Every living thing comes from the One living Spirit. Everything originates in the One Sacred spirit. All that can be seen is created the One Sacred spirit. Everything visible and invisible is caused by the One Sacred spirit. From this we can see that all that exists has its origin quite clearly in the One Sacred spirit. Because of this Heaven and Earth are stable and nothing changes. Heaven has no need of support to stop it falling down. If it wasn’t for the One Sacred spirit, how could it stand? If the One Sacred spirit was not, what would keep Heaven and Earth firm? This shows how the One Sacred spirit has mysterious powers. No tent pole holds up Heaven yet Heaven cannot remain where it is by itself. It does so because of the One Sacred spirit’s power. Were we to see the tent pole supporting Heaven we wouldn’t believe in the One Sacred spirit’s powers. In fact it is the One Sacred spirit at work.
–The Sutra of Origins (from The Jesus sutras)
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Only when we see ourselves in our true human context, as members of a race which is intended to be one organism and “one body,” will we begin to understand the positive importance not only of the successes but of the failures and accidents in our lives. My successes are not my own. The way to them was prepared by others. The fruit of my labors is not my own: for I am preparing the way for the achievements of another. Nor are my failures my own. They may spring from the failure of another, but they are also compensated for by another’s achievement. Therefore the meaning of my life is not to be looked for merely in the sum total of my achievements. It is seen only in the complete integration of my achievements and failures with the achievements and failures of my own generation, and society, and time. It is seen, above all, in my own integration in Christ.
–Thomas Merton (no man is an island, page 16)
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Rabbi Bunam went to the market to buy beans. The farmer was not happy with Reb Bunam’s offer and asked him, “Could you try to do better than that?” This question captivated the rabbi. From that day on, he often persuaded his disciples to engage in self examination solely by repeating that very appeal made at the market, in the same earnest intonation: “Could you try and do better than that?”
–The Kabbalah of Food (Rabbi Nilton Bonder)
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Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.
as soon as you say what God is…
You have not said what God is.
The more you speak, the less you say.
Amen
…………………………..
“When an individual goes through a traumatic experience and reacts as if nothing has occurred, then the experience has most likely not yet sunk in. The data is in the intermediate period between the gathering of the information and the time when it becomes fully processed and absorbed. The information is still lingering on in the passageway and has not yet trickled down into the heart. This occurs with all types of information. There is always a lapse between receiving information and the emotional absorption of that information. The only variable is how long this takes. Some information is processed immediately, while other data takes more time to absorb and to be registered emotionally. At times we smile walking down the street because of something we heard hours earlier, and it is only then that we feel its impact.
There are times when this connection is impaired, or severed, so that one’s ability to feel what one thinks is all but absent. This occurs when the passageway is cluttered, and it is a no go between the mind and heart. On a physical level, within the neck of a human being there exists two passages, the esophagus, which is the food pipe, and the trachea, which is the windpipe. In the spiritual domain as well, these two passages can be stuffed and cluttered. Spiritual blockage of the food pipe occurs when one is filled to excess with physical nourishment, when one is so overly engrossed in consuming and absorbing physical pleasures that one neglects the spiritual. The windpipe, on the other hand, represents air and ambiance. When this pipe is clogged, it means that one is not in an appropriate environment conducive to the arousal of noble emotions. When these connecting pipes are congested, the intellect has no avenue to penetrate the heart. The thoughts cannot evolve into emotions, and so they remain in the mind.
In Kabbalistic terminology this phenomenon is called Timturn halev, dullness of the heart. This is when one suffers from the inability to be responsive and to feel emotions. One may perceive with one’s intellect how one should love, yet one’s emotions remain silent. One is incapable of feeling or being spiritual moved. This spiritual numbness arises from and is a manifestation of one’s ego, where all that one feels is one’s own existence and need for survival. The preoccupation with coarse bodily experiences does not allow for genuine sensitivity to spirituality. In this state of spiritual numbness the ego does not allow the light of comprehension to illuminate the emotions.”
