Part of a continuing series of excerpts and commentaries from "The Revolution: A Manifesto."
Controversial topics today:
"One of the most contentious issues in our public life over the past three and a half decades has been abortion....
Dr. Paul then relays some of his personal experiences before continuing:
"I have heard the arguments in favor of abortion many times, and they have always disturbed me deeply....
Whether it is war or abortion, we conceal the reality of violent acts through linguistic contrivances meant to devalue human lives we find inconvenient. Dead civilians become "collateral damage," are ignored altogether, or are rationalized away.... People ask an expectant mother how her baby is doing. They do not ask how her fetus is doing, or her blob of tissue.... But that is what her baby becomes as soon as the child is declared unwanted. In both cases, we try to make human life into something less than human, simply according to our will....
Dr. Paul gets controversial here, as he states in his book that the federal government should play no role in abortion issue, and suggest that the Congress strip the courts of their jurisdiction over the issue (per Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution).
Now I can understand the aversion to him by people on that side of the issue. As for me, readers, my feelings on abortion are contained in this post.
I guess you can say I'm an absolutist; however, I recognize (as Dr. Paul also does) that I will have to settle for a less-than-perfect world.
By a simple majority, Congress could strip the federal courts of jurisdiction over abortion, thereby overturning the obviously unconstitutional Roe. At that point, the issue would revert to the states, where it constitutionally belongs....
To those who argue that we cannot allow the states to make decisions on abortion since some will make the wrong ones, I reply that that is an excellent argument for world government -- for how can we allow individual countries to decide on abortion or other moral issues, if some may make the wrong decisions? Yet the dangers of a world government surely speak for themselves.
Let us therefore adopt the constitutional position, one that is achievable and can yield good results but that shuns the utopian idea that all evil can be eradicated.... anyone expecting perfection in this world is going to be consistently disappointed....
He then tackles another thorny issue:
Some people claim the doctrine of states' rights, one of Thomas Jefferson's central principles, has been responsible for racism. But racism, a disorder of the heart, can become entrenched in any political environment....
First thing I though of was the Zionists!
It falls upon the people, in the last resort, to stand against injustice no matter where it occurs.
In the long run, the only way racism can be overcome is through the philosophy of individualism.... Our rights come to us not because we belong to some group, but our rights come to us as individuals.... Racism is a particularly odious form of collectivism whereby individuals are treated not on their merits but on the basis of group identity.....
When I first read this, I wondered how can redress occur on this most intractable issue if there is not a collective effort (like unionization); however, I then thought of how the MSM pushes identity politics so hard.
Given the race, class and gender cards the Clintons and the MSM have been playing lately, Dr. Paul's point is even more pronounced!
Government exacerbates racial thinking and undermines individualism because its very existence encourages people to organize along racial lines in order to lobby for benefits for their group. That lobbying, in turn, creates animosity and suspicion among all groups, each of which believes it is getting less of its fair share than the others....
Truth is, we are all getting the shaft right now -- except for corporate fat cats and war-profiteering contractors!
And the division plays right into the agenda-promotion, doesn't it?
The federal war on drugs has wrought disproportionate harm on minority communities. Allowing for states' rights here would surely be an improvement, for the states could certainly do a better and more sensible job than the federal government has been doing if they were free to decide the issue for themselves....
In recent years I have dropped my support for the federal death penalty. It is a dangerous power for the federal government to have, and it is exercised in a discriminatory way: if you are poor and black, you are much more likely to receive this punishment....
Disagree with the guy if you want, but he is certainly a decent, caring person!!!
Too bad America can not have a good man like this as president!
We should not think in terms of whites, blacks, Hispanics and other such groups. That kind of thinking only divides us.
Hello, AmeriKan MSM!!!
The only us-versus-them thinking in which we might indulge is the people -- all the people -- versus the government, which loots and lies to us all, threatens our liberties, and shreds our Constitution. That's not a white or black issue. That's an American issue, and it's one on which Americans of all races can unite in a spirit of goodwill....
To be sure, the U.S. Constitution is not perfect. Few human contrivances are. But it is a pretty good one, I think, and it defines and limits the scope of government. When we get into the habit of disregarding it or -- what is the same thing -- interpreting certain key phrases so broadly as to allow the federal government to do whatever it wants, we do so at our peril. We will wind up with a situation like the one we face right now, that few Americans are happy with.
Can't argue with him there!
I do not believe that most Americans want to continue down this path: undeclared wars without end, more and more police-state measures, and a Constitution that may as well not exist. But this is not a fated existence. We do not have to live in this kind of America. It is not too late to rally and recall our people to the Constitution, the rule of law, and our traditional American republic.
Although it certainly feels like we are Van Helsing racing Dracula against the setting sun!
I will say that the book is uplifting, and it really makes you question much of the received dogma so many Americans (including myself) have inculcated.
Also see: Ron Paul Revolution Excerpts, Part One
Ron Paul Revolution Excerpts, Part Two
Ron Paul Revolution Excerpts, Continued
