Occupy Wall Street: America's Second Revolution?
We forget that the American War for Independence in 1776 was a revolution. While we do use the term American "Revolution" sometimes, we tend to think of that war as one in which the "Americans" threw out the "British." But, in fact, the colonists were fighting for the rights of Englishmen, not Americans. They thought of themselves as Englishmen, not as "Americans." So the war that began in 1775 at Lexington and Concord was a war that overthrew the existing government. That's what a revolution is.
The point here is that words have meaning. And to think clearly, to use your reason properly, you sometimes need to step back and define your terms. You have to use words carefully. If you hear someone else say something and you don't know what they mean by the words they are using, you should get in the habit of asking them exactly what they mean. Here's another example.
I hear some call for a second American Revolution these days. ("Occupy Wall Street" comes to mind.) I don't know exactly what they mean by that term. Do they mean a violent overthrow of the government? Whatever they might mean, the call for a second revolution isn't really accurate. The second American revolution was what we all grew up calling the "Civil War."
Think about this for a minute. When we read about civil wars in other countries, what do we typically picture? We picture two (or more) factions of the citizens of that country fighting each other with the objective of taking over the government, don't we? Typically the situation is that one faction controls the government and the other wants to control the government.
But the Civil War in America wasn't one faction trying to take over the government. It was one faction trying to overthrow the government and be independent of it. When the states of the South declared that they were leaving the Union, they did not want to take over the government in Washington DC. They wanted to set up a separate government. It was really a revolution, not a civil war.
In fact, South Carolina, the first state to secede from the Union, declared its independence by using exact words from the 1776 Declaration of Independence: "whenever any form of government becomes destructive of the ends for which it was established, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government."
So when you read or hear about a second American revolution, remember that we already had that. That revolution failed. The South didn't separate from the government in Washington.
As for what people mean today by a second American revolution (which really should be called the "Third American Revolution, right?) I'm not certain they understand what they're talking about. If they mean a revolution, they are calling for the overthrow of the government. How do they propose to do that? Do they want to do it by violent means? If not, then how?
Frankly, we really do need to change the way "business as usual" is conducted in Washington. And the more specific we can be about what needs to change - and I'm not talking about the typical political calls for "change" that we'll all hear this election year - the better chance we'll have of ending this crisis.
So think about what you want to see changed. And if you hear a call for a second American revolution, make sure you understand the meaning of the speaker or the author. Otherwise, it's just words being thrown around without any particular meaning that might feel good when you say them or hear them, but which will result in absolutely nothing of substance. Why waste time with that?
But remember this: the first and second American revolutions were attempts to overthrow the central government. The first succeeded and the second failed. So America is no stranger to revolution.
Oh, and if you run into people who criticize the central government for limiting or taking away their liberty, remember too that they're following an old American tradition.
The point here is that words have meaning. And to think clearly, to use your reason properly, you sometimes need to step back and define your terms. You have to use words carefully. If you hear someone else say something and you don't know what they mean by the words they are using, you should get in the habit of asking them exactly what they mean. Here's another example.
I hear some call for a second American Revolution these days. ("Occupy Wall Street" comes to mind.) I don't know exactly what they mean by that term. Do they mean a violent overthrow of the government? Whatever they might mean, the call for a second revolution isn't really accurate. The second American revolution was what we all grew up calling the "Civil War."
Think about this for a minute. When we read about civil wars in other countries, what do we typically picture? We picture two (or more) factions of the citizens of that country fighting each other with the objective of taking over the government, don't we? Typically the situation is that one faction controls the government and the other wants to control the government.
But the Civil War in America wasn't one faction trying to take over the government. It was one faction trying to overthrow the government and be independent of it. When the states of the South declared that they were leaving the Union, they did not want to take over the government in Washington DC. They wanted to set up a separate government. It was really a revolution, not a civil war.
In fact, South Carolina, the first state to secede from the Union, declared its independence by using exact words from the 1776 Declaration of Independence: "whenever any form of government becomes destructive of the ends for which it was established, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government."
So when you read or hear about a second American revolution, remember that we already had that. That revolution failed. The South didn't separate from the government in Washington.
As for what people mean today by a second American revolution (which really should be called the "Third American Revolution, right?) I'm not certain they understand what they're talking about. If they mean a revolution, they are calling for the overthrow of the government. How do they propose to do that? Do they want to do it by violent means? If not, then how?
Frankly, we really do need to change the way "business as usual" is conducted in Washington. And the more specific we can be about what needs to change - and I'm not talking about the typical political calls for "change" that we'll all hear this election year - the better chance we'll have of ending this crisis.
So think about what you want to see changed. And if you hear a call for a second American revolution, make sure you understand the meaning of the speaker or the author. Otherwise, it's just words being thrown around without any particular meaning that might feel good when you say them or hear them, but which will result in absolutely nothing of substance. Why waste time with that?
But remember this: the first and second American revolutions were attempts to overthrow the central government. The first succeeded and the second failed. So America is no stranger to revolution.
Oh, and if you run into people who criticize the central government for limiting or taking away their liberty, remember too that they're following an old American tradition.
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