Back to Basics.

Submitted by mariana (United States), Jun 7, 2007 at 15:56

Dearest Ianus:

Responding to your post is going to have to be done in pieces. It's been so many years since I've attempted anything on this scale, I'm totally flabbergasted! To begin with, I definitely prefer you as Friend to Flatterer; without openness, real exchange of views is compromised [and more resembles "diplomacy" than communication].

I had no clue you were from Poland [somehow got the idea you were Cypriot], and I must ask if you are ethnically descended from or would be considered [by Poles] a "Russian minority." I ask this only because none of the Poles I've ever known here or in my fairly extensive travels over the years, has had your "take" vis a vis the USSR's relationship with Poland or the other countries they held as satellites behind the [fast re-emerging] Iron Curtain.

Your highlighting the Nazi past of Lithuania, Latvia, etc. [and most of the OAU, for that matter] is not new to me [tho a good deal of the history you provided is; in truth, sadly, from observing the goings on for the past several years, I'm more than half convinced that, given a choice, most Europeans would be Nazi [so long as the "onerous" aspects affected "others" and not themselves]; and that's exactly the point.

I believe the crux of the difference between US and other "democracies" can be found in our Bill of Rights; and being of immigrant stock who considered these documents Sacred and took them more seriously [even] than religion [because without them, we'd be unable to freely practice our particular concept of "religion"]. Any tendencies towards naivete or utopianism adduced from my writings have these individual Human Rights at their base. Further: GWB, like [T. Roosevelt and] others before him, is Evangelical about extending these Rights [believed descended to each individual "by his Creator"] over their own destinies to everyone, everywhere.

We're simple people who believe that to achieve real "peace" in the world, people need to be free to speak, think, work, trade, travel, worship, believe, and run their lives and governments as they choose [so long as these same rights of others are not infringed]; and that people living in peace increase prosperity and have no need to kill or conquer others.

Unfortunately [since end WWII], we've not been prepared to follow the example of Julius Caesar in Gaul [in Afghanistan, Iraq; although that might be changing: see recent accommodations in Anbar Prov.]. Please understand that my whining and moaning about our Congress and my government [aimed primarily for domestic consumption], are based in my understanding of these Sacred documents, and my fervent belief that our elected officials are systematically over-riding and disregarding the letter and spirit of Constitutional Law.

Congress was designed to "represent" the electorate; the calculus this current gang have made [despite explicit 70-90+% opposition of their electorate and the national security implications], is that we are amnesiac; will have forgotten their perfidies by election time; and as usual, will re-elect them again as "the lesser of evils." While that worked in 1986 [less successfully in '92], my thesis is that they've run out their string: This time, they've miscalculated seriously, and have gone too far!

">...Now with all respect I have towards the Amercan way of life , I find the right to carry arms quite questionable . If you had our (Middle European or Russian) history , you'd know why..."

Because our Founders had an overwhelming distrust of "governments," Amendments I - X to the US Constitution known as the "Bill of Rights," were designed explicitly to LIMIT any powers the voluntary "Federation" they were creating [referred to therein as "the United States"] should be permitted to exercise over individuals or the [at that time, independent nation-] states; without them, the Constitution could never have been adopted, because the best among our Founders knew the necessity for explicit limitations.

Were I permitted only five of the ten, I think we might have survived with I, II, IV, IX and X, because without them, the others are all unsustainable. "Amendment I Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." With this basic [conscious or unconscious] mind-set, average Americans have apparently been unable or unwilling to envision or wrap their minds around the significance of this massive, militant, radical Islamist Terrorist Crusade to revivify the Caliphate on Earth.

The forced conversion to Islam [from day one], prior Crusades and the Inquisition, are really so "beyond the pale" for most Americans that, unfortunately [encouraged by the active "denial" by the cynical Left and the majority media they control], they're been convinced that these worldwide activities are separate, unconnected phenomena; and that the "War on [Islamo-Fascist] Terrorism" is a fiction, fabricated by GWB for political gain. As a result of #I and IV, I am comfortably able to openly publish all of the things I've been writing with no fear of a "knock on my door."

Notice, please, that the Second Amendment is the right to bear arms. I believe utterly, that the Founders listed these in descending order of importance, using IX and X as "mop-up" or "cover-all" limitations, to avoid deliberate usurpations or inadvertent "misunderstandings." "Amendment II A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." "Amendment IV The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Our Founders understood that an unarmed populous would be helpless with no viable recourse against a Republic-turned-Tyranny; they'd all read the Classics and History [most knew Latin and Greek], and observed that all prior governments [like fat cells] were in the business of growing bigger and accruing powers to themselves geometrically.

Also, were you to google the crime stats of states with "concealed-carry" laws, you'd see that crime rates have been demonstrably lowered since these laws were adopted [see: "More Guns Less Crime," John R. Lott]. "Amendment IX The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." "Amendment X The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

For me, these five have always been the most critical, because without them, the other five, delineating "technicalities" concerning speedy and public trials, contracts, jury of peers, representation and evidence, property rights, forcible billeting of military in private homes, etc., could not be sustained. Dimitri K. Simes, Pres of the Nixon Center, this morning on c-span, purported that an overwhelming majority of Russians support Putin and his policies. Neither Gorbachov nor Putin intended more than One [Communist] Party Rule.

While Yeltzin may have been a corrupt drunkard, I believe he at least, gave the Russian people the courage and opportunity for self-governing; you appear to be inferring that they're incapable or uninterested in securing Liberty and "democracy" to themselves. Since I believe that it is impossible to have Liberty of any meaningful sort under one-party-rule without explicit freedom of speech ["absolute power corrupts, absolutely"], this holds out very little hope to me for any possibility of true peace or accommodation between US and USSR, Putin to Kennebunkport notwithstanding. Enough for today. I've woefully neglected for days, all of the necessaries required to maintain my life, and the time has come to "Pay the Piper." mariana

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