– DovBer Pinson (Meditation and Judaism)
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Children, you belong to God, and you have defeated these enemies. God’s Spirit is in you and is more powerful than the one that is in the world. These enemies belong to this world, and the world listens to them, because they speak its language. We belong to God, and everyone who knows God will listen to us. But the people who don’t know God won’t listen to us. That is how we can tell the Spirit that speaks the truth from the one that tells lies. My dear friends, we must love each other. Love comes from God, and when we love each other, it shows that we have been given new life. We are now God’s children, and we know him. God is love, and anyone who doesn’t love others has never known him. God showed his love for us when he sent his only Son into the world to give us life. Real love isn’t our love for God, but his love for us. God sent his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven. Dear friends, since God loved us this much, we must love each other.
–1 John 4-10
………………………………
the words flow, decisions made
idea’s mine, but the inspiration not
dreams of hangers on, dreams of getting well
spells of ezmerelda, emeralds foretold
splinters in the eye sentiments remain
bones that never rest where we going to
it was never up to me and yet i pushed until it broke
I love the open road and all that it suggests
wheel wagon dust weeds and infidelities and
always for a love never question why
in a wooden house immoveable and silent and
drinking strawberry wine forever lost in town
and thru the sleeping streets night bound and heavy
wheels in the spoke still spoken for himself
now my gates are high, my friends even higher
forgotten in my mind, yet the sky still linger and
cloud the blue skies, i’m jealous of you birds
was the only truth in a world full of words?
hear the prairie sound in a friend called near
the heart is pointed down but my spirit pointed up
his voice for siren of greek mythology
i pause with my pen i begin to defend
every action taken, every moment sealed
when i was quick it coursed through open veins
the will to live the urgency to move
behind a panel door sealing cherry stain
i play my guitar and live those lonesome notes
like a dog that’s down
in a corner just a sigh
waiting to be called
waiting to be yours
ghosts of all my shame
without purpose or will
i often speak of you but the you is always me
cause when i speak of me it’s me i ask of you
so let there be no truth just trickery in rhymes
time the only thing waiting still as death
i hope for resolution pray one defining moment
pause without restrain barren without child
a child is who i was a child is who I’ll die
soot in my hair
and stars in my hands
soot in my hair
and stars in my hands
soot in my hair
and stars in my hands
“Everybody’s worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there’s a really easy way: stop participating in it.”
Noam Chomsky
My parents shared not only an improbable love, they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barack, or blessed, believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success.
Barack Obama
“In order to receive the holiness that flows into our world, we must prepare and perfect the body, for the body is the throne for the spiritual…..Like the house, the body must be restored.”
– Moses Cordovero (Tefilah le-Mosheh)
“When they are confronted with difficulties, many people end up
saying to themselves, ‘Why break my neck looking for a solution?
From now on, things can simply take their course.’ Well, that’s
how you court failure. Thought is an instrument. Yes, the
capacity to think, reason and reflect about every situation is
the best thing that God has given us. Why would anyone want to
get rid of it? It would be just like walking blindfold on the
edge of a precipice. Of course, it is difficult to think,
especially to think well, but it is the only way to evolve.
Actually, there are two ways of thinking: one that brings grief
and suffering because you have not learnt to reflect and one
that, on the contrary, brings peace and joy. Analyse yourself,
and you will notice this. So, try to limit your thoughts to
those that will help to keep you upright.”
Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.
Barack Obama
Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
(john I2:20-26).
In Jerusalem, in the days before the Passover feast, Jesus spoke again of the impending culmination of the divine drama of his life: “The time is nigh when my body will be glorified into Spirit. But first-well remember what I declare unto you-unless a grain of wheat is thrust into the ground and dies, it cannot multiply itself; but if the grain is buried, it will rise anew as a plant abundant in fruit.” “Jesus was apprising them of his foreknowledge that by the sacrifice of himself and victory of his rising up over the finality of death the divinity in him would be magnified for the benefit of the world. If he sacrificed his body for truth, as he had lived for truth, he would not only enter into the eternal life of his infinite Self, but would show to others by his exemplary presence on earth and in omnipresence the way to their own eternal life.
