Morality

By

D.C. Wright

All right, gather ‘round, people. Today we get to talk about MORALITY. Morality is, in my view, widely misunderstood, much like the meaning of our Constitution. Yet, morality is a vital component of a free society. The United States were founded on the moral principles of Judeo-Christian beliefs. No matter what some revisionist might want us to swallow, THAT is the plain fact of the matter. These Biblical beliefs were ingrained in this country from the beginnings. My own ancestors, on the Mayflower, came in the hope of religious freedom, that is, freedom from the dictates of the Church of England, which they felt did not properly reflect the Biblical truths that my ancestors believed. I agree, but I digress.

The Massachusetts colony set up as a “collective,” probably not unlike those of the old Soviets or what some would turn US into. They almost starved to death. Eventually, before it was too late, they came to their senses and established property rights and private property. Then, and only then, did they succeed. Because “collectives” are not, that I have ever been able to tell, Scriptural. Nor do they work in any form or fashion. The Judeo-Christian tradition is strong on the WORK ETHIC. In fact, it was written, (paraphrasing) “He who will not work, let him not eat.” (the Apostle Paul) To me, this says that if one is not willing to labor for his food, he does NOT have any call on someone ELSE’S labor to feed him. That makes perfect sense to me.

Other principles are laid out in the Scriptures: that of property rights, of not committing murder, of not lying, cheating on your husband or wife, and so forth. These things are really the underpinnings of our morality, as they should be. They are God-given, God-inspired universal truths. HOWEVER, having said that, they also must be voluntarily accepted by each individual in society in order to truly be a MORAL code. Except that, of course, LEGAL prohibitions on crimes, such as murder, rape, theft, and so forth, with appropriate provisions for restitution and punishment, are universally valid in civilized nations. The other things, adultery, lying, sex outside of marriage, eating and drinking, things which should not rise to the level of CRIME, may rise to the level of SIN, if you believe the Bible or the Torah. Generally speaking, while sins may extract a higher punishment from God, they do not belong in our penal codes.

As I said, each individual must adopt a MORAL CODE, because MORALS are what you live by when you’re ALONE. It should be taught by the families and by the churches and synagogues. Morality is not the province of government, and the reason is simple. Especially today, when we have those of the Left working overtime to destroy the influence of families and religion (excepting the Religion of Peace, it seems) and substituting laws and prohibitions for morality, we need to fight this tooth and nail. For they mean to control every aspect of our lives and the only way it can be done is if they control what to them passes for morality: promiscuity, perversion and hedonistic pleasures to tempt our children coupled with prohibitions against these very things in the law, so that they can create a nation of LAWBREAKERS, who then can be controlled. As most of us know, a FREE man or woman cannot be controlled; at most they can be killed. But a hedonistic society, plagued by the guilt of breaking laws that were never intended to be UNBROKEN, can be controlled as readily as a horse to a bridle. (But without as much sense as the horse, speaking from 40+ year-old experience.)

I am a Christian. In a nutshell, I believe that God created the heavens and the earth; I believe that sin came into the world; I believe that God chose the Israelites as His people; I believe that later, He sent His Son into the world to preach, to die, to rise from the dead and to bear the burden of my sins so that I might, believing and accepting that, spend my eternity with Him. So I accept what the Bible says as God’s truth. And I equally believe that in order to WORK, all of these things must be accepted individually and voluntarily. Now, not everyone is going to accept everything I do. OK. But the parts that we can all agree on, the MORALITY, that you should be able to accept: respecting the rights of others and never, ever initiating an act of aggression against another, and so forth. These are the main components of a voluntary moral code. And these are the things those of the Left are so adamantly against. Theirs is a top-down, CONTROLLED society, with them (the elite) rising to the top, sort of like pond scum. With some exceptions (notably the notion that people who had dark skin, like my wife, could be bought and sold like cattle), our society WAS a voluntary society. And it worked, for the most part. But there was no TOP DOWN CONTROL over We, the People. That it was designed that way doesn’t matter to the elitists. They want US to do THEIR bidding.

