Thom Hartmann

Whatever Happened to "We the People"?

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112407F.shtml

An excerpt from Thom Hartmann's new book,
"Cracking the Code," Berrett-Koehler Publishing, says,
"As Americans, the most important part of our
social identity is our role as citizens. To be a
citizen means to be part of, and a de-fender of, the
commons of our nation. The water we drink, the
air we breathe, the streets we drive on, the
schools that we use, the departments that protect us -
these are all the physical commons. And there are
also the cultural commons - the stories we tell
ourselves, our histories, our religions, and our
notions of ourselves. And there are the commons
of our power systems (in the majority of American
communities), our health-care system (stolen from
us and privatized over the past twenty-five
years, our hospitals in particular used to be mostly
nonprofit or run by mostly city or county
governments), and the electronic commons of our radio
and TV spectrum and the Internet."

Conservatives do not believe in "We the people". They do not believe in the Commons.

Conservatives believe in Me the person and whatever private property that person can aquire and screw everyone else.

That ideology is what has been destroying our nation over the last 50 years.

.

we the people has not existed in america, ever. it is just a propaganda catch phrase to get the people to follow just another bunch of rich people who control the flow.

amendments to the constitution are a clear fact that rich people have to be reminded what equal is. but of course, the constitution isn't worth the paper its written on.

Conservatives do not believe in "We the people". They do not believe in the Commons.

Conservatives believe in Me the person and whatever private property that person can aquire and screw everyone else.

That ideology is what has been destroying our nation over the last 50 years.


Truer words were never spoken.

Bravo.

we the people has not existed in america, ever. it is just a propaganda catch phrase to get the people to follow just another bunch of rich people who control the flow.
Exactly. I posted something about this in another thread... can't remember which one just now. :)

we the people has not existed in america, ever. it is just a propaganda catch phrase to get the people to follow just another bunch of rich people who control the flow.

True.

But **We The People* almost had a chance, for one small moment in time in this country back in 1912 when a Socilaist candidate drew 6% of the vote for the presidency. Of course, the Corporafascists, who controlled (both then and now) the means of dissemination of information to the masses were quick to villify and sabotage any such movement of a populist nature, before the herd got out of hand and began to think for themselves and act and vote in their own interests.

Conservatives do not believe in "We the people". They do not believe in the Commons.

Conservatives believe in Me the person and whatever private property that person can aquire and screw everyone else.

That ideology is what has been destroying our nation over the last 50 years.

.

What aan unmitiagated crock, DB.

There is nothing in the Constitution or in the writings of the Founding Fathers that runs counter to what conservatives believe. Our nation was founded on equal opportunity for all not equal money or property for all. You seem to think that somehow wealth must be redistributed to this mythical commons. That was never even suggested by the Founding Fathers.

Everyone in America has the right to rise as far as they are able and to pursue happiness. This does not mean that everyone will rise equally far or that every one who pursues happiness will find it. It certainly doesn't mean that an individual has to give up his private property to another.

Your philosophy is more closely aligned to communism than to what the Founding Fathers envisioned for the nation.

Frogger, suggest you read the article referenced. No one is talking about redistribution of wealth. The article is talking about restoring America's original vision, something that has been distorted lately... We the people have responsibilities to each other, or did we forget? Franklin Roosevelt had it right.



The following is an excerpt from Thom Hartmann's new book, Cracking the Code: How to Win Hearts, Change Minds, and Restore America's Original Vision.
We the people

The traditional American liberal story is the story of We the People.

As Americans, the most important part of our social identity is our role as citizens. To be a citizen means to be part of, and a de- fender of, the commons of our nation. The water we drink, the air we breathe, the streets we drive on, the schools that we use, the departments that protect us - these are all the physical commons. And there are also the cultural commons - the stories we tell ourselves, our histories, our religions, and our notions of ourselves. And there are the commons of our power systems (in the majority of American communities), our health-care system (stolen from us and privatized over the past twenty-five years, our hospitals in particular used to be mostly nonprofit or run by mostly city or county governments), and the electronic commons of our radio and TV spectrum and the Internet.

Most important for citizenship is the commons of government - the creation and the servant of We the People.

Franklin D. Roosevelt understood this commons. In his "Four Freedoms" speech, he said, "Necessitous men are not free men." Hungry people aren't free people, no matter what you want to call them. Hungry people can't be good citizens: they're too busy taking care of the hungry part of themselves to care about the citizen part.

Republicans don't want to fund FDR's social safety net because they fundamentally do not believe in the concept of We the People collectively protecting all of us in anything other than a military/police way. They don't believe that "the rabble" should run the country. They want big corporations to run the commons of our nation, and they think that the most appropriate role for citizens is that of infantilized consumers - of both commercial products and commercially produced political packaging.

This is the fundamental debate in our society: Are we a nation of citizens or a nation of consumers? Are we a democracy run by citizens, or are we a corporatocracy that holds consumers locked in dependency by virtue of their consumption?

