Final statement from Steering Council on politically-charged commit messages

[Karen Shaeffer]

> On Aug 18, 2020, at 6:13 PM, Richard Damon <Richard at Damon-Family.org> wrote:
> 
> On 8/18/20 7:34 PM, rmlibre at riseup.net wrote:
>> I would also caution against relying on the idea of human rights when
>> defending against accusations of being political, since they too are
>> political. Life is political. We continue to this day trying to
>> redefine, as a society, what human rights are, & who is considered to
>> deserve them. That process is politics.
> 
> I will challenge STRONGLY the believe that all right are political in
> nature. That attitude is the path of tyranny, for if rights only come by
> the will of the government, then the government is in its right to take
> them all away.
> 
> The American Deceleration of Independence states it well (Yes, I know we
> are not all Americans):
> 
> *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.*
> 

With all due respect:
The American Declaration of Independence is a political document that had no power of authority. Soon afterwards, that same group of white, wealthy land-owning men wrote the US Constitution, which, in it’s original form, only protected the _God_ given rights of those same white, wealthy, land-owning folks, leaving all the other rights and protections to the states — because the slave owning states would only join the union under those circumstances. This is the doctrine of State’s rights. Indeed, several of those white, wealthy, land-owning folks who contributed to the creation of the US Constitution were in fact slave owners. Imagine that — slave owners created a document declaring all men are created equal! Of course, women had no rights either. And LGBTQ folks would be killed back in those days. Indeed, transgender folks continue to be at risk of death today — just because of who they are. In practice, all rights are granted by political power. In the United States, untold thousands of men and women have fought and died to protect that political power. I hope you continue to learn and grow with experience and come to appreciate the nature of life on the ground in the flesh and blood. On the ground, only political power and the force behind it sustains the rights we enjoy in the United States.

Democracy is an act. — The late John Lewis

humbly,
kls