Ode to Politicians & Supreme Court Justices: Sacrificing Your Dignity for Their Principles

Politicians are quick to lay down your life for their country – while five Republican Supreme Court Justices readily sacrificed your dignity for their principles.

…instead of arguing about dignity, the justices disagreed about the practical question of whether invasive strip-searches are reasonably necessary to serve the interests of the jails and prisons. Kennedy’s majority opinion said that they were. Justice Stephen Breyer, in dissent, pointed to studies finding the opposite. In one, conducted in New York under the supervision of the federal courts, one prisoner out of 23,000 searched had hidden contraband in his body in a way that would have avoided detection by X-ray and a pat-down. A California study found three instances out of 75,000 prisoners strip- searched.

It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the strip-searches, however well-intentioned when first instituted, now function to humiliate people being put behind bars, sending the message that they are now essentially nonpersons, under the full control of the state.

Bloomberg – Noah Feldman, April 8, 2012

The line between politicians and Supreme Court Justices grows thinner.

“There are two main drivers pushing privacy into the dustbin of history, and both are related to technology. One is the increasing effectiveness of government surveillance. Cameras follow you in most public places in London today, and New York is catching up. Diffusion scanners at the airport already show you essentially naked. The coalition Conservative-Liberal Democratic government in the U.K. is preparing to allow the state to collect, without a warrant or even suspicion, all information on calls or texts except the content. The government’s ability to do all of these things causes many of us to think, irrationally, that it is reasonable for it to do so.”

Further wisdom about our esteemed “rulers”:

The problem with political jokes is they get elected. ~Henry Cate, VII  (The problem with Supreme Court Justices is that they don’t.)

We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. ~Aesop

If we got one-tenth of what was promised to us in these acceptance speeches there wouldn’t be any inducement to go to heaven. ~Will Rogers

Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. ~Plato

Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river. ~Nikita Khrushchev

When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I’m beginning to believe it. ~Clarence Darrow

Why pay money to have your family tree traced; go into politics and your opponents will do it for you. ~Author Unknown

Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel. ~John Quinton

Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other. ~Oscar Ameringer

I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them. ~Adlai Stevenson, campaign speech, 1952

A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country. ~Texas Guinan

Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so. ~Gore Vidal

I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians. ~Charles de Gaulle

Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first. ~Ronald Reagan

Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks. ~Doug Larson

Don’t vote, it only encourages them. ~Author Unknown

There ought to be one day – just one – when there is open season on senators. ~Will Rogers

Soldiers vs Politicians – A Soldier Died Today w/ Dr. Joyce Starr

Rights Radio: A Poem about Patriotism. Show Date: July 22, 2010 – read by Dr. Joyce Starr

Click to listen and/or read below.

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A Poem about Patriotism by Lawrence Vaincourt

He was getting  old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion, telling stories of the past.
Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies; they were heroes, every one.

And tho’ sometimes, to his neighbors, his tales became a joke,
All his Legion buddies listened, for they knew whereof he spoke.
But we’ll hear his tales no longer for old Bill has passed away,
And the world’s a little poorer, for a soldier died today.

He will not be mourned by many, just his children and his wife,
For he lived an ordinary and quite uneventful life.
Held a job and raised a family, quietly going his own way,
And the world won’t note his passing, though a soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were great.
Papers tell their whole life stories, from the time that they were young,
But the passing of a soldier goes unnoticed and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution to the welfare of our land
A guy who breaks his promises and cons his fellow man?
Or the ordinary fellow who, in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his Country and offers up his life?

A politician’s stipend and the style in which he lives
Are sometimes disproportionate to the service that he gives.
While the ordinary soldier, who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal and perhaps, a pension small.

While the ordinary soldier, who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal and perhaps, a pension small.
It’s so easy to forget them for it was so long ago,
That the old Bills of our Country went to battle, but we know

It was not the politicians, with their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom that our Country now enjoys.
Should you find yourself in danger, with your enemies at hand,
would you want a politician with his ever-shifting stand?

Or would you prefer a soldier, who has sworn to defend
His home, his kin and Country and would fight until the end?
He was just a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us we may need his like again.

For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier’s part
Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.
If we cannot do him honor while he’s here to hear the praise,
Then at least let’s give him homage at the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper that would say,
Our Country is in mourning, for a soldier died today.
It’s so easy to forget them,
For it is so many times

That our Bobs and Wayne’s and Johnnys,
Went to battle, but we know,
It is not the politicians
With their compromise and ploys,

Who won for us the freedom
That our country now enjoys.
Should you find yourself in danger,
With your enemies at hand,

Would you really want some cop-out,
With his ever waffling stand?
Or would you want a Soldier–
His home, his country, his kin,

Just a common Soldier,
Who would fight until the end.
He was just a common Soldier,
And his ranks are growing thin,

But his presence should remind us
We may need his like again.
For when countries are in conflict,
We find the Soldier’s part

Is to clean up all the troubles
That the politicians start.
If we cannot do him honor
While he’s here to hear the praise,

Then at least let’s give him homage
At the ending of his days.
Perhaps just a simple headline
In the paper that might say:

“OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING,

A SOLDIER DIED TODAY.”

Special Appreciation to Richard Roberts for identifying the author and to R.C. Vaincourt for providing missing text.

Pass On The Patriotism!

YOU can make a difference.

A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable ‘To My Country’ for an amount “up to and including my life.”

That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.