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What is America?10/4/2021 What is America? A question that has the simple answer of being a country that is the predominant force in the world, but also has a much more complex and complicated answer. America begins and ends with its own founding nearly 250 years ago, where the greatest men of their generation came together to form a government based on the principles of liberty, freedom, and self-determination. America has always been based on these ideals and throughout its history, it has been dedicated to the sole purpose of benefiting and enhancing the lives of its citizens. The concept of what is America must be broken down into the original intentions of the founding fathers, and the current situation with which the country finds itself. The founders’ basis for Independence and the American experiment at large is found in the tyrannical nature of the British Crown and the lack of natural rights. As Thomas Jefferson stated in the Declaration of Independence, “Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to 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.” Jefferson explains the exact reason for the American Revolution by highlighting the lack of accountability by the British government to the desires of the colonists. A new government based on the safety and happiness of the people and for those same people to achieve a substantive life, not just as a cog in the system of the Monarch. This is the historical basis for what America truly is and was intended to be; a country based on the interests of the common man and a government that heeds to such desires through representative government. America at its core is a country built upon the ideas of common sacrifice for the greater good as well as representative government based on the ideas of protecting the best interests of its people. Validating the ideas promised by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln highlights the same themes in the Gettysburg Address at the height of the American divide. He began the speech with the famous line, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Lincoln did not trace the beginning of the American experiment to the Constitution but instead to 1776 and the Declaration of Independence itself. Though America has undergone significant changes and hurdles throughout history, it has always strived towards the concepts of equality and liberty for its citizens.
This leads us into the 21st century and America’s core is once again being tested before our very eyes. America has become a place that no longer resembles the ideals promised by Jefferson and Lincoln but instead enters an era where liberty, freedom, and equality are limited by the highest powers of government. The leaders of the American experiment, on both sides of the political aisle, no longer believe in these bedrock American principles, and instead, their care for the common people is lower than ever before in history. America has faced extremely turbulent times before in its history with social strife, economic hardships, and outright Civil War, but in these times, there were always leaders truly fighting for American citizens. In 2021, we have leaders who argue in defense of American citizens but nobody truly fights for the common people. American politicians are more willing to fight for the elites of society, such as the wealthy corporatists, lobbyists, and of course themselves. This doesn’t even include the foreign entities and foreign leaders who have more loyalty from American leaders than the people they supposedly represent. Politicians care more about illegal immigrants and foreign refugees than they do about the hundreds of thousands dying every year from suicide and drug overdoses. Instead of helping Americans struggling with addiction and overdoses, politicians instead refuse to act so multi-billion dollar drug companies can continue to profit off the recovery of struggling Americans. This country has become the elitist, self-centered political club that the founders feared to such a degree. John Adams highlighted this fear, writing in a letter to Jefferson about the new nation, “In every society known to man, an aristocracy has risen up in the course of time, consisting of a few rich and honorable families who have united with each other against the people.” This aristocratic class Adams forewarns about is no longer fantasy, but instead is the very reality that exists today. America is the greatest country in the history of the world, but the further we stray away from the founding fathers and their principles, the further we devolve into nothing more than a collection of people dominated by a superior class based on money and corruption. As John Adams originally stated, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” This perfectly encapsulates the American experiment and foreshadows dark days ahead for our amazing country if we cannot correct course and recommit to the ideals of liberty, freedom, and self-determination.