You do recall Animal Farm, I’m sure. Where all animals were equal, but some were more equal than others. That’s what the Left wants; Soros and Pelosi and Reid and Jackson-Lee and Obama and Holden. They’re the pond scum that’s risen to the top and because of it they seem to feel (the Left FEELS; it seldom THINKS) that they know so much better than we how OUR lives should be run. And many on the Right are letting them get away with it, to the detriment of ALL THE REST of us. The Right is OK with prohibiting certain behaviors because they contradict what these people believe. This fits right in with the schemes of the Left, because it helps create another class of guilt-ridden dupes. And, of course, the ultimate result is the further shredding of our Constitution and our Republic.

That’s today’s lesson. It’s late and I’m tired, so we’ll continue this later. Your comments will be appreciated, because I do a much better job when I’m challenged and have to THINK about WHY I believe what I do. Then I can break it down better and do a much improved job for you. Just so you know, writing and philosophizing in a vacuum is nigh on to impossible; this is a two way street, not me preaching at you and you accepting it. So KEEP those comments and emails coming. I need to know how you are reacting to what I have to say. Am I clear enough? Do I get too confusing?

When I was the Training NCO for a Marine Helicopter Squadron, back during the ‘80s and even as Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (Network warfare) Defense Chief, my job was to make what I needed to impart UNDERSTANDABLE to my Marines. This meant that they had to make it clear, was I or was I not getting my message through and how could I do better. THAT is what I need from you, dear readers. I have a LOT to say, some of it even worthwhile. But if I cannot make it clear to YOU, I’m wasting our time and your bandwidth in downloading me. We can have some fun, tweak the Statists’ noses and learn from each other. So let’s do it! (And if you ask me nice, I’ll even tell you all about my grandkids, the absolute finest in the known universe!) Sometime soon, we’ll also talk about ETHICS, which is how you deal with others.

The Constitution: Part Two

By D.C. Wright

OK, here it is Tuesday and time to continue this discussion. Since I’ve heard nothing to the contrary in the comments you have been kind enough to make to me, I am presuming agreement on the purpose of the Constitution and the definition of rights.

What I HAVE heard from you is along the lines of “What do we do next?” and “How can I help?” In my mind, and as a reader passed on to me, in others’ minds as well, the Founders provided essentially four boxes for us to open as needed to protect our Republic and our Constitution. They are, in order:

First: The Ballot Box. We need to always THINK about our choices in elections and always choose LESS GOVERNMENT, rather than more. (So far this has been problematic, as we have often failed to do our due diligence and gone along with the MSM’s pick for us. This last election cycle was abysmal with respect to our choices in the election and in the ultimate result.)

Second: Along with and often tied to the Ballot Box is the Soap Box, where we give public vent to our opinions, feelings and even an occasional dose of reality-based logic. This box can be opened on its own, as I am doing now, in order to persuade others of the rightness of MY views and the wrongness of the views of those holding the reins of power. Whether or not this will work remains to be seen. If not, there is the

Third: The Jury Box. In the history of America, there’s a tale often told by the media, particularly the print media, but mostly to themselves, not to the rest of us. It’s also a tale known to liars, oops, I mean LAWYERS, yeah, that’s it, who pray to whatever god they worship that we, the People, will stay ignorant of it. That is the story of one Peter Zenger, a newspaper publisher in Colonial New York. There was a law passed in Parliament, back in Jolly Olde, which made it a crime to talk bad about the King or any of his minions, the Colonial Governors. Truth was no defense. Well, Peter Zenger published a factual story about one of these muckety-mucks and was duly imprisoned and tried (in about that order, if I recall the tale correctly). During the trial, his lawyer turned the matter on its head by putting both the law and the King on trial with the jury. He pointed out that Zenger had only printed truth and that a law such as that was unjust on the face of it. You can see where I’m going with this, as the jury acquitted Peter Zenger on all counts and the law became essentially a dead letter. Today, of course, if you want what’s known as a Fully Informed Jury, you’re bounced by the prosecutor AND the judge, as they think THEY should be the final arbiters of what the law is and should be. They will tell jurors that they MUST listen to the judge as to what the law is that the accused is said to have broken and judge only guilt or innocence of that. In reality, the jury is ALSO the judge of the LAW itself and can find that the law is flawed or unjust or unconstitutional and acquit on that basis. Once a jury acquits someone under our system, he or she cannot be retried for the same crime. This can be a powerful tool and for further information look up the Fully Informed Jury Association at http://www.fija.org/. This is THE definitive site for prospective jurors, as far as I am concerned.

