• W. W. Finlator
• Dan W. Figgins

W. W. Finlator

1802 Arlington Street * Raleigh, North Carolina 27608

December 15, 2003

ADDRESS: Anniversary Celebration of Human Rights Rotunda, State Capitol W. W. Finlator

Abraham Lincoln was profoundly mistaken in his prediction that "the world would little note nor long remember" what was said at his Gettysburg Address. We are met today to see to it that two great documents on human rights, crucial to our nation and the nations, shall be widely noted and long remembered. The anniversary of The Bill of Rights which was born in Philadelphia two hundred years and twelve years ago and the anniversary of the The Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was born in San Francisco fifty-five years ago, represent the voices of the people to their government for the protection of human rights.

Our Declaration of Independence tells us that human rights are hedged about with something of divinity, that they are a gift from above rather than a grant from below, and therefore unalienable. It further tells us:

These words are the why and wherefore of The United States, but governments with promises to keep keep breaking promises. Knowing this the wise Founding Fathers incorporated in The Constitution ten amendments from which The Universal Declaration is a spin-off and which proclaim to the government "No, no, a thousand times No - you shall not deny or infringe our sacred rights without yourself becoming a law breaker."

It is widely believed that the first casualty of war is Truth. I think it might rather be Human Rights. Woodrow Wilson said that the First World War was fought "to make the world safe for Democracy," while his perfervid Attorney General was devastating the Bill of Rights with the "Red Scare" at home. Franklin Roosevelt said that we fought the Second World War to defend the Four Freedoms, while the long Cold War and Senator Joseph McCarthy were at the wing. And then came the Vietnam War, and then the Drug War, and now the War on Terror and Iraq, and another perfervid Attorney General. All these wars have taken their toll: for "to secure these rights" we have today "Homeland Security," and for due process we have "U.S.A. Patriot Act" blessing as true citizens those who go along with the destruction of their rights, and terming those who don't go along as "treasonous."

How shall we respond to the dire threat to our rights?
Simply by listening to and following the wisdom of the Founding Fathers:

1. First: "The price of our liberties is eternal vigilance."
   This does not mean a commie under the bed or a terrorist on the block, but our own government!
2. Second: Take alarm at the first instance of violation of liberty at any time or place.
3. Third: Those who prefer personal safety over the protection of human rights deserve neither.
4. Fourth: A decent respect among the nations which means true Democracy at home rather than nation building and hostility from abroad.
5. Fifth: From the Declaration of Independence, which speaks of "a long train of abuses and usurpations," we are warned that "whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government."