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What is America?10/4/2021 Paul Keenan
This article is part of our “What is America?” political theory symposium, hosted by BC Republicans. On Tuesday, October 5, 2021, the BC Republicans will hold a discussion of what America means, both at home and abroad. Ultimately, America is an ideal that is embodied in a people and a history. These two aspects are both necessary to fully capture the essence of America. The former is insufficient on its own: America is not merely some theoretical ideal, separate from the flesh-and-blood American people or their specific American history. The essence of America must include our Revolution, our Civil War, and our defeat of the Axis powers. At the same time, America is not merely a people with a history, like every other people and every other nation in the world. America is founded on and continuously strives to fulfill a uniquely American ideal. More precisely, the American ideal is the notion that virtue and happiness can only be pursued under conditions of liberty, and the guarantee of liberty requires the limitation of government. Because America is an ideal embodied, that specific embodiment can and has changed over the course of our history. Who can doubt that the descendants of Ellis Island immigrants are as fully American as the descendants of the Puritans? The American people are not merely those who first sailed over on the Mayflower; America has been and will continue to be enlarged and enriched by the assimilation of new peoples, each with new contributions to make to the American story. Strong ideas need not fear weak ideas. Strong cultures need not fear weaker cultures. Those who believe American culture must be isolated and coddled to protect it from outside influence betray their own lack of faith in American culture. American culture will not be destroyed or weakened by contact with other cultures; American culture grows stronger and stronger with every new contact and interaction. Who can look upon a McDonald’s in Vietnam, and not conclude that American culture is strong? The very same country in which we lost a war trying to prevent the spread of communism is now voluntarily importing American capitalist culture. Even our biggest geopolitical enemies send the children of their elites to be educated in American schools. Millions of families give up everything they own to cross oceans to have even a chance of starting a life in America. The whole world can see American greatness clearly—except, it seems, many Americans. The attack on American greatness comes from two directions: first, obviously, from the Left, who hate the ideal of limited government, as well as any celebration of tradition as such. The second direction of attack is the so-called populist right, who argue that in order to save America from inevitable decline, we must abandon the American ideal and become like every other blood-and-soil nation in the world—“At least Hungary has a high fertility rate!” What will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and suffers the loss of his own soul? America is a nation with a soul, and we cannot ever forget that.
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Anilda Rodrigues
On September 12, The Gavel published their article, “Low Income Individuals Bear the Brunt of Abortion Restrictions.” The article is replete with factual and logical errors. Below is a point-by-point response to the article in question. ____________________________________________________________________________________ An important tenet of Roe v. Wade is the access to a SAFE abortion, as justices acknowledged the danger of illegal abortions—seeing as by 1965 illegal abortions made up one-sixth of all pregnancy related deaths. In contrast, under Roe v. Wade abortions have become one of the safest medical procedures with a 99% safety record. Abortion has a fairly high efficacy rate, meaning that the vast majority of the abortions performed end with the desired outcome. That outcome is a dead human baby. When an abortion fails? It means that an abortionist attempted to end a baby’s life, but (fortunately) failed. Is there such thing as “safe abortion”? No, there is nothing safe about a procedure in which nearly 100% of its victims end up dead. Regardless of how “safe” abortion seems to be for the mother, it does not make it any more “right.” (Keep in mind that the “99% safety record” is referring to physical health. The mental health of post abortive mothers is not included in this percentage). Capital punishment is “safe” for everyone in the execution room expect the person being executed. It is no different here. The baby being executed during an abortion is not safe. Scholars have estimated that before Roe v. Wade between 20-25% of all pregnancies ended in abortion, demonstrating that abortions always have and will continue to happen. Therefore, it is clear that bans on abortions do not decrease their rates, but instead puts those who can get pregnant at greater risk of fatality or injury by blocking life-saving healthcare.” It is unreasonable to think that making something illegal will not decrease its occurrence. If shoplifting was not illegal, I can only imagine how much more common it would be. The pro-life movement is not merely interested in abolishing abortion. Rather, the forefront of this movement is to create a culture of life. But it is impracticable to create a culture of life when governments themselves are sanctioning abortions, in a society that glamorizes women for obtaining abortions. Laws do not always follow ethics; but ethics should be at the forefront of all laws we create. Laws do not always dictate decisions people choose to make, but they certainly do have a powerful effect. In comparison, imagine it’s 1862, and a white slave owner was to say: “Slavery will always exists, so don’t bother fighting it.” Though this sounds absurd, it is somewhat understandable why one may utter such statement given that slavery had been a world wide practice that has lasted for millennia. Arguably we still have slavery to this day: sex trafficking, child exploitation, etc. However, just become something has “always” happened it does not mean we must forever endure it and not attempt to diminish it. This same slave owner approaches an abolitionist and says: “Racism in this country is too grave. Freeing the slaves will only infuriate white supremacists and make them terrorize black people. Abolishing slavery will not help them achieve equality and freedom because people’s mind on slavery and racism has not changed. It’s pointless to fight for liberation. Enslaving them is the best we can do for them.” Needless to say, like any faithful activist, this abolitionist is not convinced to give up this fight, though concerned for what life in America would be like for black folks after abolishing slavery. Fast forward to 1865, the Ku Klux Klan was founded and black Americans continued to be subjugated and endured more inhumane and unjust treatment. But would you ever say that black Americans should have stayed put and remained slaves? Despite the struggles ahead of slavery liberation, it does not for a second suggest that slavery was “fine” or any “better” than Jim Crow. Despite knowing that terror will arise, people will die, brutality and other forms of violence will continue, it does not justify going back to slavery. Abolitionists and slaves did what at the time was likely seen as “impossible”: they fought the status quo. Slavery was a normal practice in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Imagine saying “slavery will always exist” as an excuse to keep slavery legal. (I am not saying that The Gavel condones slavery; in fact, I’m sure they do not, so the logic of this analogy should hold for them.) Similarly, “abortions will always exist, therefore do not restrict it” is a flawed logic. Even if abortions will always exist, it does not mean that laws should disregard the right to life of preborn human beings. It is also quite ironic to refer to abortion as “life-saving heathcare” given that abortion is literally a life-ending act of violence. It does not save lives, and it is not care. “The bill puts people’s lives at risk and doesn’t end abortions at all.” It is very much true that SB8 does not end abortion. But what it will do is save around 150 babies every day. Not being allowed to obtain an abortion is not what is putting women at risk. The abortionists working illegally and in unsanitary conditions are the ones at fault for women who die after obtaining an illegal abortion. These abortionists are willing to terminate a life in the womb for profit even at the expense of causing the woman to die. These abortionists are the ones risking both a woman’s and her baby’s life; they are the ones we should be infuriated by, and they must be legally prosecuted for their crimes (i.e. putting a woman’s life at risk, working without a license/working in uninspected “medical” facilities etc). “SB 8 does not end abortions; it only ends safe abortions for poor Texans. The wealthy always have and always will have access to the best medical care available, leaving poor and disadvantaged people in the dust…..The ability to travel for abortion care is a privilege only the wealthy were able to access, leaving low income people scrambling to get care as soon as the temporary ban had passed. Abortion is healthcare and therefore people will always seek the procedure, even under criminalization as people did last year.” Being rich is undeniably a privilege. It’s easier for you to pay to have your crimes covered and live without facing the penalty. For example, millionaire Peter Chadwick murder his wife Quee Choo in 2012 in Newport, California. After being charged with murder in 2015, he went into hiding for nearly five years until he was finally found in Mexico. How was he able to travel around for so long without being caught? Money. If a poor man committed murder he would very likely be caught within days of the crime. Why? Because he’s not rich. But one would never say, “let’s make murder legal since rich people are more likely to get away with it.” Furthermore, a rich white sexual assaulter is able to pay-off his victim to encourage her to stay silent and to not denounce him. But a poor sexual assaulter would not be able to offer money to pay-off his victim because he does not have the privilege of being rich. But we would never say “sexual assault should tolerated because rich dudes are getting away with it while the poor men are being arrested.” Sexual assault and murder are both wrong, so it will not be condoned regardless if one group is more likely to be found guilty than another. We also know that these crimes will unfortunately always happen, but that does not change the fact that these two acts are unjust and thus should remain illegal. (What we can do, and should do, is understand why one racial or economic group is more likely to be caught than others. And in doing so, we will not declassify murder and sexual assult as a crime, but instead work to understand why only some of the criminals are caught. Just because poor and black people are more likely to be negatively affected by a law, it simply does not mean that this law is unjust. What it likely means is that there are hidden factors that are making a group more likely to be affected than others.) Although the claim about the rich having easier access to abortion sounds very true, it does not say such in terms of the legality of abortion. Compared to the poor, the rich are far more likely to get away with essentially any crime. Yet, it does not call for us to be lenient on every crime and stop prosecuting criminals. So unless the article provides an explanation for why abortion is a “woman’s right” (which it does not, and which abortion is not), then the point of rich people having easier access is moot. “Social welfare services such as accessible sex education, contraceptives, universal childcare, paid maternity and paternity leave, etc. have been proven to lower abortion rates, so if decreasing abortion rates is the goal of SB 8, why would these policies not be enacted? Is it because keeping people in poverty and communities of color disenfranchised while effectively killing them by preventing life-saving medical care maintains the Texas Republican stronghold? Possibly.” Why is the Democratic party so invested in making sure that black women have access to abortion? Is it really because they care so much about black lives that they are okay with not only funding abortions in the country, but also funding abortion overseas, specifically in Africa? Many more millions of black people would be present in America today (presumably a strength to the Democratic party, but they seem to be doing themselves a huge mis-favor). If you care about black lives, a great first step is to stop killing them in the womb. But most Democrats do not seem to care about certain black lives. What Democratic politicians seem to be more in love with is population control— but the population being targeted most severely are black babies and babies with disabilities. “SB 8 maintains traditional Texan Christian values, while simultaneously finding a way to further deprive low income and communities of color from “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” by blocking medical care and worsening poverty rates.” Again, abortion is not medical care. Care does not involve the deliberative and intentional killing of a human life. Second, if the way to improve poverty is by killing black babies in the womb, then no. Please suggest an actual solution in preventing black maternal mortality rate and addressing poverty. The US Declaration of Independence grants us the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Notice that life is the first mentioned. With no right to life, no other rights matter. There is no pursuing happiness if you don’t first have basic protection for your life. Abortion strips a baby from his or her right to life and thereby preventing this life from ever enjoying any other rights, such as liberty or the ability to pursue happiness. “Luckily there is hope, since the Department of Justice is suing the state of Texas for the unconstitutionality of the ban by defying long-standing Supreme Court precedent. This is a rapidly developing story, but all people, whether you have a uterus or not, should be paying attention.” All people, with or without uterus, should indeed care about abortion. You probably have often heard the chant “no uterus, no opinion.” Notice that we do not see that here, likely because the heartbeat bill sets abortion restrictions, in which case it is perfectly acceptable for men to voice their opinions in disapproval. In any case, men should be speaking up on abortion issues because human rights violations are every human’s business. ____________________________________________________________________________________ The Texas Heartbeat Bill is a great step in the right direction. It is far from a perfect bill, but it motivates the abortionists, abortion facilities, health insurances and others involved in the abortion to not part take in abortion when the preborn heartbeat has been detected. The consequence of potentially being sued encourages individuals to not engage in such affairs. This is real progress. It’s unfortunate that the progressive voices of Boston College don’t see it as such. But rest assured, this is only the beginning. The momentum within the Pro-Life movement has only been getting stronger, and we won’t be stopping with SB8. Despite the limitations of this bill, it will save lives. Many babies will be saved from the abortion industry. That is worthy of celebration. If you are encouraged by the steps the anti-abortion movement has been taking to save vulnerable lives in the womb, please consider donating to Live Action and the Students for Life of America, two organizations working tireless to educate and mobilize people to be a voice for the voiceless. Having a baby in an unplanned pregnancy is not the worst thing that can happen to you. One of the worst things that can happen is you allowing a blood-thirsty, money-hungry abortion industry to profit off of violence being committed inside your own womb. The women of Texas—the black women of Texas—do not need anyone’s pity. What all women need is compassion, something abortion does not provide. Women in Texas who choose to not get an abortion or are unable to get an abortion will have other options. By supporting these pregnancy resource centers you will be helping many women facing unplanned pregnancies. With the heartbeat law in effect, mothers will be in much need of our help, from pro-life and pro-choice people alike. Pregnancy Resource Centers in Texas: Westside Pregnancy Center - El Paso, TX (915) - 703 - 3001 Fort Worth Pregnancy Center - Fort Worth, TX (817) - 458 - 8339 Prestonwood Pregnancy Center - Dallas, TX (972) - 428 - 4700 Trotter House - Austin, TX (512) - 476 - 7774 Houston Coalition for Life - Houston, TX (713) - 395 - 1330 The Pregnancy Help Center - Lake Jackson, TX (979) - 297 - 3622 Any Woman Can - San Antonio, TX (210) - 370 - 3939 The future is life. |