When in the Course of Human Events...

Time for a Second American Revolution?

There was something quite different about the words our nation's forefathers penned at the founding and early days of the republic. These words carried a weight and commitment that has not been seen in anything drafted by the legislature over the past several generations. These men put their own lives and fortunes at stake, right alongside those of the families that made up this fledgling nation. Their modern contemporaries, it seems, stake only our lives and fortunes and future, risking little of their own.  The greatest risk they ever seem willing to make, if ever, is to take a stand on a point that could negatively impact re-election to their seat or election to a more powerful one. Where have all the statesmen gone?

I'm sure that many of the men and women who supposedly represent us in Washington embarked upon their political careers with great aspirations and the best of intentions. However, they easily become corrupted by the political machine; back door deals, the influence of lobbyists, selling their souls to the devil, etc. Even when they maintain the values that helped get them elected, they are often marginalized and rendered ineffective. These men and women cave to pressures that very few could withstand; sometimes, it is really hard to blame them. We have the best system of government in the world, but long-term, persistent corruption has resulted in a poor application of the system. It has suffered a fatal error and, for lack of a better remedy, needs a hard reboot.

We the People are also heavily to blame. We cannot simply point our collective finger at those we have elected, because after all, we elected them. Sure, we can try to blame it on the poorly-understood finer points of how we elect our representatives and executive in a republic, referring to mechanisms such as the primaries and the electoral college as "asinine" or "outdated," all the while not realizing how it all is supposed to work. It is easy to blame things we don't understand. It makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck when I hear things uttered like, "This is supposed to be a Democracy," or "How can he be president when he didn't win the popular vote?"

It is time for a Second American Revolution. Those are dangerous words; such words were dangerous in 1776 and they remain so today. Talk of revolution can quickly throw one to the fringe, in the realm of treasonous nutjobs, or get you on half a dozen government watch lists. As such, we must be prudent in our use of such a weighty term, especially if we mean it with the same degree of commitment as our founding fathers did. I think we can be committed, yet not require a call to arms to effect the necessary change; I think we can be effective, without advocating the overthrow of our present system of government. As previously stated, we have the best system in the world, but the players aren't playing by the rules, the officials have been corrupted, and we've essentially all forgotten how to play the game. One way or another, things are going to change, at someone's hands, things are going to change; it can better our situation or we can botch it up and send us further down the path toward tyranny. This Second American Revolution need not be a violent overthrow; this next revolution must be one of education in the founding principles of the republic and intentional, consistent action to facilitate the election of a new generation of principled leadership, beginning with the US House of Representatives.

The US House of Representatives? Yes.

Many overlook the potential of using the US House of Representatives as a lynchpin in taking back control of the federal government. The Constitution grants the House several exclusive powers: the power to initiate revenue bills, to impeach officials, and to elect the President in the case of an electoral college deadlock. Probably the most important of these is the control over revenue; they hold the authority to decide whether or not to spend our money. The founders understood that having control over spending carries the potential of quickly leading to corruption. As such, we have the opportunity to replace our representatives in the House every two years, allowing us to hold them more accountable for their votes concerning funding things with taxpayer money. If the federal government wants to spend our money, it must first be authorized by the House.  The Senate can only vote up or down on the funding aspect, from what I understand.

What if, through public-awareness mechanisms like the Tea Party movement, we could re-introduce an understanding of how our government is supposed to actually function and advocate the election of representatives who will vote to only approve funding for matters directly related to the enumerated powers of the federal government.  This has the potential to effectively stop massive, unconstitutional programs (like Obamacare) by refusing to spend any money on the administration of the program. Measures such as these, combined with the passage of an Enumerated Powers Act (requiring all bills introduced in Congress to include a statement setting forth the specific constitutional authority under which each bill is being enacted) could go a long way toward restoring some order and restraint on this runaway freight train that is hauling our money into a black hole, along with our liberty. Perhaps this is an over-simplified and sophomoric perspective, which I'm sure someone will point out to me if it is, but couldn't that start the ball rolling in the right direction?

No matter how you look at it, a revolution of some kind is on the horizon. We can make it happen or we can let it happen, but it's going to happen. Let's be on the proper side of this battle and fight it using the rule of law and light of day to expose the things that need to be fixed. If we don't, things are going to get really messy. We've only gotten a little taste of it so far. Let's make our Declaration this November and draw that line in the sand.

So, revolution anyone?


