NationStates Jolt Archive


Obama calls for a new Declaration of Independence.

Marrakech II
17-01-2009, 18:08
When CNN get the story figured out I will link it. However how should a new Declaration of Independence in the US look like?

President-elect Barack Obama implored Americans today to commit to a new declaration of independence -- rejecting ideology and bigotry

That's a start however what else should be added?
VirginiaCooper
17-01-2009, 18:10
What's wrong with the one we have now?
Marrakech II
17-01-2009, 18:11
What's wrong with the one we have now?

I would assume this doesn't replace the original.
Ashmoria
17-01-2009, 18:11
independence from what?
Conserative Morality
17-01-2009, 18:11
What's wrong with the one we have now?

Don't you0 get it? We need CHANGE! We must change everything we possible can!

On a more serious note, I prefict that this won't even get written. Just one of those phrases, y'know?
Yootopia
17-01-2009, 18:13
Wut -_-

"WE NEED TO NOT BE STUPID"
"uhu..."
The One Eyed Weasel
17-01-2009, 18:26
independence from what?

My thoughts exactly...

Independence from the patriot act and warrantless wiretapping maybe? Yeah, right...
Newer Burmecia
17-01-2009, 18:32
It's probably just a metaphor.
Skallvia
17-01-2009, 18:36
independence from what?

The Union in order to form the Nation of Why Not

http://concierge.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/06/07/royalcaribbean_perrinpost.jpg
Tagmatium
17-01-2009, 18:40
Presumably, the USA is declaring its independence from the rest of the world and casting itself off into space.
Wilgrove
17-01-2009, 18:41
independence from what?

^^ This ^^

*prepares for more Obama worshiping with Battle Axe*
Wilgrove
17-01-2009, 18:42
Presumably, the USA is declaring its independence from the rest of the world and casting itself off into space.

You know, that'd almost be worth the eventual death from lack of oxygen to see.
VirginiaCooper
17-01-2009, 18:44
The Union in order to form the Nation of Why Not

http://concierge.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/06/07/royalcaribbean_perrinpost.jpg

That had me in stitches! You sir, win this thread.

The cruise liners will rule once more!
Skallvia
17-01-2009, 18:44
Presumably, the USA is declaring its independence from the rest of the world and casting itself off into space.

Psh, only so we can take it over! lol...

http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:bt5mY3u7QRozHM:http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/images/f/fic-frea.gif
Call to power
17-01-2009, 19:11
I wouldn't want to be a British ex-pat right now...

course fresh starts are all nice and I'm sure this is all part of his master plan what with him knowing from the internet that he just needs to dangle marijuana in front of the populace for support in anything
Free Soviets
17-01-2009, 19:12
the text of the speech (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/17551.html):

We are here to mark the beginning of our journey to Washington. This is fitting because it was here, in this city, that our American journey began. It was here that a group of farmers and lawyers, merchants and soldiers, gathered to declare their independence and lay claim to a destiny that they were being denied.

It was a risky thing, meeting as they did in that summer of 1776. There was no guarantee that their fragile experiment would find success. More than once in those early years did the odds seem insurmountable. More than once did the fishermen, laborers, and craftsmen who called themselves an army face the prospect of defeat.

And yet, they were willing to put all they were and all they had on the line - their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor - for a set of ideals that continue to light the world. That we are equal. That our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness come not from our laws, but from our maker. And that a government of, by, and for the people can endure. It was these ideals that led us to declare independence, and craft our constitution, producing documents that were imperfect but had within them, like our nation itself, the capacity to be made more perfect.

We are here today not simply to pay tribute to our first patriots but to take up the work that they began. The trials we face are very different now, but severe in their own right. Only a handful of times in our history has a generation been confronted with challenges so vast. An economy that is faltering. Two wars, one that needs to be ended responsibly, one that needs to be waged wisely. A planet that is warming from our unsustainable dependence on oil.

And yet while our problems may be new, what is required to overcome them is not. What is required is the same perseverance and idealism that our founders displayed. What is required is a new declaration of independence, not just in our nation, but in our own lives - from ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry - an appeal not to our easy instincts but to our better angels.

That is the reason I launched my campaign for the presidency nearly two years ago. I did so in the belief that the most fundamental American ideal, that a better life is in store for all those willing to work for it, was slipping out of reach. That Washington was serving the interests of the few, not the many. And that our politics had grown too small for the scale of the challenges we faced.

But I also believed something else. I believed that our future is our choice, and that if we could just recognize ourselves in one another and bring everyone together - Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, north, south, east and west, black, white, Latino, Asian, and Native American, gay and straight, disabled and not - then not only would we restore hope and opportunity in places that yearned for both, but maybe, just maybe, we might perfect our union in the process.

