9740: Re: The oldest democracy in the Americas (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Vilaire@aol.com

In response to Jean Saint-Vil, an anonymous character writes the following:
"Does it mean that, if in the 1780s or 1790s the U.S. government had decided that instead of keeping the slaves in their chains, they be slaughtered, as were the 4,000-5,000 remaining French in Haiti in February-April 1804, by order of Dessalines, founder of a Black Supremacy system (and not a democracy--Read the 1805 Constitution), then could the USA have be considered the oldest democracy in the Americas?"

Anonymous, I will resist the attempt to engage in any debate about what constitutes "democracy," but there's something rather twisted about your logic equating the execution of invading French conolizers to the (hypothetical) slaughter of black slaves by white North-American slave owners.

Suppose a bunch of thugs enter your home and try to take control. Suppose, somehow, you manage to prevent them and you are able to kill some of the thugs. Are you suggesting that you killing the invading thugs is the same as if the thugs had killed you? Does the concept of legitimate self-defense register with you at all? ...By the way, the white North-American slave owners did slaughter black slaves.

Best regards,
Marx-Vilaire