Fourth: The Bullet Box is the LAST one we want to open, for it is the one most fraught with peril for us as individuals AND for our nation. Yet it is there because the Founders realized that it might well be necessary. They understood tyranny, for they had most assuredly just pushed their way out of one of the most tyrannical of the time and they had no intention of setting up their OWN tyrants. So they put in a clause specifically requiring the government to recognize (but not GRANT) our right to keep and bear the arms of our choice in the event we had to either fight off an invading horde or protect ourselves and our families from our own government. THIS is the thing our current masters (for want of a better word) would have us forget. They do not want us to even DREAM about taking up arms to protect our liberty from them; in fact so many of them (Diane Feinstein, Chuck Schumer, Frank Laughtenberg, The One, his minion, Eric Holder, et al.) want nothing more than to see ALL OF US PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS totally and completely disarmed and at their mercy. Oh, yes, they have their protection, you can bet the ranch. DiFi, as the senator is known to us in California, is one of the biggest gun-grabbers in the Senate, yet SHE had (or maybe still has) a carry permit from San Francisco County, where they are like finding a diamond in a bird dropping; possible but about as likely as getting hit by a lightning bolt.

I HOPE it isn’t yet time to open the fourth box, but preparedness is a good idea. Besides, going to the range is FUN. And it’s another skill for you to master. OK, so I learned from the Marine Corps. Big deal. ANYONE can learn to shoot if you have a good and patient instructor and a willingness to learn. And having a good firearm in the home (or on your person) and the skill and knowledge to use it, but most importantly to know WHEN to use it, is an extreme confidence builder. Not cocky, not bullying, not ready to shoot anyone, anywhere. THAT is not the purpose. The purpose of a firearm is to protect you and those around you from ANYONE who would do them harm. Those of us who are veterans know all about that, as that was the oath we took… to protect and defend our Constitution from all of its enemies, foreign and domestic, and by corollary, to protect the PEOPLE, on whose authority the Constitution rests. We swore no allegiance to the President, the Congress or the Government, for it was known when these oaths were written that those institutions could become the enemies of the Constitution and the People. We did swear to obey the LAWFUL orders of the President and/or officers appointed over us, but the key word is LAWFUL. And that means that they must be, at the bedrock, in compliance with the Constitution and then the laws and treaties governing war and the military.

OK. Here’s some more to think about. Things you can do. Prepare for war but pray for peace. Find like-minded folks around you and start making new friends. Stock up on certain things that might come in handy in hard times. I live in earthquake country so I’ve heard that advice for years. And it’s good anywhere in the country. PROVIDED that you do NOT make a big production out of it in front of your neighbors. We may never need these emergency goods. I pray not. BUT if the worst comes to pass, you do NOT want to have made yourself a target.

If you decide to start shooting, perhaps you can learn to reload your own ammo. It’s fairly simple and can be as cheap or as costly as your budget permits. It’s also fun to go out and shoot up the stuff you’ve made yourself!

But that’s enough of this for now. I am not trying to be an alarmist, just a realist. There may well be other things we can do prior to open warfare to take back OUR nation. And it is OURS, for we the People are the sole source of any authority the government has and we can revoke that grant of authority anytime the government gets too far out of bounds. In fact, it is our duty and obligation to do so. Let’s try the Soap Box for a while longer. Go to the townhall meetings, if your congresscritter decides to be brave and hold one. Also, if your state is like Vermont, Arizona and New Hampshire, consider openly packing a piece when you go out, whether it be to a protest, a townhall or even shopping. You know by now that you are NOT going to use your weapon to threaten someone except in the only permissible way: BY HAVING IT ON YOUR PERSON. This makes the liberal gun-grabbers wet themselves for some reason, and it works. Look at New Hampshire over the weekend, I believe, and Arizona yesterday, near the Obama speech at the VFW or the townhall, I’m not sure which. All I can say is that as a VFW member, I’m glad the folks there gave him the cold shoulder he deserves…

Next time, ya’ll.