This is what I believed, but you made this belief real. You proved once more that people who love this country can change it. And as I prepare to leave for Washington on a trip that you made possible, know that I will not be traveling alone. I will be taking with me some of the men and women I met along the way, Americans from every corner of this country, whose hopes and heartaches were the core of our cause; whose dreams and struggles have become my own.

Theirs are the voices I will carry with me every day in the White House. Theirs are the stories I will be thinking of when we deliver the changes you elected me to make. When Americans are returning to work and sleeping easier at night knowing their jobs are secure, I will be thinking of people like Mark Dowell, who's worried his job at Ford will be the next one cut, a devastating prospect with the teenage daughters he has back home.

When affordable health care is no longer something we hope for, but something we can count on, I will be thinking of working moms like Shandra Jackson, who was diagnosed with an illness, and is now burdened with higher medical bills on top of child care for her eleven year-old son.

When we are welcoming back our loved ones from a war in Iraq that we've brought to an end, I will be thinking of our brave servicemen and women sacrificing around the world, of veterans like Tony Fischer, who served two tours in Iraq, and all those returning home, unable to find a job.

These are the stories that will drive me in the days ahead. They are different stories, told by men and women whose journeys may seem separate. And yet, what you showed me time and again is that no matter who we are or what we look like, no matter where we come from or what faith we practice, we are a people of common hopes and common dreams, who ask only for what was promised us as Americans - that we might make of our lives what we will and see our children climb higher than we did.

We recognize that such enormous challenges will not be solved quickly. There will be false starts and setbacks, frustrations and disappointments. And we will be called to show patience even as we act with fierce urgency.

But we should never forget that we are the heirs of that first band of patriots, ordinary men and women who refused to give up when it all seemed so improbable; and who somehow believed that they had the power to make the world anew. That is the spirit that we must reclaim today.

For the American Revolution did not end when British guns fell silent. It was never something to be won only on a battlefield or fulfilled only in our founding documents. It was not simply a struggle to break free from empire and declare independence. The American Revolution was - and remains - an ongoing struggle "in the minds and hearts of the people" to live up to our founding creed.

Starting now, let's take up in our own lives the work of perfecting our union.

Let's build a government that is responsible to the people, and accept our own responsibilities as citizens to hold our government accountable.

Let's all of us do our part to rebuild this country.

Let's make sure this election is not the end of what we do to change America, but the beginning.

Join me in this effort. Join one another in this effort. And together, mindful of our proud history, hopeful for the future, let's seek a better world in our time. Thank you.
greed and death
17-01-2009, 19:13
i think he is runnign out of catchy phrases.
Someone just needs to say hey your not running for election right now chill.
Free Soviets
17-01-2009, 19:29
i think he is runnign out of catchy phrases.

or, you know, it could be from a speech originally slated to be held outside of independence hall
Lacadaemon
17-01-2009, 19:40
So is he going to do something about the banks which are stealing trillions of dollars? Or is this all talk.
FreeSatania
17-01-2009, 19:49
I'm not even going to pretend to try and understand this. Obamas you problem/solution/whatever - good luck 'mericans.

PS. try not to blow up the world.
H N Fiddlebottoms VIII
17-01-2009, 20:15
I thought we were done declaring war on abstract concepts?
Knights of Liberty
17-01-2009, 20:15
Obama speaks in metaphors, NSG angered.

This is typical.
Dondolastan
17-01-2009, 20:18
The South will want independence from Obama.
greed and death
17-01-2009, 20:18
So is he going to do something about the banks which are stealing trillions of dollars? Or is this all talk.

Independence from the banking system we are going back to barter.
Dondolastan
17-01-2009, 20:20
I don't have a problem with barter, for one.
Skallvia
17-01-2009, 20:23
The South will want independence from Obama.

Not all of it...If they really did try that...thered be a shit load of West Virginias and Winston Counties...
Dondolastan
17-01-2009, 20:26
Not all of it...If they really did try that...thered be a shit load of West Virginias and Winston Counties...

Yes, there would be, you're right. You know, West Virginia gets a bad wrap for being racist. They aren't really. At least not any more than the rest of the US.
greed and death
17-01-2009, 20:26
Not all of it...If they really did try that...thered be a shit load of West Virginias and Winston Counties...

West Virginia is not the south. its in a region of its own.
the north doesn't want them because they are missing too many teeth. and the south doesn't want them because they marched against the south in the civil war.
Skallvia
17-01-2009, 20:28
West Virginia is not the south. its in a region of its own.
the north doesn't want them because they are missing too many teeth. and the south doesn't want them because they marched against the south in the civil war.

lol, I mean in the sense that if the South all the sudden declared independence, not everyone would go with it...

