Showing posts with label Equal Rights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Equal Rights. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 25

THE AMERICAN DREAM: Collective Equality

Is the American Dream available to everyone in terms of a COLLECTIVE EQUALITY as it so states in our Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights?


Let me give you examples, and you can make up your own mind...

1.  Everyone has the right to an education including college but does everyone have the right to make the same grade of "A"?  Is everyone blessed with the same amount of intelligence and if the "A's" get you a better job then there will never be equality in terms of level of employment.  And, what about those that have more intelligence and can get into the better schools, how does one justify educational equality in that sense...  but yes, I suppose you do have the right to attend.

2.  What about becoming a Professional Athlete?
You certainly have the right to try...  but, if you don't have the latent skills and abilities, your equality ends there...  no matter how much you plead that you are in a minority and need special treatment in order that equality be fair and justified for all Americans.

3.  What about gender equality?
A.  Do you not think that both males and females once they enlist in the military should be on the front lines in a military conflict or battle...  unless the male is injured or the female is pregnant...  but, I suppose the female could be injured as well, although the male will never be pregnant.
B.  Do you not think that both males and females should play together on the same football, baseball, basketball, soccer, and rugby teams...  

4.  What about the medical profession?
It would be IDEAL if all the doctors, surgeons, dentists, and ophthalmologists had the same equal abilities and skills and if that were the case there would be no need for malpractice insurance...  YES...  it is true there is equal opportunity to become a medical professional, but there is never going to be equality in one's medical skills and abilities no matter what the legislation says there should be.

SO...  I would submit to you that regardless of what is written in the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, or the Bill of RIGHTS...  there will never be EQUALITY in the United States of America...  that's just the way it is and the way it will always be...

SO...  because there will never be equality so too will there never be AN EQUAL VISION OF THE AMERICAN DREAM...  there will always be versions of the American Dream...  and, until you become the wealthiest man or woman in the USA, the American Dream for you means you WILL ALWAYS BE LESS than those above you...  and, the odds are, their American Dream will NEVER BE YOUR'S and vice versa.

BUT...  you do have the right to try...
Desperations have no limitations...


Tuesday, October 20

Interpreting Our US Constitution

                                          
In the context of United States law, originalism is a concept regarding the interpretation of the Constitution that asserts that all statements in the constitution must be interpreted based on the original understanding "at the time it was adopted".


Textualism is a mode of interpretation that focuses on the plain meaning of the text of a legal document. Textualism usually emphasizes how the terms in the Constitution would be understood by people at the time they were ratified, as well as the context in which those terms appear.

US CONSTITUTIONAL FACTS:
  1. James Madison wrote the Constitution in 1787
  2. Of the 55 Convention delegates, about 25 owned slaves. Many of the framers harbored moral qualms about slavery. Some, including Benjamin Franklin (a former slave-owner) and Alexander Hamilton (who was born in a slave colony in the British West Indies) became members of antislavery societies.
  3. The Northern delegates and others opposed to slavery wanted to count only free persons, including free blacks in the North and South. ... Minimizing the percentage of the slave population counted for apportionment reduced the political power of slaveholding states.
  4. Of our FOUNDING FATHERS:  Samuel Adams, John Adams, & Thomas Paine NEVER OWNED SLAVES
  5. Slave/Slavery was only mentioned indirectly in the US CONSTITUTION
  6. THE US CONSTITUTION WAS RATIFIED ON SEPTEMBER 17 1787...
  7. When did the US get independence from Great Britain?  JULY 4, 1776...
  8. It took 11 years for ALL THE STATES to RATIFY the US CONSTITUTION
  9. All US SLAVES were freed January 1, 1863
  10. In 1870, the 15th Amendment was ratified to prohibit states from denying a male citizen the right to vote based on “race, color or previous condition of servitude." "Black suffrage" in the United States in the aftermath of the American Civil War explicitly referred to the voting rights of black men only.
  11.  In 1920, the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution gave WOMEN the right to vote


QUESTIONS:   

  1. Is it FAIR to use the concepts of textualism and and originalism when interpreting the US CONSTITUTION since our BLACK population was not given RIGHTS until 75+ years later? 
  2. Is it fair to use the concepts of textualism and originalism when interpreting the US CONSTITUTION since it was UNDERSTOOD AT THE TIME OF THE WRITTING of the US Constitution that half of the delegate to the Constitutional Convention did not own slaves and were struggling with the slavery issue?
  3. Is it fair to use the concepts of textualism and originalism when interpreting the US CONSTITUTION when it comes to understanding how our Founding Father felt towards women when it comes to interpreting what rights do women actually have under the US Constitution?
  4. Is it fair to use the concepts of textualism and originalism when interpreting the US CONSTITUTION when it come time to decide whether or not we should as nation whether or not we should regulate firearms, especially since our Founding Father had just formed a new country and had not yet built up a military or a National Guard?


Personal Comments:
It simply does not seem fair or logical for our Court System to use how our Founding Fathers were thinking in their minds and how the words they used were interpreted back in 1787 to decide ALL ISSUES coming before the courts because there have been substantial changes like gun violence, abortion, discrimination, and equal rights with which our FOUNDING FATHERS never had to deal with at the time the Constitution was written, therefore their mental thoughts and word usages seems rather pointless and meaningless in today's world.