A selfish existence focused on the self-preservation of one’s own ego, with its attachment to the body and its love of all things temporal is a mental hedge that prevents the soul from enlarging into Spirit. Jesus thus continued: “He who loves his physical life, giving undue solicitude to his body, will nevertheless lose the body and all its material trappings in the oblivion of death. But he who sacrifices attachment the familiar comforts of this physical life to seek the Everlastingness behind the facade of matter will find his consciousness transmuted by salvation into Eternal Life.”
Responding to the devotion of his disciples, Jesus added: “If any devotee desires to serve the Spirit, which is within me, let him follow my Consciousness.” (Only by meditation can the devotee lead his consciousness from the physical plane of the senses through subconsciousness and superconsciousness to Christ Consciousness.) “Any devotee who is in tune with me will be present on the plane of Christ consciousness where I reside always, and he will be recognized and uplifted by the Father-the Transcendental Cosmic Consciousness.”
–Paramahansa Yogananda
“Unfortunately, you can’t vote the rascals out, because you never voted them in, in the first place.”
At a certain point you say to the woods, to the sea, to the mountains, the world~ Now I am ready. Now I will stop and be wholly attentive. You empty yourself and wait, listening. After a time you hear it: there is nothing there. There is nothing but those things only, those created objects, discrete, growing or holding, or swaying, being rained on or raining, held, flooding or ebbing, standing, or spread. You feel the world’s word as a tension, a hum, a single chorused note everywhere the same. This is it: this hum is the silence. …
The silence is all there is. It is the alpha and the omega. It is God’s brooding over the face of the waters; it is the blended note of the ten thousand things, the whine of wings. You take a step in the right direction to pray to this silence, and even to address the prayer to “World.” Distinctions blur. Quit your tents. Pray without ceasing.
Man lives in the sanctuary of God. His life is in love, in bliss, in
wisdom, in God-consciousness. He lives in the realm of universal
existence. He moves on earth and he lives in the land of God, in the
divine ground of Being far above human vision and far beyond human
thought……….
The Maharishi
How one man, one band can & does change the world. An idea whose time
has come can not be stopped.
On this night of 10000 dreams
One presence
shines through every being,
the Light of Meditation
awakens in each heart-abode,
we are filled with Divine Love,
we ascend like doves of peace,
the eternal Om has called us Home.
RIP Maharishi.
“Meditation is the direct means of enjoying the greatest happiness and is the only means to quench the thirst for happiness on earth.”
“Happiness radiates like the fragrance from a flower, and draws all good things toward you. Allow your love to nourish yourself as well as others. Do not strain after the needs of life. It is sufficient to be quietly alert and aware of them. In this way life proceeds more naturally and effortlessly. Life is here to Enjoy!”
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (born “Mahesh Prasad Varma” according to some sources, and “Mahesh Srivastava” according to others, between 1911 and 1918 in Jabalpur, India; died on February 5, 2008, in Vlodrop, The Netherlands) founded and developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and related programs and initiatives, including schools and a university with campuses in the United States and China.[2] He was born in India, around 1917; various years are given for his birth: most frequently 1911, 1917, and 1918,, and some sources state he was born on 12 January.
Around 1939 he became a disciple of SwamiBrahmananda Saraswatiwho, from 1941 to 1953, was the Shankaracharya (spiritual leader) of Jyotir Math, located in the Indian Himalayas. Maharishi credits the Shankaracharya with inspiring his teachings. Since his first global tour in 1958, Maharishi’s techniques for human development have been taught worldwide.He continued to focus on making all aspects of the Vedic Literature widely available. He became well-known in the Western world due to The Beatles having visited him in 1968. Starting in 1990, Maharishi coordinated his global activities from his residence in Vlodrop, the Netherlands.
On January 11th, 2008, he announced his retirement from his normal activities: “Invincibility is irreversibly established in the world. My work is done. My designated duty to Guru Dev is fulfilled.” He resolved to use all his remaining time to complete his commentary on the Veda. He passed away less than a month later
Let me begin by saying thanks to all you who’ve traveled, from far and wide, to brave the cold today.