And not all of West Virginia sided with the North...Stonewall Jackson was from West Virginia...
Dondolastan
17-01-2009, 20:30
West Virginia is not the south. its in a region of its own.
the north doesn't want them because they are missing too many teeth. and the south doesn't want them because they marched against the south in the civil war.

Redneck Buttfuckington IS going to march against the north, though. Buttfuckington makes up about 53.74% of the South.

Don't ask me where I got that number, though.
Neo Art
17-01-2009, 20:31
Declarations of Independence violate first principles. You would do well to familiarize yourself with the writings of eminent Russian-American philosopher and all around sex pot Ayn Rand.
Dondolastan
17-01-2009, 20:32
Declarations of Independence violate first principles. You would do well to familiarize yourself with the writings of eminent Russian-American philosopher and all around sex pot Ayn Rand.

Eewwww.
Imperskaya Rossiya
17-01-2009, 21:41
Obama speaks in metaphors, NSG angered.

This is typical.

What are these 'metaphors' of which you speak? Is it some kind of chemical? Like...phosphorus, but more metaphysical?
THIS CONCEPT MAKES ME FEEL ANGRY AND AFRAID. I DEMAND ALL SPEECHES HENCEFORTH BE CONDUCTED IN AN ENTIRELY LITERAL MANNER. ANYBODY CAUGHT USING ANY METAPHORS, ALLUSIONS, ALLITERATION, OR ANY OTHER SUCH DEVICES WILL BE SHOT. WITH A GUN.
Maineiacs
17-01-2009, 21:47
The South will want independence from Obama.

Good riddance to them.
Ashmoria
17-01-2009, 21:55
The Union in order to form the Nation of Why Not

http://concierge.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/06/07/royalcaribbean_perrinpost.jpg
ooooooo

inaugurations are expensive. if he sold the naming rights it could be the carnival cruise independence why not inauguration!

he is the smartest president ever!
Maineiacs
17-01-2009, 21:58
Not all of it...If they really did try that...thered be a shit load of West Virginias and Winston Counties...

This time, W.V. would likely secceed, but I could see some relatively "liberal" cities in the South not going along. Places like Arlington, VA, Austin, TX, and Miami.


Declarations of Independence violate first principles. You would do well to familiarize yourself with the writings of eminent Russian-American philosopher and all around sex pot Ayn Rand.

*throws up a little*
Katganistan
17-01-2009, 21:58
...right. Ok.
He made a speech about the founding fathers while in Philly and people think there's going to be a new Declaration......


Um.... get real?
Intangelon
17-01-2009, 22:18
Good riddance to them.

Given that the South is a net drain on public funds, I can't say I disagree any more than it would take to try to remain civil.
VirginiaCooper
17-01-2009, 22:19
In the eventual Civil War II: This Time is Religious, everyone knows that Northern VA will break off to form another state, a la WVa, and the true VA will finally be free of their liberal taint.
Skallvia
17-01-2009, 22:24
Given that the South is a net drain on public funds, I can't say I disagree any more than it would take to try to remain civil.

Yeah I dont think youd really want it though when you figure out that Code Pink sure as hell aint takin a redneck with an arsenal in his shed, lol....
Newer Burmecia
17-01-2009, 22:25
In the eventual Civil War II: This Time is Religious, everyone knows that Northern VA will break off to form another state, a la WVa, and the true VA will finally be free of their liberal taint.
Yeah, and they'll take all those non-real Virginian things like the Arlington Cemetary and the Washington Memorial and all those jobs at the Pentagon with them.:p
VirginiaCooper
17-01-2009, 22:27
Yeah, and they'll take all those non-real Virginian things like the Arlington Cemetary and the Washington Memorial and all those jobs at the Pentagon with them.:p

I say good riddance to bad rubbish. Maybe Maryland can finally not be a useless state once they absorb those like-minded, cut-and-run, liberal pussies.
Wilgrove
17-01-2009, 22:32
I say good riddance to bad rubbish. Maybe Maryland can finally not be a useless state once they absorb those like-minded, cut-and-run, liberal pussies.

Satire or Troll, you decide! :D
VirginiaCooper
17-01-2009, 22:38
Satire or Troll, you decide! :D

Once the Ravens lose to the Steelers, Maryland really will have nothing left.

That, you can be sure, was 100% serious.
Intangelon
17-01-2009, 23:46
I say good riddance to bad rubbish. Maybe Maryland can finally not be a useless state once they absorb those like-minded, cut-and-run, liberal pussies.

