The first was in reference to my Holy Shit post that commented on Mike Huckabee's interest in amending the Constitution so that it reflected the Bible and God's word. The comment begged to differ with me on the basis that we were a country founded on religion, as evidenced by the phrase "one nation, under God."
Listen close people, you are going to have to do your homework a bit better than that to try and argue with me. First, the phrase "one nation, under God" is from the Pledge of Allegiance. Not the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution. Furthermore, that part of the Pledge was added in 1954 by then-president Dwight Eisenhower in reaction to the increasing anti-Communist thinking that was sweeping the country at the time. So it was not a part of the original Pledge, which itself was not something our Founding Fathers created. The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by a staff member of The Youth's Companion, a Boston-based children's magazine. (Read more here.)
So far as the documents that our Founding Fathers did play a role in: the Declaration of Independence makes two references to God or our creator. The first references the "separate or equal stations" afforded to us by "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" and the second deals with the rights our "Creator" has "endowed" us with. Read the whole she-bang for yourself here. (Some of us could use a bit of a refresher course I am gathering.)
Next, let's look at the U.S. Constitution. If you are interested, you can read the whole document here. God is NEVER mentioned in the Constitution. If you doubt me, read it, I dare you.
Hopefully that cleared that up. I don't doubt that many of the Founding Fathers had a strong faith and did in fact believe in God. But I also know that it was extremely important to them that our government be focused on governing in a democratic way and that religion not play a part in that.
Now, the second comment I wanted to address was in reference to the On Such a Winter's Day post. Yes, China and India are dramatically increasing their demand for energy, ergo oil. Those numbers are not going to decrease, only increase. I am realistic about that. What I refuse to be "realistic" about is that we have to kill off every living creature so those demands can be met. There are things we can do, in the United States, to not only reduce our energy/oil usage, but to create new forms of energy and in the meantime set an example for the rest of the world. If our government is so anxious to export our brand of governing to other countries, shouldn't they be just as anxious to insure that our country and the rest of the world is in existence to reap the benefits of democracy?
Back to what the anonymous commenter said about the Holy Shit post. Yes, what makes our country great is that we are able to disagree and freely voice our differences. And I support that, but I will NOT support the efforts of this administration or a subsequent one to take away my rights or to make my life worse than when that administration came into office. Dubya has made our lives worse: through the economy; through this senseless war; through his inattention to the environment; and his lack of interest in being a participant in the global stage that we now live on.