We all made this journey for a reason. It’s humbling, but in my heart I know you didn’t come here just for me, you came here because you believe in what this country can be. In the face of war, you believe there can be peace. In the face of despair, you believe there can be hope. In the face of a politics that’s shut you out, that’s told you to settle, that’s divided us for too long, you believe we can be one people, reaching for what’s possible, building that more perfect union.
That’s the journey we’re on today. But let me tell you how I came to be here. As most of you know, I am not a native of this great state. I moved to Illinois over two decades ago. I was a young man then, just a year out of college; I knew no one in Chicago, was without money or family connections. But a group of churches had offered me a job as a community organizer for $13,000 a year. And I accepted the job, sight unseen, motivated then by a single, simple, powerful idea – that I might play a small part in building a better America.
My work took me to some of Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods. I joined with pastors and lay-people to deal with communities that had been ravaged by plant closings. I saw that the problems people faced weren’t simply local in nature – that the decision to close a steel mill was made by distant executives; that the lack of textbooks and computers in schools could be traced to the skewed priorities of politicians a thousand miles away; and that when a child turns to violence, there’s a hole in his heart no government alone can fill.
It was in these neighborhoods that I received the best education I ever had, and where I learned the true meaning of my Christian faith.
After three years of this work, I went to law school, because I wanted to understand how the law should work for those in need. I became a civil rights lawyer, and taught constitutional law, and after a time, I came to understand that our cherished rights of liberty and equality depend on the active participation of an awakened electorate. It was with these ideas in mind that I arrived in this capital city as a state Senator.
It was here, in Springfield, where I saw all that is America converge – farmers and teachers, businessmen and laborers, all of them with a story to tell, all of them seeking a seat at the table, all of them clamoring to be heard. I made lasting friendships here – friends that I see in the audience today.
It was here we learned to disagree without being disagreeable – that it’s possible to compromise so long as you know those principles that can never be compromised; and that so long as we’re willing to listen to each other, we can assume the best in people instead of the worst.
That’s why we were able to reform a death penalty system that was broken. That’s why we were able to give health insurance to children in need. That’s why we made the tax system more fair and just for working families, and that’s why we passed ethics reforms that the cynics said could never, ever be passed.
It was here, in Springfield, where North, South, East and West come together that I was reminded of the essential decency of the American people – where I came to believe that through this decency, we can build a more hopeful America.
And that is why, in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a divided house to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still, I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for President of the United States.
I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness – a certain audacity – to this announcement. I know I haven’t spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I’ve been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change.
The genius of our founders is that they designed a system of government that can be changed. And we should take heart, because we’ve changed this country before. In the face of tyranny, a band of patriots brought an Empire to its knees. In the face of secession, we unified a nation and set the captives free. In the face of Depression, we put people back to work and lifted millions out of poverty. We welcomed immigrants to our shores, we opened railroads to the west, we landed a man on the moon, and we heard a King’s call to let justice roll down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
Each and every time, a new generation has risen up and done what’s needed to be done. Today we are called once more – and it is time for our generation to answer that call.
For that is our unyielding faith – that in the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it.
That’s what Abraham Lincoln understood. He had his doubts. He had his defeats. He had his setbacks. But through his will and his words, he moved a nation and helped free a people. It is because of the millions who rallied to his cause that we are no longer divided, North and South, slave and free. It is because men and women of every race, from every walk of life, continued to march for freedom long after Lincoln was laid to rest, that today we have the chance to face the challenges of this millennium together, as one people – as Americans.
All of us know what those challenges are today – a war with no end, a dependence on oil that threatens our future, schools where too many children aren’t learning, and families struggling paycheck to paycheck despite working as hard as they can. We know the challenges. We’ve heard them. We’ve talked about them for years.
What’s stopped us from meeting these challenges is not the absence of sound policies and sensible plans. What’s stopped us is the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics – the ease with which we’re distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our preference for scoring cheap political points instead of rolling up our sleeves and building a working consensus to tackle big problems.
For the last six years we’ve been told that our mounting debts don’t matter, we’ve been told that the anxiety Americans feel about rising health care costs and stagnant wages are an illusion, we’ve been told that climate change is a hoax, and that tough talk and an ill-conceived war can replace diplomacy, and strategy, and foresight. And when all else fails, when Katrina happens, or the death toll in Iraq mounts, we’ve been told that our crises are somebody else’s fault. We’re distracted from our real failures, and told to blame the other party, or gay people, or immigrants.
