Thank you, Laura. You are a credit to the quality of a Reed College education. This is an excellent example of having a respectful conversation while holding your well-informed ground.
My existential fear of a Convention of the States is based on what happened the last time we had one. Though charged with proposing amendments to the Articles ofConfederation, the COS in 1787 instead wrote a whole new document. I fear that a convention dominated by lots of small, red, states will attempt to encode white, male, Christian privilege into a new government structure. Maybe I’m just paranoid, but I can imagine but I can imagine the US splitting into into 2-3 counties after the dust settles.
I'm not enough of a constitutional scholar to weigh in on that section beyond the comment that your reasoning seems sound and that I'm here for any constitutional discussion that references Goatse.
As for the comments, they followed roughly the pattern I expected - I know plenty of conservatives and their arguments are entirely reasonable IF you accept the premises that they're based on. One of the comments specifically mentioned living "morally". Once upon a time, American conservatives turned the word "morality" into a dogwhistle meaning Christian, conservative and white (culturally if not strictly racially). For the most part, the liberals and left chose not to engage with them on that assuming that it was clear what was actually meant. Well, after 40 years of allowing this definition to stand, it's no wonder that people who subscribe to those views see it as self-evident that morality and Christianity are synonymous. I don't think we can afford to allow that to continue.
What morality do these people see in caging refugees on our southern border? Where is the morality in letting our own citizens starve in our streets? What morality do they see in forcing child rape victims to spend a lifetime caring for a reminder of their violation? I could go on, but I think my point is clear. Christianity, as it is practiced on a daily basis in this country, should not be held aloft as some moral ideal. I know there are Christians out there who truly live in a godly manner, but until they take care of the rot in their own house, they certainly don't have any room to tell the rest of us how to behave,
I know I was supposed to comment on this a while back but one thing about your classmates responses to your article keeps coming back into my forebrain bugging me. They dont want a theocracy but they DO want a COS to change the Constitution so they can control the rest of us and force a theocracy on us. But the thing I was also troubled by is they combine the Constitutional "education" with firearms training? This indicates to me that on some level they think that violence will be required to impose thier vision of America IMO. Dominionists, 7 Mountains doctrine also seem to be involved in thier idea of how to rewrite and enforce an amended Constitution. I'm already think they are twisting the intentions of the framers by claiming they wanted a "Christian" nation. Seperstion of church and state was based on the experience of Roman Catholic church's meddling in govt affairs. I wish the framers had been more specific but that is no excuse for making false claims. Anyway that's my 3 cents worth what with inflation and all.
Thank you, Laura. You are a credit to the quality of a Reed College education. This is an excellent example of having a respectful conversation while holding your well-informed ground.
My existential fear of a Convention of the States is based on what happened the last time we had one. Though charged with proposing amendments to the Articles ofConfederation, the COS in 1787 instead wrote a whole new document. I fear that a convention dominated by lots of small, red, states will attempt to encode white, male, Christian privilege into a new government structure. Maybe I’m just paranoid, but I can imagine but I can imagine the US splitting into into 2-3 counties after the dust settles.
I'm not enough of a constitutional scholar to weigh in on that section beyond the comment that your reasoning seems sound and that I'm here for any constitutional discussion that references Goatse.
As for the comments, they followed roughly the pattern I expected - I know plenty of conservatives and their arguments are entirely reasonable IF you accept the premises that they're based on. One of the comments specifically mentioned living "morally". Once upon a time, American conservatives turned the word "morality" into a dogwhistle meaning Christian, conservative and white (culturally if not strictly racially). For the most part, the liberals and left chose not to engage with them on that assuming that it was clear what was actually meant. Well, after 40 years of allowing this definition to stand, it's no wonder that people who subscribe to those views see it as self-evident that morality and Christianity are synonymous. I don't think we can afford to allow that to continue.
What morality do these people see in caging refugees on our southern border? Where is the morality in letting our own citizens starve in our streets? What morality do they see in forcing child rape victims to spend a lifetime caring for a reminder of their violation? I could go on, but I think my point is clear. Christianity, as it is practiced on a daily basis in this country, should not be held aloft as some moral ideal. I know there are Christians out there who truly live in a godly manner, but until they take care of the rot in their own house, they certainly don't have any room to tell the rest of us how to behave,
For a split second I read Goatse as Goethe, and I struggled make the connection. Ms. Laura knows her audience.
"Any attempt to regress to the past is inevitably a journey into a new future based on a bad premise."
I know I was supposed to comment on this a while back but one thing about your classmates responses to your article keeps coming back into my forebrain bugging me. They dont want a theocracy but they DO want a COS to change the Constitution so they can control the rest of us and force a theocracy on us. But the thing I was also troubled by is they combine the Constitutional "education" with firearms training? This indicates to me that on some level they think that violence will be required to impose thier vision of America IMO. Dominionists, 7 Mountains doctrine also seem to be involved in thier idea of how to rewrite and enforce an amended Constitution. I'm already think they are twisting the intentions of the framers by claiming they wanted a "Christian" nation. Seperstion of church and state was based on the experience of Roman Catholic church's meddling in govt affairs. I wish the framers had been more specific but that is no excuse for making false claims. Anyway that's my 3 cents worth what with inflation and all.