Hell, no. If anything, we have failed them. They were, first, citizens, and fully engaged. Are we?
Read the Rest!Black Patriots–A Promise Unkept
After my first post in the last series, 8 Shameful Things Our Founders Believed, I heard from an old friend, Maurice Barboza. We worked together on the staff of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee in the ‘70s, after which I moved to the Senate side and left D.C. to return to my Northwestern roots.
Read the Rest!8 Shameful Things Our Founders Believed–VI
Picking up from last Friday: The Rest of Shameful Thing 8–Redistricting. Perhaps the most currently contentious legacy of the Philadelphia founders’ decision to leave the States in charge of how its voters select their federal—and, by default, state and local—representatives is periodic redistricting.
Read the Rest!8 Shameful Things Our Founders Believed–V
Picking up from Monday: Shameful Thing Eight—Voting Rights. 7. Each State could decide who gets to vote and under what circumstances.
Read the Rest!Write In “Sam’l. L. Clemens”
We interrupt this skein of seriousness to advise that–despite the estimated $2+ billion that will be spent this campaign season on advertising, the content of which is the intellectual equivalent of a slap fight at third grade recess–Mr. Twain reminds us that not all that much has changed in a century, at least in terms of content.
Read the Rest!8 Shameful Things Our Founders Believed–IV
Picking up from Friday: Shameful Things Six and Seven. 6. The people couldn’t be trusted to elect their state’s Senators.
Read the Rest!8 Shameful Things Our Founders Believed–III
Picking up from Monday: Shameful Thing Five. 5. Neither were women equal to men.
Read the Rest!Dr. Barry–In the House
Here’s another offering from my pal, guest blogger Dr. Barry Pascal. It was originally published in the North Valley Community Connection in August.
Read the Rest!8 Shameful Things our Founders Believed–II
Picking up from last Friday: Shameful Things 3 and 4: 3. Kidnapped Africans were property—bought, sold, and claimable—defined as “three-fifths” human, but only for census purposes.
Read the Rest!8 Shameful Things Our Founders Believed–I
“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.”
Read the Rest!