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Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rolla Coasta who wrote (645)	1/20/2001 12:56:36 AM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 23908

Q... The British sense of "human rights" was derived from the devine right of kings, as modified by the Magna Carta and English common law. So far as I know, there is no outright declaration in any British constitutional level document that declares the inherent, inalienable rights of the individual. However, it it also evident that the body of precedent within their common law now closely mirrors the constitutional guarantees written into the US constitution. And even in the US, such a thought as inalienable rights was a new and provocative assertion at the time of our founding. Again.. you constantly bring up history that dates back 100-200 years ago as if they still apply today. If I wanted to take the same tact, I could eat myself with hate for all things british. Or the Native American part of me could express disgust and hatred for the white man. I can't change the past and neither can you. But we can impact the future, if only on a person to person basis. However, you have acknowledged one point that I was trying to make. And that point is that the current regime in China consists of a bunch of old cold warriors who are inflexible in their views towards their own people. And as a result of decades of communist rule, people are spiritually empty and seeking something to replace the decayed religion that was marxism. Falun Gong members have shown NO VIOLENCE towards anyone, yet they have been beaten and murdered by the Chinese authorities. I could see them executing armed rebels, but unarmed passive resisters? I suggest you follow the history of Ghandi, who the British ALSO thought was a threat to their authority in India. Ghandi was strictly a pacifist, yet suffered greatly at the hands of the british. I suggest that China is the same path, doomed to repeat the terrible mistakes of others. Chinese leadership must counter any personal spiritual "emptiness" by infusing a sense of purpose and indivual worth within their society. The best way to do this is to permit them to find their own reason for being alive (other than to serve the state). And if people wish to follow a particular belief system, then so be it. So long as they follow a law designed to protect both their rights and the rights of their fellow citizens, what's the harm? Yeah... this is heavy philosophy, but what separates the US from many other nations on this planet is that we have a written acknowledgement of the implicit worth of an individual. That's not to suggest that we perfectly adher to that right, but simply that everyone has that same common thread of mutual respect from which to draw upon when dealing with one another. When they have political agenda to damage others, then it is another thing. It sounds like they only political "damage" they are doing is to the self-annointed "paternal" leadership of China who have no political mandate to govern except what they proclaim for themselves. And I can see why Jiang is so frightened. A little freedom is pretty heady stuff.. But it is also magnificent to behold when the dreams of millions of people are released to be turned into reality. Regards, Ron