Rusted Sky

Consider this...

OpinionJournal - Featured Article

It's easy now, in a nation awash with complaints about what our Founders did not do, what imperfect humans they seem to 21st century eyes, to overlook how startlingly bold their views and actions were in their own day and are, in fact, even today. Who else in 1776 declared, let alone thought it a self-evident truth, that all men were created equal, entitled to inalienable rights, or to any rights at all? How few declare these views today or, glibly declaring them, really intend to treat their countrymen or others as equal, entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

Certainly not America's 20th century enemies, the Nazis and communists; certainly not today's Islamic radicals, who consider infidels unworthy to live and the faithful bound by an ancient and brutal code of law. We are fortunate that the Founders of our nation were enlightened, generous, jealous of their rights and those of their countrymen, and prepared to risk everything to create a free republic.

It is ever so tempting to look on what they begun, and criticize it for not being perfect right from the start. Instead of thinking in a 'progressive' manner, in that we are always trying to make things better, the critics of the US, of the founding fathers try to present their arguement in a binary approach - if there are any perceived flaws in our government or society, what exists is therefore worthless and should be destroyed immediately.

Never mind the fact that what IS there is a hell of a lot better than any government that's been available before - and constantly being improved. It's the typical leftist binary thinking - if it isn't PERFECT, it's WORTHLESS.

There's been a lot of changes in the last 236 years. I expect even more to come. But it would be well to remember that the Founding Fathers didn't think in binary - they thought about what could be accomplished... even if imperfectly.

J.