And as people have looked away in disillusionment and frustration, we know what’s filled the void. The cynics, and the lobbyists, and the special interests who’ve turned our government into a game only they can afford to play. They write the checks and you get stuck with the bills, they get the access while you get to write a letter, they think they own this government, but we’re here today to take it back. The time for that politics is over. It’s time to turn the page.
We’ve made some progress already. I was proud to help lead the fight in Congress that led to the most sweeping ethics reform since Watergate.
But Washington has a long way to go. And it won’t be easy. That’s why we’ll have to set priorities. We’ll have to make hard choices. And although government will play a crucial role in bringing about the changes we need, more money and programs alone will not get us where we need to go. Each of us, in our own lives, will have to accept responsibility – for instilling an ethic of achievement in our children, for adapting to a more competitive economy, for strengthening our communities, and sharing some measure of sacrifice. So let us begin. Let us begin this hard work together. Let us transform this nation.
Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy to compete in the digital age. Let’s set high standards for our schools and give them the resources they need to succeed. Let’s recruit a new army of teachers, and give them better pay and more support in exchange for more accountability. Let’s make college more affordable, and let’s invest in scientific research, and let’s lay down broadband lines through the heart of inner cities and rural towns all across America.
And as our economy changes, let’s be the generation that ensures our nation’s workers are sharing in our prosperity. Let’s protect the hard-earned benefits their companies have promised. Let’s make it possible for hardworking Americans to save for retirement. And let’s allow our unions and their organizers to lift up this country’s middle-class again.
Let’s be the generation that ends poverty in America. Every single person willing to work should be able to get job training that leads to a job, and earn a living wage that can pay the bills, and afford child care so their kids have a safe place to go when they work. Let’s do this.
Let’s be the generation that finally tackles our health care crisis. We can control costs by focusing on prevention, by providing better treatment to the chronically ill, and using technology to cut the bureaucracy. Let’s be the generation that says right here, right now, that we will have universal health care in America by the end of the next president’s first term.
Let’s be the generation that finally frees America from the tyranny of oil. We can harness homegrown, alternative fuels like ethanol and spur the production of more fuel-efficient cars. We can set up a system for capping greenhouse gases. We can turn this crisis of global warming into a moment of opportunity for innovation, and job creation, and an incentive for businesses that will serve as a model for the world. Let’s be the generation that makes future generations proud of what we did here.
Most of all, let’s be the generation that never forgets what happened on that September day and confront the terrorists with everything we’ve got. Politics doesn’t have to divide us on this anymore – we can work together to keep our country safe. I’ve worked with Republican Senator Dick Lugar to pass a law that will secure and destroy some of the world’s deadliest, unguarded weapons. We can work together to track terrorists down with a stronger military, we can tighten the net around their finances, and we can improve our intelligence capabilities. But let us also understand that ultimate victory against our enemies will come only by rebuilding our alliances and exporting those ideals that bring hope and opportunity to millions around the globe.
But all of this cannot come to pass until we bring an end to this war in Iraq. Most of you know I opposed this war from the start. I thought it was a tragic mistake. Today we grieve for the families who have lost loved ones, the hearts that have been broken, and the young lives that could have been. America, it’s time to start bringing our troops home. It’s time to admit that no amount of American lives can resolve the political disagreement that lies at the heart of someone else’s civil war. That’s why I have a plan that will bring our combat troops home by March of 2008. Letting the Iraqis know that we will not be there forever is our last, best hope to pressure the Sunni and Shia to come to the table and find peace.
Finally, there is one other thing that is not too late to get right about this war – and that is the homecoming of the men and women – our veterans – who have sacrificed the most. Let us honor their valor by providing the care they need and rebuilding the military they love. Let us be the generation that begins this work.