The Constitution: Quit Whining About It and Start Enforcing It
by
D.C. Wright
(Special to Canadian Free Press)

I hear too many so-called “conservatives” whining about how people don’t understand the Constitution and what it means and how Congress and the Courts surely ignore it and how the Executive tries to do end-runs around it and how impossible it is to get people interested in seeing it enforced.

Well, Bunkie, let’s do first things first, then we can make some real progress at recovering our Country. We, who wish to CONSERVE the Constitution and the Republic it created, must first agree on some fundamentals:

First and foremost, the Constitution is what it is, the bedrock and foundation on which the Founders built the Republic. It is a neutral document, that is, it does not favor any person or group; it recognizes and requires the government to recognize INDIVIDUALS and their EQUAL rights. It rightly treats us as GROWNUPS, fully capable of making our own decisions over our lives and responsible for the consequences, good, bad or indifferent, of those choices. It most emphatically does NOT give government the authority to make choices FOR us. Sadly, there are many people who believe otherwise. Some call themselves Liberals and think that Government must make decisions about how much money we are allowed to make; how healthy we are allowed to be; and with whom we are allowed (or mandated) to associate.

Those who call themselves “Conservative” want the government to dictate such things as with whom we sleep and why; what sorts of substances we may possess and ingest or whatever; and, since they can’t be sure just how much we love our country, often they want to compel us to serve in the forces that protect this nation.

Neither group wants the rest of us to realize that there is NO SUCH AUTHORITY GRANTED to government by the Constitution to do ANY of these things or a host of others that they want it to do. Somehow or another, they want us to believe that the rules laid out in the Constitution do not limit what GOVERNMENT can do, but what We, the People, are allowed to do. Whilst the “conservative” side won’t admit it as the “liberals” openly do, I believe both are agreed that our Constitution is a “Living” Document, capable of being interpreted in whatever way suits the moment.

Now, how do we combat this perversion of our foundation? How do we turn this back right side up? There’s no easy answer, but first we MUST agree that the Constitution is, as I have described here, a limit on GOVERNMENT, not a limit on We, the People. Without that fundamental agreement, we’re wasting our time and we may as well just step peaceably into the chains FedGov is forging for us.

We MUST agree that all rights are INDIVIDUAL rights and we must agree on a definition of the term. My definition, which I believe is the correct one, is that a right is anything one wants to do that does NOT involve the involuntary participation of another human being, as in a “right” to health care mandates that a doctor MUST provide it and someone ELSE must pay for it; hence that is in no way a RIGHT. A right to have sex does NOT include a right to: force one’s self on another; have sex with a child or other person incapable of giving voluntary consent; or an animal. Otherwise, it would be whatever an individual could coax one or more persons into VOLUNTARILY agreeing to.

Pretty much, whatever one wants to do is open. Whether or not one SHOULD do something is a matter for that person and his conscience (or his God, if he or she, like me, is a believer). The constraint is that NO ONE may initiate any act of force or aggression against another person. The old saying, “Your right to swing your fist ends at my jaw” is right on the mark, excepting only in self-defense. So, for GROWNUPS, rights are pretty extensive and Government was created (in this nation, uniquely) as an institution to PROTECT those rights. And our Founders considered, for the most part, that the citizens of this new nation WERE grown and capable of accepting responsibility for their actions.

So if you’re with me to this point, we can say that We, the People, are pretty much unlimited under the Constitution, whilst FedGov is VERY limited. This limitation is spelled out clearly and specifically in the Tenth Amendment, which, refreshingly enough, is getting quite a bit of play this year. “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Clear and simple.

The Founders ALSO believed that CRIME was a matter for the Several States to handle, since they allowed FedGov original jurisdiction over only three categories of crime, outside the absolute jurisdiction Congress has over the military. These categories are Treason (as defined in the Constitution), Piracy (on the high seas, but now in the air age, air piracy is included) and Counterfeiting. These and these ONLY are what the central government may properly (and solely) handle.

There is one other point, which I consider crucial to any discussion on the limitation of authority of government (and this applies across the board). That is, the notion that ours is a government by and with the CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED. As it happens, I agree wholeheartedly with this concept. I believe that it goes to the heart of the United States of America and is what makes it unlike any other before or after it, though there are some that give lip service to the notion and some (England) who made a valiant try at it (the Magna Charta, for example).