Oh, like all the Red states who are net drains on public funds? Pull your head out.
Ifreann
17-01-2009, 23:47
What are these 'metaphors' of which you speak? Is it some kind of chemical? Like...phosphorus, but more metaphysical?
THIS CONCEPT MAKES ME FEEL ANGRY AND AFRAID. I DEMAND ALL SPEECHES HENCEFORTH BE CONDUCTED IN AN ENTIRELY LITERAL MANNER. ANYBODY CAUGHT USING ANY METAPHORS, ALLUSIONS, ALLITERATION, OR ANY OTHER SUCH DEVICES WILL BE SHOT. WITH A GUN.

I didn't know there were any Ankh Morporkians on NSG.
VirginiaCooper
17-01-2009, 23:49
Oh, like all the Red states who are net drains on public funds? Pull your head out.

You make everything I do worthwhile. Thank you.
Intangelon
17-01-2009, 23:54
You make everything I do worthwhile. Thank you.

Well, I don't suppose there's too much use for that much excess semen, but hey, everbody has a dream.
Chumblywumbly
17-01-2009, 23:55
I didn't know there were any Ankh Morporkians on NSG.
Good spot.
Skallvia
18-01-2009, 00:44
The South will want independence from Obama.

Just thought it was Ironic that Obama could be related to Jefferson Davis, lol...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama#Family_and_personal_life

"In Dreams from My Father, Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis, president of the southern Confederacy during the American Civil War"
Trostia
18-01-2009, 00:54
It's probably just a metaphor.

I'm sorry. I don't believe in metaphors and insist on taking everything Obama says absolutely literally. This is a very convenient way for me to be constantly disappointed and dismayed by what he's doing. For example, he promised "change," yet I haven't gotten any change. Have you? In fact I had to pay some OUT last time at the store! Clearly, he is not up to fulfilling his own campaign promises. Now he's rewriting the Declaration of Independence? BOO, OBAMA!
Straughn
18-01-2009, 01:57
I thought we were done declaring war on abstract concepts?
The U.S.?
Never happen. Not only is the abstract concept the forefront for war, but the pretext for peace as well.
Katganistan
18-01-2009, 01:59
I didn't know there were any Ankh Morporkians on NSG.
...is that Death? He's the only Discworlder I know to speak in allcaps.....
except Death of Rats who SQUEAKS in allcaps.
GOBAMAWIN
18-01-2009, 02:11
I'm sorry. I don't believe in metaphors and insist on taking everything Obama says absolutely literally. This is a very convenient way for me to be constantly disappointed and dismayed by what he's doing. For example, he promised "change," yet I haven't gotten any change. Have you? In fact I had to pay some OUT last time at the store! Clearly, he is not up to fulfilling his own campaign promises. Now he's rewriting the Declaration of Independence? BOO, OBAMA!
Don't you think you might wait until the man is sworn into office? I suspect, you haven't gotten any change yet because Bush is still the President. . . .
GOBAMAWIN
18-01-2009, 02:17
I'm sorry. I don't believe in metaphors and insist on taking everything Obama says absolutely literally. This is a very convenient way for me to be constantly disappointed and dismayed by what he's doing. For example, he promised "change," yet I haven't gotten any change. Have you? In fact I had to pay some OUT last time at the store! Clearly, he is not up to fulfilling his own campaign promises. Now he's rewriting the Declaration of Independence? BOO, OBAMA!
Don't forget, Bush has been busy making sure he gets your change to give it to the top 1% of the country and to banks and financial institutions.

I suspect that is why you keep having to give change out . . . Wait till 1/20/09 around noon or so. . . .
Heinleinites
18-01-2009, 08:29
"President-elect Barack Obama implored Americans today to commit to a new declaration of independence -- rejecting ideology and bigotry"

Good luck with that there, let me know how it works out for you. I wouldn't hold my breath though, no matter how hopeful you are.
Miami Shores
18-01-2009, 12:00
Don't you0 get it? We need CHANGE! We must change everything we possible can!

On a more serious note, I prefict that this won't even get written. Just one of those phrases, y'know?

Change we can all believe in.
SaintB
18-01-2009, 12:39
The new declaration of independence is simply a catch phrase he used in his speech to get attention. If you want to put meaning to it though, consider it like a declaration of independence from closed mindedness.
SaintB
18-01-2009, 12:40
Change we can all believe in.

Really the only change worth beleiving in any more comes in the form of coinage and it may not last long.
Blouman Empire
18-01-2009, 12:55
independence from what?

From the United States of America of course.

Why Obama wants a new nation to rise up, perhaps they could call it the confederacy of something.
SaintB
18-01-2009, 12:57
From the United States of America of course.

