Who can blame the Russians for stripping human rights when they are only doing the same thing as the last superpower?
"The stifling of freedom and the curtailing of democratic rights is a victory for the terrorists" – Mr. Yeltsin
"How can you stamp out corruption without a normal parliament or free press?" – Mr Gorbachev
Read the whole thing, it's not a pretty sight. Then neither is the Patriot Act in this country. Nor is the fact that whenever someone criticizes the president, that someone is called anti-American. Or how about when 90% of the people decide that the other 10% are simply not worthy of the laws that govern marriage?
Here are some fun quotes from our past:
"An equal application of law to every condition of man is fundamental." –Thomas Jefferson to George Hay, 1807. ME 11:341
"The most sacred of the duties of a government [is] to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens." –Thomas Jefferson: Note in Destutt de Tracy, "Political Economy," 1816. ME 14:465
"To unequal privileges among members of the same society the spirit of our nation is, with one accord, adverse." –Thomas Jefferson to Hugh White, 1801. ME 10:258
Wow, that Thomas Jefferson guy had lots to say about governments.
Enough already. Put your thinking caps back on. Quit playing party politics. Pay attention to what's going on around you. Do the right thing. Democracy is *not* an entitlement. It has to be vigorously maintained or it will go away.
