Friday, May 22, 2009

Unbiased, Unprejudiced Individual Dignity

The Montana Constitution's Section 4. Individual Dignity. "The dignity of the human being is inviolable. No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws. Neither the state nor any person, firm, corporation, or institution shall discriminate against any person in the exercise of his civil or political rights on account of race, color, sex, culture, social origin or condition, or political or religious ideas."
Thus, in framing this section representatives to Montana's 1972 Constitutional Convention recognized that these prohibitions would and should be self-executing . So what exactly was this "Individual Dignity" that our representatives were envisioning for Montana's future? Why is it so important for Montanan's to create and maintain an Unbiased, Unprejudiced Individual Dignity for all of US?
From the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations - " Whereas: recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world ... Therefore: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood...All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination."
"Dignity does not come in possessing honors, but in deserving them." Aristotle (384-322 BC) Greek philosopher
"A society that does not recognize that each individual has values of his own which he is entitled to follow can have no respect for the dignity of the individual and cannot really know freedom." Fredrich August von Hayek (1899-1992), Nobel Laureate of Economic Sciences 1974
"No government is respectable which is not just. Without unspotted purity of public faith, without sacred public principle, fidelity, and honor, no machinery of laws, can give dignity to political society."Daniel Webster (1782-1852), US Senator
"The constitutional right of free expression… is designed and intended to remove governmental restraints from the arena of public discussion, putting the decision as to what views shall be voiced in the hands of each of us, in the hope that the use of such freedom will ultimately produce a more capable citizenry and more perfect polity and in the belief that no other approach would comport with the premise of individual dignity and choice upon which our political systems rests." John Marshall Harlan (1899-1971) U. S. Supreme Court Justice
"A society that does not recognize that each individual has values of his own which he is entitled to follow can have no respect for the dignity of the individual and cannot really know freedom." Fredrich August von Hayek (1899-1992), Nobel Laureate of Economic Sciences 1974
As always, please let me have your comments on this important topic, thanks ...

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