published at CommonSense2.com
“The people who brought women the right to vote never saw women vote. The people who sought an end to slavery never saw slavery end. The people most responsible for every huge social justice cause in this country or any other simply did their moral duty with their colleagues and enjoyed it till the day they died. It’s not that they didn’t want to succeed, but they didn’t have to know that they were about to succeed in order to do it. ...... Let’s save our pessimism for better times. There’s no excuse for it.”
CommonSense2 Editor — Activist David Swanson recently appeared at Kutztown University in an event hosted by the Kutztown Democratic Club as part of a book tour to promote his new book, Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union. I found David’s commentary to be compelling in many areas, but liked especially the part on why you should continue your activism. I hope you find reading his lecture as intriguing as I did hearing it. ....
David on the Constitution
David: What is Article one of the United States Constitution about?
Someone in the crowd shouts: Congress!
David: Congress! Smart crowd. Yes. I’ve heard the president. I’ve heard the military. Free speech, etc. But it’s about Congress. It’s the first 60% of a very short document. It is the first branch of our government. It is the branch to which goes every power they could dream up. Very limited power goes to the Executive in Article II, and limited power to the Judicial branch in Article III. Congress was overwhelmingly the seat of power in our government. And above all the House of Representatives. The Legislature is the branch that had to be divided into two chambers, and the House of Representatives was to be the part of our government closest to us. The most representative of us and therefore the part of our government that should initiate any bills. They should have the power of impeachment over the other branches. The seat of our government’s power.
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