We used to have this thing we revered. It was called the U.S. Constitution. Apparently, a sizeable chunk of Americans do not take the time to read the thing, nor do they really take it seriously as a guideline for civil society. According to a new CNN poll, a quarter of Americans do not think the Bush Administration has gone far enough in curtailing civil liberties.
I'm pretty scared to meet that 25% who are probably the same group of people who believe most of the Bill of Rights -- except of course the 2nd Amendment, which they'll swear up and down is God's own will -- is nothing but a liberal coddling of criminals.
The only good news to come out of the poll is that 39% of respondents believed BushCo had overstepped their bounds. The exact wording on CNN's cite is as follows: "39 percent of the 1,013 poll respondents said the Bush administration has gone too far [curtailing civil liberties]". That's a respectable percentage, but it's astounding to me that 61% of Americans have so little regard for the document upon which our government is based.
Oh well. As long as the malls are open and the shelves well-stocked, we don't need our rights, do we?
3 comments:
Remind me again what our kids are learning in high school? Frightening...
Cookie,
I can't speak for Canada, but here in the US, courses like civics and government have been displaced from required courses into electives or banished altogether in many districts.
However, beyond the schools we have a culture that insists that our primary right as Americans is to consume in whatever fashion we desire: our real choices are between Pepsi and Coke, paper or plastic, and whether we want to supersize our meals.
Political rights are so old-fashioned.
"However, beyond the schools we have a culture that insists that our primary right as Americans is to consume in whatever fashion we desire: our real choices are between Pepsi and Coke, paper or plastic, and whether we want to supersize our meals."
And with the "banishing" of transfats, soon we won't even have that! Deciding what you can eat for yourself is also so old fashioned.
Post a Comment