However, I also believe that the concept is widely misunderstood, even by pro-Constitution Conservatives. Granting consent to something implies that one has the AUTHORITY to do that in the first place. We, as individuals, can only consent to someone doing in our names and on our behalf that which WE MAY PROPERLY DO FOR OURSELVES IN THE FIRST PLACE. I can, for example, consent to having someone arrest, try and punish a murderer or a robber or a rapist because I have the legitimate authority, under my absolute right to self-defense, to act against such a person MYSELF. Though I would most likely commit that person to his final rest, I can properly consent to the establishment of courts and prisons and so forth.

Likewise, I can properly consent to LOCAL rules on conduct in public places. For example, LOCAL governments may properly establish rules about when and where someone may discharge a weapon in non-emergency situations (though that is ALL that government may properly do with respect to weapons, at ANY level, since the Second amendment is pretty specific). Local government may also establish rules against public intoxication (by any substance), though no level of government may prohibit the use of intoxicants, since no INDIVIDUAL has the authority to consent to such regulation of OTHER PEOPLE’S behavior. If an individual may not infringe on the rights of others, he cannot get government to do it for him.

In future articles, I’ll delve deeper into how we can go about getting our Constitution restored as the Supreme Law of the Land. For now, we need to ensure that we understand the mechanism that created it and the thoughts of the Founders when they were writing this marvelous document. Their contemporary writings pretty much, in my opinion, show that they were in agreement with the line of thinking I have portrayed here. They did say that the Constitution was something that would only work with a “moral” people, that is, a people who accepted that there are such things as right and wrong and that one should always strive for the right. This matter of morality is something that cannot be legislated (NO government has either the authority or the capability to do that), but must be learned and accepted through family and church. Today we have the forces of Liberalism which have done their utmost to destroy BOTH institutions and make morality a thing of the past. “Anything goes,” or so they want us to believe. And, sadly, some do.

On the other side we have those who believe that MORALITY can be instilled in folks at the point of the government’s gun.

Both sides are terribly, tragically and EVILLY WRONG. But more later on these things.

NO SPECIAL PRIVILEGES

By D.C. Wright

With Rick Chace and Jeff Head

Our “leaders” have turned this whole Constitution thingy right on its head. Instead of being our (well-paid) EMPLOYEES, they have taken it upon themselves to become our RULERS. Take the Congress for example. For the most part (and there are only a tiny handful of exceptions), the laws they pass don’t apply to them or to Capitol Hill anywhere. Sexual harassment? No problem, they’re not covered by those laws. Labor laws? Not enforced here. Time to take a vacation? THEY’RE not too poor to afford to travel in style. Just call the Air Force and get a VIP aircraft for them and their minions. Call it “fact-finding” to mollify the folks back home. Why, there’s even talk of Congress buying as many as 6-8 brand new luxury corporate jets so the Air Force can fly them about in even greater comfort. $500 million tax dollars or so, but who cares? CONGRESS doesn’t have to pay for it.

Then there’s the imperial Presidency. Dates in New York City. Shopping sprees in London or Paris. All on OUR dime. Endless “official” travel all over the world. Special privilege up the old gump stump.

It’s time to say NO MORE. NO SPECIAL PRIVILEGES. No more exemptions from laws YOU pass. No more VIP travel at taxpayer expense. No fleet of luxury planes at your beck and call, just because you’re a “public official.” No more conferences at luxury resorts unless the cost comes out of your PERSONAL pocket. No FAMILY travel on the taxpayer’s dime. No more overseas junkets that we, the People have to pay for. I’ll say it again: “NO SPECIAL PRIVILEGES.”

We, the People, are sick and tired of Imperial Government. We threw off a monarchy when the King got too overbearing. Then we wrote a simple but extremely well thought-out Constitution and created a republic. A place where anyone could grow up and do whatever he or she wanted, while respecting the right of others to do the same. A place where there were no hereditary “classes.” Where privilege was EARNED by the sweat of one’s brow. Where IDEAS were currency and where dreams could come true because one worked to make it so. Where serving in government was just something one did for a while out of a sense of duty, but one soon put it aside in order to participate in the REAL world, the world of ideas; of machinery; of agriculture; of things of VALUE to society.

