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Clearly you either didn't read my post, didn't understand it, could comprehend it, or you are just playing the willfully obtuse, take your pick. Either way, I really don't care what you think or like about the size of government. The fact remains that "small" government kept African Americans in a state of virtual servitude while Big government provided them the opportunity to full citizenship. Each of your posts on this thread continues to reenforce my view of which side of that debate you remain on.
The side that says these so called rights are immaterial, when we're all under the heel of the Feds.
Didn't I say that things were best left up to the individual? The only person you can trust is you? I don't like ANY government, actually, but the smaller and smaller it becomes, the better it is.
I disagree with this and this is why: African-Americans are 13% of the population. Historically, they have been a severely disenfranchised ethnic group. The narrative of African-Americans in this nation is that for the most part, individual effort hasn't work because it has been stifled by state government abusing their rights as US citizens, and the federal government not doing enough. Sometimes individual persons intimidated people. If you look at this nation's history, it when the federal government steps in that African-Americans have the same rights as everyone else. It wasn't individual effort, but a group and federal effort. This Horatio Alger idea of "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" hasn't worked for African-Americans because of laws preventing this. When the state government refused to treat African-Americans as human beings and citizens of this nation, it took the FEDERAL government to make the individual states and municipalities behave. As long as African-Americans are citizens of the USA, they are to be treated as citizens of the USA, with the same exact rights and privileges as everyone else in this nation, and so far, it is the federal government that is upholding that, NOT the states. If left up to the states, the state governments could do anything, including disenfranchising people. You say it is suppose to be left up to the individuals. Suppose those individuals are being oppressed to the point where they CAN'T do anything themselves? What then?
Better, only if done under the right circumstances. If you have a lot of problems that still need to be address and you all of a sudden have a weak government overseeing it, you know what you get? Just look at countries like the Congo and Somalia.
That is a good point. Somalia is basically a failed state. For that reason, you have warring clans and alot violence in Somalia. If the USA became a failed state, I would image all kinds of things could happen, bad things. I like a society of law and order where I have rights, freedom, safety, and I am treated as a human being and a citizen.
Yeah, Africa Americans and their allies, trusted themselves to build a number of cases through the FEDERAL COURTS that culminated in United States Supreme Court striking down separate but equal with the decision in Brown v Board of Education.
Then African Americans and their allies trusted themselves to force the President of the United States to use the United States Army to integrate the Little Rock school system.
Then African Americans and their allies trusted themselves through a series of brutal campaigns to force the FEDERAL government to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Do you detect a pattern here, did you note the absence of state governments in this process?
Historically the LEGAL FOUNDATION of slavery, segregation, discrmination and political and economic disenfranchisement of Black Americans has been state laws.
I disagree with this and this is why: African-Americans are 13% of the population. Historically, they have been a severely disenfranchised ethnic group. The narrative of African-Americans in this nation is that for the most part, individual effort hasn't work because it has been stifled by state government abusing their rights as US citizens, and the federal government not doing enough. Sometimes individual persons intimidated people. If you look at this nation's history, it when the federal government steps in that African-Americans have the same rights as everyone else. It wasn't individual effort, but a group and federal effort. This Horatio Alger idea of "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" hasn't worked for African-Americans because of laws preventing this. When the state government refused to treat African-Americans as human beings and citizens of this nation, it took the FEDERAL government to make the individual states and municipalities behave. As long as African-Americans are citizens of the USA, they are to be treated as citizens of the USA, with the same exact rights and privileges as everyone else in this nation, and so far, it is the federal government that is upholding that, NOT the states. If left up to the states, the state governments could do anything, including disenfranchising people. You say it is suppose to be left up to the individuals. Suppose those individuals are being oppressed to the point where they CAN'T do anything themselves? What then?
I don't know what to tell you. I do whatever I like, and I don't let anyone tell me what I can and cannot do. Your mileage may vary.
I don't know what to tell you. I do whatever I like, and I don't let anyone tell me what I can and cannot do. Your mileage may vary.
It is 2010. Of course you can do what you want. I am speaking of HISTORICAL terms. If you were White and lived in the mid-1930's, you had much more freedom and privilege than a Black person. If you were Black,at least in the South, you could not say "I'm going to do what I want and you can't stop me", because the law would enforce oppressive laws. You couldn't say "I am going to eat in the 'Whites only' restaurant and no one is going to stop me" or "I don't own any land or have paid a poll tax, but I am going to vote, and vote for who I want in office". You couldn't because the KKK could make a visit and lynch you, or the police would come in and jail you, or possibly kill you. Some people probably did stand up and say "NO, I will not take any crap from you". Many died as a result. It took the federal government to tell the states "You must respect the rights of African-Americans and you must give African-Americans the same rights and privileges as White people because African-Americans are citizens of this nation too". African-Americans were putting forth an individual efforts as a group, and when the state governments said NO, they went to the federal government. The feds eventually said YES.
It was the same way with slavery. There were many slave rebellions in the southern states. All of them crushed. The states weren't going to let slavery go, so the federal government had to interfere. I'm glad the feds interfered.
I really need to know this. How would individual efforts helped African-Americans if the state governments said no to abolition and voting rights for all people? What to do next if that happens, if not the feds stepping in?
The law can oppress me. What they can't do is STOP me from doing as I wish. I don't like law enforcement people as they try to impose their will on others (namely, me).
The law can oppress me. What they can't do is STOP me from doing as I wish. I don't like law enforcement people as they try to impose their will on others (namely, me).
The laws have oppressed African-Americans since day one. Slavery as an institution in this nation has oppressed African-Americans by denying them the wealth that Whites would have more freedom to gain. It denied African-Americans treatment as human beings by classifying them as property. The Southern states were staunch in trying to keep this institution. That is why the states wanted to secede.
The law was very oppressive after that in many states, dictating to African-Americans. That is why the Civil Rights movement came into fruition. It was to fight those laws. The laws have been oppressive to African-Americans for ages, and for the most part, African-Americans had no legal representation to back them up. That was the difference between being White and being Black. The law couldn't stop a White person from doing what he or she wanted back in the old days because the average White person had more legal representation and support from the local community to back that White person up. A Black person usually had no such thing. That is the difference
Historically the LEGAL FOUNDATION of slavery, segregation, discrmination and political and economic disenfranchisement of Black Americans has been state laws.
In the hopes of not being tooo condescending, Duh!
Of course if you were using me to make a statement to a broader audience, I apologize.
I don't like law enforcement people as they try to impose their will on others (namely, me).
Their will... fascinating.
TKramer, king and potentate of all that is around him. I only do what I please... sounds like a 2 year old's fantasy.
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