Why Obama wants a new nation to rise up, perhaps they could call it the confederacy of something.

How about The Confederate States of America?
Blouman Empire
18-01-2009, 13:03
So is he going to do something about the banks which are stealing trillions of dollars? Or is this all talk.

Well when all the shine is taken away from him he still is only one thing and that is a politician.
Blouman Empire
18-01-2009, 13:04
How about The Confederate States of America?

Yeah I think that would work.
Heinleinites
18-01-2009, 13:05
If you want to put meaning to it though, consider it like a declaration of independence from closed mindedness.

Yeah, that'll happen.
SaintB
18-01-2009, 13:07
Yeah, that'll happen.

I know it won't, but if you want to put true meaning to empty words thats the best I could come up with.
Heinleinites
18-01-2009, 13:09
I know it won't, but if you want to put true meaning to empty words thats the best I could come up with.

In that case, not a bad attempt.

Well when all the shine is taken away from him he still is only one thing and that is a politician.

Take away all the shine and glitter and there won't be anything left.
Fartsniffage
18-01-2009, 13:13
...is that Death? He's the only Discworlder I know to speak in allcaps.....
except Death of Rats who SQUEAKS in allcaps.

Susan Sto Helit and Mort both get to do the Death voice as well.
GOBAMAWIN
18-01-2009, 19:43
When CNN get the story figured out I will link it. However how should a new Declaration of Independence in the US look like?



That's a start however what else should be added?
Evidently, you failed to read or hear what Obama said which was, as follows:

“What is required is a new declaration of independence, not just in our nation, but in our own lives — from ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry — an appeal not to our easy instincts but to our better angels.”

As for the "new declaration of independence, not just in our nation"-- I believe he is referring to our nationwide dependency on oil and gas purchased from other countries, which is strangling our economy and economic independence. He has already stated we are going to move away from that, and the car companies have already started to comply. . . .
Trostia
18-01-2009, 19:46
Don't you think you might wait until the man is sworn into office? I suspect, you haven't gotten any change yet because Bush is still the President. . . .

There's no reason to limit the impossibly high standards imposed on Obama to temporal OR spatial limits! Obama is to blame... for the extinction of the Neanderthals!

:p
Kormanthor
18-01-2009, 19:51
I will not support a new Declaration of Independence, we already have one.
Trostia
18-01-2009, 19:55
I will not support a new Declaration of Independence, we already have one.

That's nice. But try to read the thread before posting.
The blessed Chris
18-01-2009, 19:56
Ideological agnosticism. Won't that just make for fun politics.
Kormanthor
18-01-2009, 20:02
That's nice. But try to read the thread before posting.

I don't need to read anything about making a new Declaration of Independence in order to believe we don't need to. If you believe I am wrong then I am open to a discussion about it as adults. However I am at the library and my time is almost up.
GOBAMAWIN
18-01-2009, 20:06
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marrakech II
When CNN get the story figured out I will link it. However how should a new Declaration of Independence in the US look like?

That's a start however what else should be added?


I will not support a new Declaration of Independence, we already have one.


Evidently, neither of you read or heard what Obama said which was, as follows:

“What is required is a new declaration of independence, not just in our nation, but in our own lives — from ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry — an appeal not to our easy instincts but to our better angels.”

As for the "new declaration of independence, not just in our nation"-- I believe he is referring to our nationwide dependency on oil and gas purchased from other countries, which is strangling our economy and economic independence. He has already stated we are going to move away from that, and the car companies have already started to comply. . . .
Trostia
18-01-2009, 20:06
I don't need to read anything about making a new Declaration of Independence

Yeah, you do, if that's what you honestly thought he was saying.

If you believe I am wrong then I am open to a discussion about it as adults. However I am at the library and my time is almost up.

How can you be open to discussion when you can't be arsed to read even one post in the thread? "I don't need to read" is hardly an attitude conducive to adult discussion. Like I said, if you had read, you'd see he was using a phrase in a speech, nothing more, nothing less.
GOBAMAWIN
18-01-2009, 20:28
There's no reason to limit the impossibly high standards imposed on Obama to temporal OR spatial limits! Obama is to blame... for the extinction of the Neanderthals!

:p
I get it -- "extinction of the Neanderthals" is a code phrase for "getting rid of Bush and his crazy cabinet"---
Kormanthor
19-01-2009, 19:41
How can you be sure of anythng he (Obama ) says? He changes his mind so often its nearly
impossible to keep up.
Hotwife
19-01-2009, 19:52
How do you start off by rejecting "ideology".

What, are we going to have Seinfeld write this? Is it a Declaration About Nothing?