© the stiff lizard

Burn Notice

An Act of Ignorance

I have my own copy of the Qur'an (text and commentary) with a side-by-side English translation. It was given to me by a Palestinian woman that I engaged in a reasonable discussion concerning the history of The Holy Land. We didn't agree on everything, but she was gracious and knew how to pleasantly disagree. I'm pretty sure she is not a terrorist. I have read most, if not all, of the book (the translated parts anyway) and I don't have any intention of burning it.

I keep this copy of the Qur'an on my bookshelf, as a reference. The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Jehovah's Witnesses' version of the bible), the Book of Mormon and the Pearl of Great Price are keeping it company. I don't need a copy of the Tanakh, because I pretty much have that (albeit ordered differently) in my regular ol' Bible translations, before the Jesus sequel. I am not a Muslim; I am not a JW, LDS, or of Jewish decent. I do not claim a particular Christian denomination either; I simply try to follow Jesus (the Christ, not the landscaper).

I possess, and have mostly read, these books and many others in a continuous pursuit to better understand my fellow man.  What we each individually believe about God and our place in His creation, like it or not, plays a vital part in who we are and what makes us tick. Our religion, spirituality, or whatever you want to call it, is not the only element that forms our convictions and world-view, so this is obviously only one very enlightening piece of the puzzle. This is not intended to be a comparative religion essay, so let's leave it at that.

People will often cite "deeply-held religious beliefs" as a basis for irrational and bigoted behavior.  A problem with deeply-held religious beliefs is that nutjobs have a lot of them that aren't taught as part of the faiths that they claim to follow.  Errant beliefs and cultist belief systems inevitably arise when there is a narrow focus on the importance of one or a few elements of a religious teaching, combined with the dismissal of balancing teachings within the same faith. I hypothesize that this may be part of the case with Dove World Outreach Center's Pastor Terry Jones (not to be confused with the brilliantly funny Terry Jones of Monty Python fame).

Pastor Jones claims that he and his congregation (of about 30 people, from what I understand) have prayed about it and feel convicted that 'honoring' those killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, through the public burning of up to 200 copies of the Qur'an, is the right thing to do. However, when interviewed by one of the faces on CNN the other night, Jones was unable to name even one of the victims killed in the 9/11 attacks.  Jones appears to me to be little more than a hate-monger who likes media attention; correction, a hate-monger with deeply-held religious beliefs. This is not the first asinine stunt that he's pulled; google him and find out for yourself.

The media attention surrounding this impending book burning, stirs the emotions of many, but the minds of few.  Milton once wrote, "who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book, kills Reason itself, kills the Image of God, as it were in the eye."

It doesn't really matter whether you believe the principles taught in the Qur'an are valid or not, or whether 'Islam is of the devil' as Jones likes to put on billboards and children's tee shirts. Understanding the teachings of the Qur'an can help one to better understand his Muslim neighbor and a culture that would otherwise be quite alien. As such, the book has value. Publicly burning it achieves nothing positive; it does not silence the message; it does not stop the spread of Islam; it does not eradicate the teachings from existence. It does however, create converts - to radical Islam.  People like Pastor Jones are the Islamic terrorists' greatest recruiting tools; or maybe they're just tools, period.

I recently wrote that a man ought not to consume with flame any book that he has not first consumed with his mind; it is an act of ignorance that lacks a reasonable defense. Those words came to me about 24 hours ago, when I couldn't sleep, and I thought that I should share them. It prompted some interesting dialog, both through facebook and by email. The thought was prompted by the idea of Jones's old-fashioned Nazi-esque book burning, but I believe it in a much larger sense. To intentionally defile or desecrate something, believing it to be wrong but having no understanding of it, is an act of bigotry and ignorance, in my humble opinion. I think that to be intellectually qualified to burn a book, one must read it from cover to cover, understand the content, and conclude that it has no value. If you can honestly do that, break out the Kingsford, baby, and have yourself a time. Otherwise, it is a narrow-minded and bigoted act.  That is not to say that you don't have the constitutional right to do it though.

You see, there is a distinction that gets lost in so many of the debates about this kind of stuff. Just because you may have the right to do something, doesn't mean it is right to do it; they are two separate arguments that must not be confused. Here in the States, we have the constitutional right to be as ignorant and backwards as we choose to be, and to do it publicly if we so desire. Pastor Jones appears to be exercising that right to its fullest. I don't think this episode will be the last that we hear of him or his merry band of imbeciles. I just hope that no one gets hurt in the process and that we all learn something from it.  It's a bit unrealistic but heck, I can dream, right?


© the stiff lizard