I know there are those who don’t believe we can do all these things. I understand the skepticism. After all, every four years, candidates from both parties make similar promises, and I expect this year will be no different. All of us running for president will travel around the country offering ten-point plans and making grand speeches; all of us will trumpet those qualities we believe make us uniquely qualified to lead the country. But too many times, after the election is over, and the confetti is swept away, all those promises fade from memory, and the lobbyists and the special interests move in, and people turn away, disappointed as before, left to struggle on their own.
That is why this campaign can’t only be about me. It must be about us – it must be about what we can do together. This campaign must be the occasion, the vehicle, of your hopes, and your dreams. It will take your time, your energy, and your advice – to push us forward when we’re doing right, and to let us know when we’re not. This campaign has to be about reclaiming the meaning of citizenship, restoring our sense of common purpose, and realizing that few obstacles can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change.
By ourselves, this change will not happen. Divided, we are bound to fail.
But the life of a tall, gangly, self-made Springfield lawyer tells us that a different future is possible.
He tells us that there is power in words.
He tells us that there is power in conviction.
That beneath all the differences of race and region, faith and station, we are one people.
He tells us that there is power in hope.
As Lincoln organized the forces arrayed against slavery, he was heard to say: “Of strange, discordant, and even hostile elements, we gathered from the four winds, and formed and fought to battle through.”
That is our purpose here today.
That’s why I’m in this race.
Not just to hold an office, but to gather with you to transform a nation.
I want to win that next battle – for justice and opportunity.
I want to win that next battle – for better schools, and better jobs, and health care for all.
I want us to take up the unfinished business of perfecting our union, and building a better America.
And if you will join me in this improbable quest, if you feel destiny calling, and see as I see, a future of endless possibility stretching before us; if you sense, as I sense, that the time is now to shake off our slumber, and slough off our fear, and make good on the debt we owe past and future generations, then I’m ready to take up the cause, and march with you, and work with you. Together, starting today, let us finish the work that needs to be done, and usher in a new birth of freedom on this Earth.
Dear Friends,
I hope this finds you well.
A question, a reflection, and an endorsement.
Why is our country divided?
Why has this division been growing?
Can we not all agree that we are a country that supports its families, that protects its citizens and respects its neighbors?
A country that educates its children?
Are we not a country that can lead by example rather than by force?
Is ours a government of the people, by the people, for the people?
I would like to think so.
But I believe that corporate greed and its involvement in policy making, along with political cronyism have made it nearly impossible for the people to govern.
So we fight amongst ourselves over the spin of political slogans and half truths.
And so we are divided.
It is time for a change and that is why I support Barack Obama for President.
Respectfully,
Dave Matthews
The Philosophy of American Rights
by
Thomas Saunders, www.njcdlp.org
The underlying philosophy of American Rights is based upon the premise that philosophy is a science, and so a civic and socio-political responsibility is to employ Political Science to politics, in a corresponding form.
“Philosophy in Ayn Rand’s view, is the fundamental force shaping every man and culture. It is the science that guides men’s conceptual faculty, and thus every field of endeavor that counts on this faculty.” (Leonard Peikoff, from “Objectivism.”)
American politics i.e. the government, is bound to a philosophy bound in the interpretation and implimintation of the United States Constitution. American law is devised through a process of legislation, and judicial application through legislated acts, and upheld judicial findings in the form of “stare decsis.” Most people know what legislation is but stare decisis…..
Stare decisis: (To stand by things that have been settled.) The doctrine under which courts adhere to precedent on the questions of law in order to insure certainty, consistancy, and stability in the administration of justice with departure from precedent permitted for compelling reasons, ( as to prevent the perpetration of injustice). (”Webster’s Dictionary of Law,” Webster, 1996, p. 467) { Similar to ‘Res Judicata,’ or, ‘what has been decided before, and considered final.’ Usually pertaining to a single case.}
Stare decisis presents ‘primary cases of law,’ or Case Law that determine the general aim of a law in regard to Constitutionality. Case law; is ”law established by judicial decisions in cases, as distinguished from law created by legislation.” (Webster,Ibed. p. 67.) Legislative acts that are passed by process become statutes. ”A statute is a law made by the legislative branch of the government.” Constitutional law, is ”a body of statutory and case law that is based on, concerns or interprets of the constitution.” Webster, Ibed, p. 469. 470.)
