Makes Me Sick

There has been some significant ganging up on Bill Richardson last night and today (from the left as well as the right) for his claim during the debate that "Human Rights are more important than National Security." I haven't checked the national blogs, where I'm sure this is being discussed, and I'm not really defending Mr. Richardson's honor, as I am fearful he will spin his way into the same statement that everyone else made. The generic statement from the other candidates, Dodd and Clinton for example, made clear that Defending the Nation was more important than protecting Human Rights.

Now, National Security is extremely important, and appears higher up in the job description than Protecting Human Rights does in the Presidential Want Ad. Duh. But some things are, for lack of a better word, sacred. Take, for instance, the opening paragraph of the Declaration of Independence:

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. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

So yes, we as a people get to choose what makes us safe and happy, but the only reason we have a government in the first place is to SECURE HUMAN RIGHTS. Without Human Rights, there is literally no reason for there to be a nation, and nothing to secure.

So, Mr. Dodd, Ms. Clinton, Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Tim Grieves, the whole damn lot of you, you make me want to puke. For the candidates, it makes a mockery of most every criticism of W you made last night. And, for what it's worth, provides a decent piece of justification for America's enemies. You're pandering pieces of excrement. And yet, 3 months from now, I'll probably be doing my best to get one of you elected. And people wonder why I've had a hard time giving a crap about the presidential race so far.