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by Jacob Moore

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Before I begin I want to state that I'm not even going to discuss how ignorant you have to be to believe that the most effective manner of persuading someone into giving you their knowledge is torture. Instead of targeting the torture, I will discuss something more painful, the imprudence that allows it.

I remember studying some long boring piece of literature,(I think it was some old document that was written in Philadelphia by some under celebrated group of over-the-hill white European guys almost 221 years ago now, and they called it the constitution or something) that stated, among other things, that the U.S. government was forbidden to punish without due process of law(cruel and unusual punishment was covered later, but that isn't allowed either I don't think), the U.S. must provide the right that an accused person may not be compelled to testify against themselves, and the U.S. can not take private property without just compensation. Not to mention that ten years earlier another document had been created by one of the guys that was essential to the creation of that so called "constitution" along with two of his friends. (I think his name was Ben Franklin and he was a mail man who happened to make some weird glasses and rambled on constantly about electrical fluid and boring stuff like the currents of the ocean and everything else under the sun) Anyways this Ben Franklin guy called this earlier publication the "Declaration of Independence" and it pretty much founded the U.S.of A. Those three men started the preamble of that paper with this statement, "We hold these truths (speaking of the laws of nature and the entitlement that Nature's God bestowed upon mankind) 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."

This man, Ben Franklin was an extremely insightful and enlightened man, he even wrote once that he believed that at some point dead bodies could be preserved and resurrected at a latter date but acknowledged that the time period he lived in was "too little advanced, and too near the infancy of science, to see such an art brought in our time to its perfection", but I seriously doubt that even he could have imagined that such a place as Guantanamo Bay would exist in it's current state in the America that he helped orchestrate the invention of. Poor old Benjamin, he probably believed that the foundation he worked so hard and diligently to create seemed so strong. Little did he know of the types of people that would, not just inhabit this country but come to rule it, once he was long gone. I guess that goes to show that no matter how great or intelligent you are, or how hard you work for the benefit of countless others , eventually the fruits of your labor will be taken for granted and left out to rot in the scorching heat that beats down from the sun of ignorance that is American society of the present-day. If only he had known how seriously uneducated we would become, he could have just added that these "natural rights" that he spoke of should be extended to every person on earth. He probably assumed that America, considering where we came from and the path we had to travel for our independence, would never become so pretentious to believe that these "natural rights" bestowed by the Creator would only pertain to the "privileged" Americans. It's almost like Americans today have some unbelievable "God Complex". Do they really believe that Americans are simply better than everyone else and that we don't have to treat any one as a human being if they weren't "lucky" enough to be born on American soil?

Here is an excerpt from a book written by Thomas Paine called "The Rights of Man", I believe it encompasses everything I'm trying to say. It goes as follows, "Freedom had been hunted around the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think.
But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing. The sun needs no inscription to distinguish him from darkness; and no sooner did the American governments display themselves to the world, than despotism felt a shock and man began to contemplate redress.
The independence of America, considered merely as a separation from England, would have been a matter but of little importance, had it not been accompanied by a revolution in the principles and practice of governments. She made a stand, not for herself only, but for the world, and looked beyond the advantages herself could receive. Even the Hessian, though hired to fight against her, may live to bless his defeat; and England, condemning the viciousness of its government, rejoice in its miscarriage."

That passage simply states that this great revolution in government that took place here was not to be enjoyed only by Americans, but by the entire world. We didn't create it, some English men we call our Fore Fathers did. We are entitled to nothing, and owe them everything. Some of us might be blood descendants from them, but we are so far removed from that time period that we can only benefit from their work as any one in the world can. We are only temporary occupants of this land and the rights that come with that, we do not own any of it, not it's land, not it's laws, not it's beauty. And in this right, Habeas Corpus must be extended to every person that America comes in contact with, because we, as the current residents of this amazing country, have not the right to deny this. Who are we to speak against the infinite knowledge granted to us by the likes of Benjamin Franklin and his friends?

Learn more about this author, Jacob Moore.

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