But then one day, the idea was put into the heads of politicians that they could vote privilege for themselves; that they could vote lesser privilege to people who could be persuaded to vote, to do what it took to keep the politicians in office in order to keep the privileges flowing. And the politicians created their own subclass: the professional political class. And the professional ENABLER, the political STAFFER.. Then these two parasitical classes created their own little world wherein PULL was currency and the prestige of one’s political boss determined the amount of PULL available. And it was all paid for by the taxpayer, the milk cow of the politicians. And they passed legislation that made it all but impossible for others to challenge the order of things. Because SPECIAL PRIVILEGE was the order of the day.

Now, however, we, the People, the source of what LIMITED authority government has been granted, are here to tell the Political Class: NO MORE. NO SPECIAL PRIVILEGES. No more junkets. No more first class travel at OUR expense. No more sycophants on the public payroll telling politicians just how powerful and god-like they are. YOU ARE OUR EMPLOYEES, not our masters. You exist in office at our sufferance, and not by “right.”

We hired you to protect OUR interests and rights; instead you feather your own nests and those of your chosen cronies, in return for the favors they can do for you. No more. NO SPECIAL PRIVILEGE. If you cannot live under these terms, just say the word. We’ll hire someone who will. We will also seriously consider making yours a PART TIME job and not allow you but one or two staffers, also part time. That way you and the staff can spend most of your time out in the REAL world, eking out a living the way we, your bosses, must.

When foreign rulers, tyrants, and terrorists have sought to destroy this Republic, we have united and spent our treasure, our time, and most importantly our life’s blood and that of our sons and daughters to defeat these enemies so we could vouchsafe and preserve our liberty, our way of life, our moral values and the Constitution, which enumerates those things. Those tyrants and enemies have always underestimated the American people. The politicians in our country should take note of this fact…and the results. A glance over their shoulders at Athens, Tennessee, in 1946, should straighten out MOST of the politicians. You should recall that corruption was rampant in McMinn County, Tennessee, when a group of veterans, fresh from combat in World War II, came home and quickly got fed up with being targeted for ticketing, for arresting, for being fined for the least infraction. They ran a slate of candidates for the various county offices, promising clean, honest government and an end to the strongarm tactics of the incumbents. On Election Day, the sheriff “deputized” a bunch of his thugs (sound familiar?) who then took the ballot boxes to the jail for counting. They opened fire on the veterans who attempted to come in to monitor the count. The vets borrowed some weapons from the local armory and returned fire. When the gunsmoke cleared and the dynamite was put away, the “deputies” surrendered, an HONEST count was made of the ballots and, guess what, the veterans’ slate won. For the best article I’ve read on the subject, go to American Heritage and read all about it.

(The Battle for Athens shows how corruption due to SPECIAL PRIVILEGE can occur at any level of government. We, the People, oppose it no matter WHERE. NO SPECIAL PRIVILEGES. EVER.)

And, as for the Presidency, we hire someone to be the chief executive OF THESE UNITED STATES, not president of the world. There should be NO overseas travel for any reason. All your work is here at home, not in Saudi Arabia or Paris or London. If you feel a need to travel there, fly coach class on a commercial liner, just like your bosses. If you want $100/pound beefsteak, PAY FOR IT YOURSELF. If we must eat hamburger helper, for sure we will NOT pay for your beefsteak when you can go to Wal-Mart like the rest of us and pay less than $4.00 per pound!

NO SPECIAL PRIVILEGES.

D.C. Wright is a retired Marine Vietnam veteran who “mean[s] to see the Constitution restored to its rightful place, as Supreme Law of the Land, in MY lifetime, so that I don’t pass the problems on to my sons and grandkids.”

Rick Chace is a Marine formerly on active duty, who just barely missed Vietnam but still honors the oath he took to defend the Constitution against ALL its enemies (and, as we have seen, they are LEGION).

Jeff Head SHOULD have been a Marine. He’s got what it takes. He’s been a Freedom Activist for many years and a writer of no small skill. A good man to have at your back.

© 2009 D.C. Wright All rights reserved