A Constitutional Right to an iPod and Laptop?
By kenzie45230
@kenzie45230 (3560)
United States
March 9, 2011 11:30am CST
Have you seen the video clip of Jesse Jackson Jr. saying that the Constitution should be changed to make sure that everyone has a decent home? Or that iPods and laptops be provided to kids who can't afford them?
Who decides what is a "decent" home? And an iPod and laptop for kids who cannot afford them? I don't have either of those. Should I expect taxpayers to pay for mine?
How in the world do people develop this mindset, that the government owes us everything and anything?
Supposedly, one of the best-known sentences in the English language is this:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
An unalienable right is an absolute right, a natural right, an inherent right. And our forefathers thought those rights were those of personal liberty, personal security and the right to acquire and enjoy property. How did that begin to translate into having the government give us things? The government doesn't have anything to give. In order to give to one, they have to take from another.
What that famous sentence in the Declaration of Independence says to us is that we each have the same equal opportunities to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Pursuing happiness means we have to actively PURSUE it. And happiness cannot be defined by the government. It means something different to each and every one of us.
We were guaranteed equal opportunities, not equal outcomes.
The Constitution should be changed to give some people iPods and laptops? And all should have decent homes? Again, I ask, who decides what is decent? Most homes in the U.S. are ten times better than what you might see in third world countries.
What will Mr. Jackson want to change next?
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979126256
2 people like this
6 responses
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
9 Mar 11
hi pikey and kenzie I just remembered this veddy British man who had a reall pretty rolls royce an uncommon sight in Tustin Ca. people would stop and stroke the thing like it was alive and I could see he was
trying to keep his cool. I felt for him because most of the gawpers
were teen boys. b ut he was very poised and did not get angry. finally
though he had had enough. so he said very softly and firmly take
your hands off my curse word curse word car. I must leave now. I guess they had not expected the loud curses cause they really did get out
of there quickly. I had not thought of that in ages. I know he lived someplace near by as I had met him several times in Vons. He and I had had a conversation in that he was looking for rolledoats and I had had to ask him to repeat it. Rolled oats madame oh I said you mean oatmeal. I told him what aisle it was in and he said" You Yanks still need to learn English"
we had spoke often after that and he always teased me about our differences in terms. like lifts versus elebators. nice man realty.
1 person likes this
@kenzie45230 (3560)
• United States
10 Mar 11
You know....I'm not sure I would recognize a Rolls Royce if I saw one.
@LaDeBoheme (2004)
• United States
9 Mar 11
So JJ JR thinks iPods and laptops should be part of our "basic rights"? No, wait, not ours...OUR KIDS! What about MY rights? I don't have either!
He said that the right to have a decent home, get medical care, get an education, etc. should be in the Constitution. It is! The Constitution gives us life, liberty, and you said it, kenzie, the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. All Americans are free to pursue whatever makes them happy and if an iPod and laptop makes them happy, the government isn't going to stop them from pursuing it.
Hmm...I noticed JJ didn't have much of an audience.
@kenzie45230 (3560)
• United States
9 Mar 11
Crazy, isn't it?
Decent homes? I'll bet that compared to the elite in Washington, many of us don't have what they'd consider decent homes. 
You're right. Not much of an audience. One of the comments at YouTube said he probably made his speech at midnight. I guess they do that sometimes, just so they can have things documented as having being said. I'm sure there are some who think his idea is great.
You're right. Not much of an audience. One of the comments at YouTube said he probably made his speech at midnight. I guess they do that sometimes, just so they can have things documented as having being said. I'm sure there are some who think his idea is great.
@danishcanadian (28955)
• Canada
9 Mar 11
I think decent should define food, water, clothing, shelter, safety, and freedom. Computers and laptops, and iPods, and other things, are things that we need to pay for with our own money.
1 person likes this
@kenzie45230 (3560)
• United States
9 Mar 11
Indeed. My brother spent years as a homeless man. His choice. He was happy to have one meal per day and a cardboard box to live in. To him, the box was decent. Sleeping without it was not.
@Netsbridge (3253)
• United States
10 Mar 11
He may have meant a constitutional right to the freedom to have a decent job that would allow whosoever to have an iPod, Laptop, etc.
@Netsbridge (3253)
• United States
11 Mar 11
Oh please, Kenzie! I think your CPU needs re-booting!
1 person likes this
@kenzie45230 (3560)
• United States
11 Mar 11
I've heard him speak before. I'm pretty sure he meant that the government should give some people iPods and laptops, which, of course, means the government has to take money from productive people to give it to others who are not so productive. :-)
@LaDeBoheme (2004)
• United States
10 Mar 11
But the Constitution already gives American citizens freedom to have a decent job. They have the right to pursue whatever job they want.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
9 Mar 11
hi I agree with the laptops and i pods but yes we should all ha ve some way to afford a home of any kind and here in C alifoprnia you have to be GodAwful rich to afford to buu mpst amy kind of a house. yes I think housing should be afforable in our wealthy country for us all not just the filthy rich. my rant for the day. I have an elserly computer obtained fee as it was going to be tossed out but as an elderly woman living with her middle aged son when he lost his job we got evicted.so I am stuck here in Goldcrest just because we have no home.No housing should be one thing we should all be able to have.decent housing a roof over ones head, rooms to sleep in a kith en, living room dining room. be real. people must have somewhere to live.
@kenzie45230 (3560)
• United States
10 Mar 11
I posted something at another forum about different housing costs. Do you know that you can still buy a house in Freeport, TX for under $25,000? And in Mineral Wells, TX, a fantastic executive home with pool and guest house and pool house and jacuzzi and on and on and on with the amenities....for only $325,000?
Again, though, "decent" housing depends on the individual, don't you think? I know quite a few people who live in what I would consider to be no more than a motel room, but they're happy. Some would think that wasn't decent housing.
It's really not the government's job to "give" us housing of any kind. If they're giving that to one, they're taking it from another.
@jacky9538 (78)
• China
10 Mar 11
Your government has done a lot for your people, such as social security, med reform, so much security that people don't need to work to some extent and can get some money. I envy your government, my government even can't guarantee the food safety, provide equal opportunities.
@kenzie45230 (3560)
• United States
11 Mar 11
People become lazy when they're given too much. And they become ungrateful and want more. And they become envious of persons who actually work for what they want instead of expecting the government to provide it for them.
