Thread: My Creed by Dean Alfange

I went to a chuckwagon dinner last night and this was on the back of my meal stub. Very profound.

"I do not chose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon. I seek opportunity to develop whatever talents God gave me -- not securty. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence no my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any earthly master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say -- 'This, with God's held, I have done.' All this is what it means to be an American."


I fear what it means to be American is changing from when this was originally penned.

Matt

The author of that was quite a man. An immigrant born in Constantinople he had close ties to immigrant groups throughout his life. Perhaps that is why he appreciated this country so much. He ran for congress in 1941 on the democrat ticket and Governor of NY in 1942 as a candidate of the American Labor Party.

He didn't win either of those seats. When the American Labor Party split over a rift between pro and anti communist groups he became leader of the newly formed Liberal Party.

. A supporter of FDR and active in campaigning for his presidential elections he lived to be 91 and remained an advocate for labor, the working man, and the poor. Nice read, thanks for posting that.

Originally Posted by mhailey

I went to a chuckwagon dinner last night and this was on the back of my meal stub. Very profound.

"I do not chose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon. I seek opportunity to develop whatever talents God gave me -- not securty. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence no my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any earthly master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say -- 'This, with God's held, I have done.' All this is what it means to be an American."


I fear what it means to be American is changing from when this was originally penned.

Matt

Hey Matt, I write this without intending offense, and without passing any judgement on the content of your post. This is just about the concept of change.

In the beginning, being an American meant being able to keep slaves, and it meant that only men had any say in anything.

And when those things changed, I am sure that there were many who expressed the same sentiment which I bolded in the part I quoted. Life is an ever lasting wave of change. You can either ride the wave or drown.

There are no absolute definitions of what it means to be American, because that definition changes all the time (see above), and you don't even have to go that far back to find a majority of people that would scream about the very idea of having a black president. They would consider that un-american too.

What it means to be American is defined by the opinion of the majority at any given time. Even the mental image of being American as expressed by the founding fathers would seem strange in the present day on some subjects.

The same is true for any other nation btw. Or even for professions.

Being an American has not changed since the conception and implementation of the the Bill of Rights and the United States Constitution. To be American had nothing to do with owning slaves and nobody defined themselves as Americans because they owned slaves. When the documents were drawn up and ratified there was the realization that the way the citizens were living their lives was not always in keeping of the principles laid out by the Constitution but that it was a seed and that it would grow. They were patient. We, as American citizens, will not go lightly to the type of tyranny that exists in most of the modern world today.

The one outstanding theme that is woven into the Constitution is that the individual is the source of all the government's power and wealth, not the other way around. There are a lot of us out here that believe in the Constitution and what it stands for and there is about to be a revolution, of sorts, in the US concerning how the government is treating the people. I do not know when it will happen, but I feel it in the wind. We have gotten to the point in this country where elected officials look at dissent as "extreme" when it does not meet their point of view.

Nancy Pelosi yesterday said that the the people that were coming out to attend the townhouse meetings wearing NAZI symbols and were "radical". She is one of the more ignorant idiots in the houses. I did not see one symbol, only people dressed like the normal citizens in this country, some fat, some thin, and some old who are fed up with this attitude that it is "my way or the highway". I hope that the rest of the world is watching because the SHIETT is about to hit the fan!


Take Care,
Richard

Originally Posted by Bruno

Hey Matt, I write this without intending offense, and without passing any judgement on the content of your post. This is just about the concept of change.

In the beginning, being an American meant being able to keep slaves, and it meant that only men had any say in anything.

And when those things changed, I am sure that there were many who expressed the same sentiment which I bolded in the part I quoted. Life is an ever lasting wave of change. You can either ride the wave or drown.

There are no absolute definitions of what it means to be American, because that definition changes all the time (see above), and you don't even have to go that far back to find a majority of people that would scream about the very idea of having a black president. They would consider that un-american too.

What it means to be American is defined by the opinion of the majority at any given time. Even the mental image of being American as expressed by the founding fathers would seem strange in the present day on some subjects.

The same is true for any other nation btw. Or even for professions.

You are correct that things change over time. We used to have "Blue Laws" which made it an arrestable offence to fail to attend church services on Sunday, and it was even against the law to fish on a Sunday. It was American to be a Puritan. However, the defining and underlying essence of "American" has been self-reliance. From the first colonies, to the founding of the nation, the revolutionary war, expanding into the frontier, creating settlements, ... . I fear that the American people are increasingly looking for handouts, and looking for the Government to provide everything for them, rather than the Government simply providing a system in which the people are free to further themselves, and create their own destiny. Americans are becomeing a "kept" people.

Matt

Thanks Matt.

Now if you want to look at the slave owner thing in the context of viewing each person as an equal individual it may have contributed to the reluctance of people in granting human rights to the slaves in this country.

What I mean is that her for people to accept Blacks as non slave or free people they had to accept them, as a part of our culture as being equal with the same rights and chance for success as themselves. Given the attitudes of the day you can see why this was very difficult.

On the other hand European nations with their history of stratified society had an easier time as they already had the cultural framework to accept a people into their culture yet not having to change their way of thought towards them as there is a history of European peoples looking upon even their fellow citizens as lessor creatures, and not as high a quality as those at the top.

[QUOTE=mhailey;431617]You are correct that things change over time. We used to have "Blue Laws" which made it an arrestable offence to fail to attend church services on Sunday, and it was even against the law to fish on a Sunday. It was American to be a Puritan. However, the defining and underlying essence of "American" has been self-reliance. From the first colonies, to the founding of the nation, the revolutionary war, expanding into the frontier, creating settlements, ... . I fear that the American people are increasingly looking for handouts, and looking for the Government to provide everything for them, rather than the Government simply providing a system in which the people are free to further themselves, and create their own destiny. Americans are becomeing a "kept" people.




Sadly, here down under we are well on the way to becoming a "kept people", one of your country men was here earlier in the year to compete in the World Black Powder Rifle Championships, the USA team included an expate Aussie who is now an American citizen. My mate relayed a comment by one of his team members who observed the way things are down here. He suggested Aussies made poor citizens but very good subjects. I was initially a bit miffed by the comment, but sadly feel I have to agree. We have long lost our sense of independance, and feel we allways need the govt to do things instead of taking the initiative as idividuals. I proper context individuals do sometimes make a difference down here, but it is not encouraged the dreaded tall poppy sydrome. Comes of having developed from a convict state.