Posted on 06/12/2005 9:35:01 PM PDT by quidnunc
Once there was a farm located by a tranquil river. One day a duck from the river bumped into a chicken from the farm, and they immediately fell head over heels in love with each other. Sadly, no one else in the barnyard community could appreciate their romance, and both were mocked by all the other animals. "Ducks and chickens were not meant to fall in love," guffawed the cows and the dogs and the roosters — especially the roosters. Deeply mortified by the ridicule, the duck told his beloved hen, "We will flee these narrow-minded bigots. Come, let us find a place free from such ignoble prejudice." And with these inspiring words on his beak, the duck plunged into the river, followed by the love-stricken chicken, who, of course, promptly drowned.
We are not told what lesson the duck learned from his tragic experience. Being a duck, he may not have learned one at all. He may even have gone to other farmyards and urged other love-smitten hens to follow him to their watery graves. Perhaps he thought, one day I will find a chicken that can swim.
Ever since our miraculously successful revolution in 1776, other countries, falling in love with our democracy, have tried to follow in our webbed footsteps, only to drown miserably in the misadventure, as France would do in its revolution of 1789, and as nations like Mexico or Venezuela would come to do after the collapse of the Spanish Empire in 1808. Sometimes we have, like the duck in the fable, cheered on the chicken to her aquatic death; sometimes we have merely been the inadvertent inspiration. Yet, in case after case, the chicken always ended up dead, while the duck went happily quacking down the river.
Why is this?
It is because Americans take to democracy, so to speak, like a duck to water. It is our element. We thrive in it and prosper in it. It is our refuge and haven. But, like the duck of the fable, we too often forget our natural element may not be the natural element for other peoples, whose history, culture, and ways are radically different from ours. We forget that, just as the duck has evolved to survive in the water, so America has evolved to survive in the midst of democratic bickering and dickering.
-snip-
We are giving them FREEDOM were as, they never had it before, and don't know better.
By posting a pic of a chicken swimming, you're debunking the premise of this thread. Ought not there be some form of penalty for such out-right insubordination?
You, yourself may be duck-like, in that you can tolerate democracy, whereas the chicken (probably thrown into the pond) spent it's last dying moments trying desperatly to reach the safety of the shore.
Keep it up and I'll smack you with my oligarchical pope hat.
The US was in a very fortunate position during our colonial period.
You worked and worked very hard or else you starved.
Government was thousands of miles away in England and really didn't have a lot of impact.
As a result self sufficient citizens got used to limited government and self rule.
It was good enough to build a nation.
It has taken 60 years to break a system that endured 300+ years.
"Every time I see a freedom lost..."
What freedoms are we losing?
And what a gift that is! Just, how do you wrap it? Bombs and bullets? Should it be accompanied with a cake? As this thread suggests, there are some who would find individual 'freedoms' foreign (water) and would prefer tyranny, prefer to lord over others and have no desire to get 'wet' at all.
As Microgood commented, the conditions for democracy may be rare which is something we shouldn't discount (rarity, that is...not that freedom isn't universally desired).
It's almost as though we've stepped back in time and encountered a tribe that still tosses virgins into volcanoes to ensure a good corn crop. These 'chickens' may not be ready for prime time or swimming lessons.
The major difference between the US Constitution and the Constitution of France, is that we mention God, and that certain rights are God given. The French have no mention of in alienable rights.
Okay, okay, I guess being only 20 yrs of age, I wouldn't understand.
Nevertheless, where I live, we can burn as much wood as we want in our backyard. I live out of the city limits. Everyone in my neighborhood has a burnpile.
I guess the reason I ask is that most people word it as if to say "During the Bush Administration...we've lost all our freedoms" rather than a gradual erosion. That's what the Europeans say when calling Bush "Hitler."
LOL!! Man, I'm not certain I want to see the 'full list'. LOL! (But it'd be cool to have it just the same)
We are so wonderfully blessed. Life is not perfect, and it's never been without irritation.
Take a deep breath and choose to be thankful, just for today, for the freedoms we have rather than scratching around for something to complain about.
Oops. A chicken metaphor. Sorry.
Forget those idiots, this has been going on since Lincoln's time. It's only snowballed of late. If Bush is guilty of anything, it's producing the corn-cobbed pipe or the coal for the eyes on Mr. Snowman which is the snowjob that has us sniviling for relief from the fed/god/gov that rules America from the bench of stench.
We either tar and feather some 'justices', or go down with the ship as these clowns are blowing holes in our constitution.
"We either tar and feather some 'justices', or go down with the ship as these clowns are blowing holes in our constitution."
The tar would go good with their black robes. It's amazing what idiots they are, with their "interpretation" of the consitution. Some laws, like most gun control, are even in violation of the constitution. I've also had trouble finding the article or amendment in the constitution that makes it illegal to say the pledge to the flag in school.
There are three words found NOWHERE in the U.S. Copnstitution..
1) democracy..
2) democratic.
3) democrat..
It was on purpose not an oversight.. A democracy is governed by MOB RULE.. like England, Canada, and other URPean countrys.. Democracy is the source of socialism...
Democracy is the road to socialism. Karl Marx
Democracy is indispensable to socialism. The goal of socialism is communism. V.I. Lenin
The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism.- Karl Marx
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