The legislative and judicial branches of the government are part of a trinity designed in the Constitution, and intended to create checks and balances in the design of a free republic, and liberal democracy. Americans often argue that America is a republic, and others say democracy. I would argue that America is both….
”Democracy is defined as a government by the people through their elected representatives.” (See; ‘Webster’s Dictionary of Law,” Webster, 1996, pg. 131.) , See also; ”Dictionary and Thesaurus,” Harper -Collins, 2003. pg. 192.)
Republic; A state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch. (ORIGIN C16: from Fr. république, from L. respublica, from res ‘concern’ + publicus ‘of the people, public.’ See also; ‘Webster’s Dictionary of Law,” Webster, 1996, pg. 425.)
The American philosophy of law is based upon the implementation of both judicial and legislative acceptance that the following protections are guaranteed by both legislative mandates from Congress, signed by the President, and ruled on by the courts, and written down in the United States Code, in any dispute or challenge of that law, making it literally the ‘law of the land.’ (I am using the phrase in this sense.)
A judge who violates the Constitution, is by law committing treason…a judge does not fully comply with the Constitution, then his orders are void, in re: Sawyer, 124 U.S. 200 (1888), he/she is without jurisdiction, & he/she has engaged in an act or acts of Treason. I’ve always contended that a Congressman, Indian Cheifs, all the way to a ‘Road Kill Picker,’ has a civic responsibility to alignment with Constitutional standards.
By these standards of the law of the land, Americans should be protected for the following….
1. The right to own private property over the right of the ‘government’ to steal it.
2. The right to security in your home, family, and papers.
3. The right of free speech, and free expression.
4. The right to be free from unreasonable searches.
5. The safety net of judicial warrant requirements, and habeas corpus.
6. The right of free assembly, and association.
7. The right to a trial by a jury of your peers in a system of due process.
8. Reasonable bail and recourse for false arrest.
9. The right to the process to redress grievances.
10. Protection from cruel and unusual punishment.
11. Protection from laws that plunder life, liberty, and property, both individual and collective.
In reality none of these ‘rights’ is being protected by Congress, the Courts, or the Administration, and has not been for the past fifty years, and before the Reagan era. The Patriot Act and many laws before and since violates every precedent of civic protection the trinity of the Legislative, Judicial, and Executive branches are bound to protect by the Constitution.
The ‘Oath of Office,’ for the trinity of the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches of the government mandate that the ‘law of the land,’ be the principle ‘job’ of the ‘trinity,’ as stewards in overseeing American civil liberties. Should in theory one or two of the trinity violate the basic ‘philosophy’ the other should be able to ‘right’ the corrupted members of the trilogy.
In effect, currently the United States Government is engaged in the following illegal actions, in regard to the preservation of the above list of rights.
Police Brutality:
Racial Profiling:
Illegal Searches, and Seizures:
School Zero Tolerance Policies:
Insufficient Police Protection:
Juvenile Justice Systems, Abuse:
Prisoner Abuse:
Entrapment:
Asset Forfeiture:
Disparate Sentencing, and Judicial misconduct:
Prosecutorial Misconduct:
War On Drugs:
Judicial Corruption and Misconduct:
Law Enforcement Misconduct:
Privatization of Government Duties:
Legislative Corruption and Misconduct:
Executive Corruption and Misconduct:
Without a commitment to enforce the primary rights of Americans according to those rights which can be shown as Constitutionally protected rights, corruption and government tyrany can continue. In terms of philsophy, the corruption in American government can be shown to be mostly due to the non-commitment to upholding the ‘law of the land. This is a breach in the Oath of Office to protect the Constitution. The ‘Oath’ mandates lawmakers as to their fudiciary duty to all Americans to preserve Constitutional law.
The philosophy of the American Right, is bound in a system where the premise of the philosophy of free republic, and liberal democracy, are bound to the understanding of all its citizens. This means that the trinity of the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches of the government can be made a tetrad of Executive, Judicial, Legislative, and Americans. All must know the Law of the Land.
Prayers and Reflections 