world model have we to
> go on? Transforming an existing scene towards an ideal scene is
> nothing but a storybook fantasy unless there are demonstrable means of
> getting there.
Was there a real world model for our nation's founders? No. Were there
examples in history of elements that worked, and other examples that did
not? Yes. The best of what had been tried was culled into a _new_
system, certainly viewed as an ideal by those who created it. To simply
shrug one's shoulders and say "We're the best, might as well stop
trying" is really to admit defeat, not success.
> Those of us who are flexible in our thinking, not yet set in our ways
> are always open to workable solutions based in part on common sense
> plus on what can be observed as workable. This may be a drab vision
> that lacks the romantic appeal of revolution, but hey, that's the way
> the real world is sometimes.
Certainly it would not take a revolution to ensure that all Americans
receive adequate health care. Certainly it would not take a revolution
to establish which crimes are best controlled by removal of the
offender, which are best controlled by treatment and rehabiliation, and
which are not really crimes at all. A revolution might be needed to
break the hold that particular interests have _directly_ on the
legislative process, but it would be well worth it.
The revolution in the streets need not occur if it has already taken
place in the mind.
M
-- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Mark Bunster **Milo Venus was a beautiful lass Survey Research Lab**had the world in the palm of her hand VA. Commonwealth U **lost both arms in a wrestling match Richmond, VA 23284 **fighting over a brown-eyed handsome man. mbunster@vcu.edu ** rbunster@earthlink.net** --Chuck Berry http://www.imagineradio.com/mymusiclisten.asp?name=mbunster
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