2008 Woodie Awards
Our Right to Think
D. Meyer
Issue date: 9/26/06 Section: Forum
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This really isn't a letter concerning The Quad, I just had some thoughts I wanted to get out about our government. As a student at WCU I read The Quad as soon as it hits the stands and I thought this might fit well. I'm not sure how up to date all of us are on current events but I thought I might write a bit about the political nature of our country right now.
Last Friday, President Bush, in response to a journalist's question about a letter written by Colin Powell, effectively said that it is "unacceptable" to think about correlations between the actions of the United States and those of Islamic militants. Ignoring the actual correlations between us and them - which are numerous and horrifying all at once - I would instead like to focus on the insinuation that thinking is unacceptable. This straw is only the latest in a series of bold-faced comments to come from this administration during these six excruciating years. One could try to keep a positive frame of mind and say at least this comment isn't a lie. This country and its government, was founded by thinkers who thought differently than their government at the time. They were being abused, suppressed and lied to. And when finally they couldn't stand the torture any more they broke free from that government, creating a new one that would ensure that its citizens would not have to suffer the same treatment that they had to endure.
In our own Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson creates in words the freedom that is due to everyone in the world. "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 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. 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."
Last Friday, President Bush, in response to a journalist's question about a letter written by Colin Powell, effectively said that it is "unacceptable" to think about correlations between the actions of the United States and those of Islamic militants. Ignoring the actual correlations between us and them - which are numerous and horrifying all at once - I would instead like to focus on the insinuation that thinking is unacceptable. This straw is only the latest in a series of bold-faced comments to come from this administration during these six excruciating years. One could try to keep a positive frame of mind and say at least this comment isn't a lie. This country and its government, was founded by thinkers who thought differently than their government at the time. They were being abused, suppressed and lied to. And when finally they couldn't stand the torture any more they broke free from that government, creating a new one that would ensure that its citizens would not have to suffer the same treatment that they had to endure.
In our own Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson creates in words the freedom that is due to everyone in the world. "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 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. 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."
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