07-30-2019, 05:22 AM
quote:
Originally posted by riversnout
There's the problem right there. In the opinion of a lot of people, the land was illegally stolen from the Kingdom. Search many other threads for that discussion.
Bottom line is that the State of Hawaii and the US government want to enforce their law using force.
Is it "might makes right" or "we are a nation of laws"? Can't have it both ways. Walking in the shoes of the other means acknowledging your own history as well as that of the other. So far, all I have seen from the "build it" team is a request that the other side move out of the way and quietly and peacefully disagree somewhere out of sight so they can continue their pattern over and over and over. We're not ready for the third way, yet.
Is it "might makes right" Do you mean as in: holding a group of citizens - who have done absolutely nothing wrong - hostage by force until you get your particular desired outcome?
or "we are a nation of laws" If those laws are being selectively enforced or ignored (for "special people"), then the answer is no... and if the answer is no, then they can be selectively enforced against whomever is the disdained group at that time... in which case we have mob rule... and any minority group that embraces selective enforcement of the laws has a lot more confidence in human psychology and social stability than I have...
"In the opinion of a lot of people, the land was illegally stolen from the Kingdom" And we are supposedly a nation of laws where those opinions can be taken to the appropriate authorities for resolution. To date, those of that opinion have not been successful in achieving their desired resolution... There is no prohibition to repeatedly making an effort to get those issues resolved in a legal manner - however, in a democracy, the majority will is supposed to determine the resolution of those individual opinions/grievances - not mob rule and selective enforcement of laws.
to quote a great statesman, who shall remain nameless, "(in a democracy) you can't get always get what you want, but, if you try, sometimes you'll find that you get what you need..."