"People say, 'But what about the Founding Fathers? They were civil libertarians ... they would not have wanted to see the government take away people's civil rights!' The Founding Fathers?? Gimme a break. Do you think for one second that the Founding Fathers would have put up with ANY of this shit? I mean, come on! They were blowing people's heads off because there was a tax on their breakfast drink, okay?"
-- Dennis Miller
Posted by sheilaI'm reading "Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee" - a few civil liberty issues in that one...
Posted by: Betsy at December 11, 2003 06:06 PMBetsy, no offense, but why is that relevant to the quote? Wounded Knee took place in 1890, more than 60 years after the last of the Founding Fathers died.
Posted by: Dave J at December 11, 2003 08:35 PMThat is the end of the book -
Posted by: Betsy at December 12, 2003 08:06 AMDave J - I apologize - I grabbed the book and see that the focus begins around the Civil War - I think I'm just overwhelmed by all the history of Native Americans that I equated the book with the beginning of American History...
Posted by: Betsy at December 12, 2003 09:09 AMDennis Miller - good for a laugh.
But remember that less than 30 years afterwards, some of those same founders passed a sedition law that made it a federal crime to publish anything criticizing the government or its policies.
And, another batch complained, because that sort of a sedition law was properly a state not a federal manner.
Of course, they did come to their senses and let the sedition act expire after two years.
Posted by: Ted K. at December 12, 2003 10:00 AMThe McCullough biography of John Adams covers the sedition act in great detail.
I suppose, to quote the last line of Some Like it Hot: "Nobody's perfect."
Posted by: red at December 12, 2003 01:13 PM