Consumerism appeals to the greedy and selfish child part of us, the infantilized part that just wants someone else to take care of us. The core message of most commercials is that "you are the most important person in the world." Commercial advertising almost never mentions "we" or "us."

What is at stake today is the very future of our democratic republic. If we accept an identity as fearful, infantilized consumers, we will be acting from our baby part and allowing corporate America and an increasingly authoritarian government to fill the role of a parent part.

The story we are told is that we should surrender all of our power to corporations and just let them govern us because a mystical but all-knowing godlike force called "the free market" will eventually solve all of our problems.

That story fits in very well with the conservatives' other story: that we are children who need to be protected from evil humans; and because corporations are amoral and not human, they are intrinsically and morally superior to evil humans.

To save democracy we must crack that code and bring back the code so well understood by the Founders of this nation: that we're a country of barn-builders, of communities, of intrinsically good people who work together for the common good and the common wealth. We begin this process by speaking to the responsible part of us, the part that enjoys being grown up and socially responsible.

The story we have to tell is the story of citizenship derived from our best and most noble parts. It's the story of We the People.

We talk a lot about the features of citizenship, like the right to vote, but we sometimes forget what the benefits are. The main benefit of citizenship is freedom - not freedom from external or internal dangers (although that is included in the package, it's only one of the six purposes listed in the Preamble to the Constitution) that conservatives obsess on, but freedom to think as we want, to pray as we want, to say what we want, and to live as we want to fulfill our true potential as humans (the other five things listed in the Preamble).

The question, ultimately, is whether our nation will continue to stand for the values on which it was founded.

Early American conservatives suggested that democracy was so ultimately weak it couldn't withstand the assault of newspaper editors and citizens who spoke out against it, leading John Adams (our second president and our first conservative president) to pass America's first Military Commissions Act-like laws: the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. President Thomas Jefferson, who beat Adams in the "Revolution of 1800" election, rebuked those who wanted America ruled by an iron-handed presidency that could - as Adams had - throw people in jail for "crimes" such as speaking political opinion, and without constitutional due process.

"I know, indeed," Jefferson said in his first inaugural address on March 4, 1801, "that some honest men fear that a republican government cannot be strong; that this government is not strong enough." But, Jefferson said, our nation was "the world's best hope" precisely because we put our trust in We the People.

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Thom Hartmann is an author and nationally syndicated daily talk show host. His newest book is We The People: A Call To Take Back America.

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Go post this shit elsewhere, truth.

I will no longer participate in this thread.

No one is talking about redistribution of wealth. The article is talking about restoring America's original vision, something that has been distorted lately....

Excellent point.

We the people have responsibilities to each other, or did we forget?

Some forgot.

But then, there seems to be a huge contingent of people in this country who were not guilty of forgetting, but who instead prefer to clamp their hands over their ears and scream -- "Go spread your shit somewhere else!!"

STFU, FT, the only reason nobody's done to you what we're doing to these two is that on occasion, you manage to find a sense of humor.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/tormented/WilliamBouguereau-Dante_et_Virgile_.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/tormented/9282delicatetouch.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/tormented/a98ed0b4.jpg

Imp, Beautiful images, but what's the deal with them in this thread? I've got to be missing something, huh?

These threads are absolutely worthless, so Imp's giving people something else to talk about if they like.

Hummm...I had just come to that guess myself and shot her a PM. Thanks for the confirmation.

Go post this shit elsewhere, truth.

STFU Nappy.
Nobody is forcing you to read anything.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/tormented/enlight.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/tormented/Image_2iOdGR.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/tormented/738_1183950600.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/tormented/iloledpamxc0.jpg

Isn't hijacking threads and spamming considered grounds for banning?

Isn't hijacking threads and spamming considered grounds for banning?
Why is truth and shaman still here then?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/tormented/2400-4523.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/tormented/024_AC040.jpg

[QUOTE=Imp]Why is truth and shaman still here then?

They aren't hijacking threads with spam.

You clearly are and you are obviously doing it knowingly and purposely.

I will ask you again. Please stop.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/tormented/ampinstein1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/tormented/suicide45.jpg

Imp had pressing business elsewhere. You'll be dealing with your's truly until she gets back.

Oh yeah. Dharma, I banged your wife last night. It was good.

:lolhit:

These threads are absolutely worthless.....

And we have your infantile yet tireless responses of --"STFU!", "GTFO", "Shut up", "Stop posting!", "Go away!" -- to thank for that fact.

Grow up, eh?

They were worthless long, long, long before I stuck my head in. Maybe not to you, but to everyone else.

[QUOTE=Imp]Why is truth and shaman still here then?

They aren't hijacking threads with spam.

You clearly are and you are obviously doing it knowingly and purposely.

I will ask you again. Please stop.Are you kidding. Any thread they're involved in is spam.

"obvioulsy doing it knowingly and purposely"....lol as opposed to the bopsy twins not having a clue while doing it? :lolhit: