America the Pitiful: Part One By Captain Willard          Conformity finds its root in patriotism. Patriotism stems from sentimentality and sentimentality from boredom and a slothful mind.          America has succeeded in taking the most idiotic approach to patriotism. An Anti-war song by Creedence is being used not only to spread shallow allegiance, but to spread it on an overpriced t-shirt. Patriotism is the status quo, but I don't really give a shit. A lack of principles can not be remedied by enlisting thoughtless support from the majority of Americans.          I tried to imagine an America that I really could support. I just kept rewinding in my mind; past Vietnam, past Korea, past FDR, just searching for something about which I could get patriotic. I'll just give away the ending now. There has never been an America deserving of my patriotism: present or past.          Let's begin at America's birth. In 1776, there were approximately 697,000 slaves, roughly one-sixth of the population of Colonial America. This was the beginning, the America we all idealize, the America to which we aspire to return. Slavery. Bullshit. It's enough of a reason to despise whatever country allows it.          Granted, many of the founding fathers, a fair majority in fact, despised slavery. Many states immediately freed slaves following the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and by 1787, slavery was basically non-existent from territory North of the Ohio River.          It was thought that, with the framing of the constitution, we would perhaps finally rid ourselves of this evil institution. We might have, had it not been for representatives from South Carolina and Georgia, who refused to ratify a document prohibiting slavery and so slavery remained.          It was then said that slavery would be ended by 1800, similar to an addict who says he'll quite heroin tomorrow.          It has been said that the framers of the constitution left a "double legacy." The authors of that document did not have the gumption to outlaw slavery and, in fact, facilitated it. The three-fifths rule (Article I, Section 2, paragraph3) allowed for slaves to be counted as three-fifths of a person for representation purposes.          It is an outrage that the defenders of the inalienable rights and freedom of humanity would refer to someone as three-fifths of a person. It is hypocrisy at its ugliest.          There is another part to the legacy, though. While they didn't condemn slavery, as they should have, the founders also avoided writing in such a way that would facilitate slavery in the future. This is evident in the fact that they avoided drawing distinctions between two races and avoided terms like "white" or "negro".          In the end, the founders fucked up. They allowed the depraved institution of slavery to continue. We say, "But the main focus was on finding a constitution that everyone could agree on. It's better to have that than go away empty handed." This is a lousy compromise. Compromise is why this country is in the shitter today.          Just imagine what would have happened if Madison and Jefferson had been as fervent about the abolition of slavery as they had been about the fair representation of states. Priorities, people! If the representation system is a little whacky, so what? It was a classic case of choosing the structure of government over the rights of people and there is no excuse for it.          Conversely, you would be amiss to imagine that you would have done differently. Make no mistake, people like Jefferson and Madison were good people. They hated slavery and they believed in freedom. The majority of today's population would cower in the same position, and likely give up more civil liberties in the interest of keeping everybody happy. If we should not idealize the founding fathers, we certainly should not idealize ourselves.          Would this have been an America I could endorse: of course not. To say that a state's rights supercede the rights of a human is appaling. The public should have said so. After all, it was not a document written for a select few white politicians. It was written for all people, then and now, but no one spoke up. It proved to be the beginning of America's pitiful end. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Back