Principles, pesky principles

The problem in America today is that no one understands what a principle is anymore.

Principles are guiding beacons. They are intended to define who we are, and they are rarely if ever compromised.

Principles may be expressed or implied in law, but they are not laws.

The principle of free expression may be codified in the first amendment, but the first amendment is not the principle of free expression.

Principles are awkward. They can force us to do things we don't want to do, like letting the nazis march in Skokie Illinois.

The principle of free expression demands that we defend the rights of others to express the ideas we hate the most.

Bringing in the law often provides wiggle room around these principles..for example perhaps finding some ordinance about the park or neighborhood to prevent the march.

The law allows the wiggle room to go around the principle when we find it to be inconvenient, while still patting ourselves on the back for the legality (rightness?) of our actions.

For historical perspective, the nazi party in Germany took the trouble to change the laws to make rounding up the Jews legal.

Apparently, they had a principle problem.

When we walk away from the basic principles we have as a culture, pay attention to how the laws change.

Pay attention regardless of whether you like or dislike the group it applies to, because when we abandon a principle for one, we can abandon it for all.

Our laws should reflect our principles, not the loopholes we need to create when we find them inconvenient.


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Gun control ...terrorism.. This week in America.

In a week where the senate shutdown progress on background checks for guns, we were attacked by two terrorists at the Boston marathon.
We are apparently willing to pay the social safety price for defense of the second amendment, exactly as written. It goes without saying that the butchers bill for this is orders of magnitude higher than the terrorism body count, inclusive of acts both foreign and domestic.
So now, the 24 hour news cycle and partisan debate, along with politicians attempting to score political points will whip up the usual fervor of fear and patriotism..and perhaps we will prevent or undermine immigration reform as a result.
Throughout the debate and rhetoric, the recurring question will be, "How can we be sure that nothing like this will ever happen again?" The truthful answer is that we can't. There is a price for a free and open society, and that price is that we can be attacked from within.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Ben Franklin
If you have the courage to drive a car, cross the street, own a gun..leave your house..take a shower...you are already engaging in behaviors that put you at higher risk than terrorist attacks.
The focus and the fear we generate agonizing over this lessens us and gives strength to those that commit these acts. They are simply criminals, and unworthy of our attention apart from the effort required to remove them from our society.
Our courage and determination to remain a free society in the face of attack is the bulwark to defend and the ground we should stand on together.
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