Monday April 17, 2006

Article 10 of the New Hampshire State Constitution seems remarkably prescient for an old document:

“Government being instituted for the common benefit, protection and security of the whole community and not for the private interest or emolument of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, whenever the ends of government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to reform the old, or establish a new government. The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.”

Amen to that. After being inspired, be horrified by the thirteen worst First Amendment abuses of 2005 — the “winners” of the Jefferson Muzzles.

Monday April 17, 2006

The lead from a Boston Globe story:

“Eager to begin the day’s construction project, the workers cheerfully conduct calisthenics drills and beg their supervisor for the most difficult jobs. They then chant in unison, ‘Can we build it? Yes we can!’ When given a day off, the workers spend it practicing their duties. These might be scenes from a North Korean propaganda film but they’re actually from ‘Bob the Builder,’ one of the most popular children’s cartoons on American television.”

Then there was that other story about gay couples bringing their adopted children en masse to the White House easter egg roll and conservatives being pissed …

And then there was another story about how a ninth-grader was banned from reading a W.H. Auden poem at a statewide competition — by his own school — because the lyrics included ‘hell’ and ‘damn’ …

I really don’t even know what to say anymore. And yet, a variety of actors in our political system still keep trying to impose their social framework on a population of 300 million people that — surprise! — can’t seem to agree on much. The obvious solution would be to get the government out of social policy, or at least devolve those responsibilities to the state level so that people could move to a place that fit their idea of a proper society, but politicians (and the public, for that matter) rarely grasp the obvious solutions.

Bonus link: “A recent survey of ________ teen girls revealed that 63 percent would rather be a topless model than a doctor or nurse.” What nationality fills the blank? Click here for the answer.