It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
Originally posted by Rafe_
So is what is mentioned in the OP really going on or not,
Bill of Rights
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.
Oath of Enlistment
I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and
domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same
The Pledge of Allegiance
1954
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it
stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
The Economic Bill of Rights
January 11, 1944
Excerpted from Franklin Delano Roosevelt's message to Congress on the State of the Union. This was
proposed not to amend the Constitution, but rather as a political challenge, encouraging Congress to
draft legislation to achieve these aspirations. It is sometimes referred to as the "Second Bill of
Rights."
It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting
peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We
cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of
our people — whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth — is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-
housed, and insecure.
This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain
inalienable political rights — among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial
by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.
As our nation has grown in size and stature, however — as our industrial economy expanded — these
political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.
We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without
economic security and independence. "Necessitous men are not free men." People who are hungry and
out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.
In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to
speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established
for all — regardless of station, race, or creed.
Among these are:
The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the
nation;
The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his
family a decent living;
The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from
unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
The right of every family to a decent home;
The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and
unemployment;
The right to a good education.
All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward,
in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.
America's own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar
rights have been carried into practice for our citizens.
www.archives.gov...
_____________
Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1789, "Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with
their own government."
www.ushistory.org...
Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death
Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775.
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace — but there is no
peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears
the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is
it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased
at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take;
but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961
We observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom — symbolizing an end, as well
as a beginning — signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God
the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago.
We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from
this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of
Americans — born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of
our ancient heritage — and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to
which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around
the world.
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any
burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and
the success of liberty.
This much we pledge — and more.
Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that
can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your
country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do
for the freedom of man.
The American's Creed
by William Tyler Page
I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the
people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed, a democracy in a republic, a
sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon
those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed
their lives and fortunes.
I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey
its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.
–Written 1917, accepted by the United States House of Representatives on April 3, 1918.
President George Washington's Farewell Address — 1796
One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which will
impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown.
The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus
to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power,
and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the
truth of this position.
The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing
it into different depositaries, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against
invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our
country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in
the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any
particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates.
But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of
good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always
greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit, which the use can at any
time yield.
Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of
knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is
essential that public opinion should be enlightened.
The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political
bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the
separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent
respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to
the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive
of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new
Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to
them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate
that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and
accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are
sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when
a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to
reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such
Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient
sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their
former Systems of Government.
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech
March on Washington, DC, August 28, 1963
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no
time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is
the time to make real the promises of democracy.
Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We
hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My
country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of
the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
Originally posted by karen61057
reply to post by The Sword
I'm sorry WHAT? I live in one of those states. Did you say WELFARE MONEY ? Sorry darling not getting any of that here. You are working your ass off for me??? Sit down, take a load off, I dont need you to work for me but thanks.
Originally posted by romanmel
A malitia, according to the dictionary, is: "A military force that engages in rebel activities." It hardly sounds to me that rebels need the pomp and circumstance of a "bylaws and charter".
Originally posted by The Sword
reply to post by DROKKR
If these states revolt, their people won't have any of that welfare money that comes from us folks up North. We work our asses off so the people of these "great" (sic) states can sit on their lazy fat asses.
Let them separate. They won't be missed.