Monday, April 18, 2011
Preserving and Improving America
Conservatives are in the business of preserving and improving any and all worthwhile aspects of the American way of life as they perceive it.
This includes, among many factors:
1. A nation of laws: the Constitution, civil or positive laws, customs and rules.
2. Freedom and Liberty for all citizens, including strong property rights, and the right to own and use guns, as well as freedoms of speech, travel, association, and religion.
3. The free market system, yet with adequate active regulation that effectively prevents fraud and abuse.
4. Maintaining the full and complete sovereignty of the US, and not ceding any aspect of sovereignty whatsoever to an international body, especially not the UN.
5. Natural rights, natural laws, and natural duties.
6. Financial rectitude and budgetary common sense. We support adequate control of spending and borrowing, and orderly and effective reduction of the national debt over time.
7. Charity (that many call welfare) for the needy, the ill, and the destitute.
8. A strong defensive capability for both homeland protection and foreign wars if and when necessary. We believe in just war.
9. Preserving social institutions, customs, and traditions of the nation against the onslaught of progressive changes that would harm a majority of the people.
10. Education of all citizens that succeeds in preparing them to be good and creative citizens in our republic, but not fostering a costly Federal bureaucratic educational superstructure and unions. We need to revert to the tried and true subjects and texts, and the unbiased teachers of yesterday.
11. Moral rectitude and belief in the Golden Rule.
12. The use of science to make life better for all, and to improve our knowledge in all directions.
13. Belief in the nation, patriotism.
14. Outreach to troubled nations.
15. Being a staunch ally to those that we make common cause with by either treaty or simple agreement.
16. Unwavering, implacable enemy of those that would damage or destroy the US or our real friends.
17. The idea of being successful at all that we undertake, be it: social, political, economic, military, environmental, or religious.
18. The exceptionalism of the American experiment in governance: the Constitution of the United States of America as a nonpareil system of thought.
19. The custom of admitting immigrants by a legal process and assimilating them within a generation or so is proper. The necessity is clear for deportation of illegal immigrants and not amnesty.
20. Minimal taxation necessary for running the government, but not for redistribution of wealth per se. Fair taxation is the goal, while progressive schemes are not acceptable. The goal is to let each citizen keep as much of his earnings as possible.
21. Identification of elements that need changes over time, either by expansion or by collapse, and working carefully to institute them using both the legal procedures of the Constitution, and the legislature, and the judiciary and the administration, as the Constitution envisions it to take place.
22. Understanding that Islam is not compatible with our freedoms and liberty, that its jihadist element is an existential threat to the US and way of life, and hence Islam has no standing as a non-threatening religion under our Constitution.
23. Belief that public unions should not be allowed in government at all, and that unions whose actions imperil the citizenry, such as preventing dairy supplies from entering a city, not manning aircraft controller positions, or impeding the defense of the nation, should be completely barred from such actions. In other words, life and survival come before the demands of a union.
24. We feel that there are proper subjects that can be promoted by government seed money under careful supervision, and, eventually, partial or full withdrawal by the government from the arena. Space is an example.
25. Social problems must be addressed properly, including abortion, and same sex marriage. Perhaps a national referendum is in order to ascertain whether the majority of voters favor or disfavor these issues, with legislative action to follow in accord with the wishes of the voters.
26. It is unfortunate that we do not have a free press or a free media. The ideal of the media being a major counter-balance to ensure effective government has been largely destroyed by a virtually complete bias on their part in favor of Leftist positions and Leftist candidates. This is an extremely unhealthy situation for our republic.
April 18, 2011
Labels: Conservatism, Constitution, Fiscal Responsibility, Flat Tax, National Debt, Natural Law, Natural Rights, Will of the People
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
My Verities
1. The way is God and truth,
2. The virtues are Faith, Hope, and Charity/Love.
3. Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Fortitude follow closly behind.
4. Then comes my belief in Devine Law, Natural Law and Natural Rights
5. I must explicitly state my belief in the Golden Rule.
6. I am a sinner: I have not succeeded in following these beliefs, but I strive to perfect myself.
7. I believe in the Constitution as it was intended to be used.
8. But there are glaring exceptions to this paen to life: I believe in just war, just killing, and proper regard for the real nature of religions and pseudo-religions within our nation. A so-called religion that strives to conquer our nation, and to prevail as the one true religion, is not acceptable. I am speaking of Islam here.
Labels: Citizenship USA, God, Jihadists, Morality, Natural Law, Natural Rights, Philosophy
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
An Atheist on the Supreme Court?
No Thank You!
One clear problem with putting an avowed atheist on the Supreme Court is that it an anathema to the Constitution's foundations in Natural Law, which is something that no atheist can tolerate, since Natural Law is a reflection of God's Eternal Law. No God-->no Natural Law-->no Constitution-->Inventive, Relativistic Secular Law.
Natural Law is the basis for our rights and duties in this society, and ultimately, our civil laws as well, at least in that civil laws must not be contrary to Natural Law.
Since fully 80-odd percent or more of the population believes in God and in the Constitution as based in Natural Law, putting an atheist on the Court would result in total violence to the will of the majority of our citizens, and to the Constitution itself.
Of course, it is also true that the Constitution bars the use of religion as a criteria for office. Does atheism fall into this category of religion? I thought it was a non-religion, and hence it would do no violence to the Constitution to block such an appointment using avowed atheism as the reason.
Labels: Atheism. Christianity, Natural Law, Natural Rights
Friday, April 30, 2010
Summary of Natural Law, Rights and Duties
Discoveries and Derivations
There are at least two approaches to discovering the tenets of Natural Law, Rights and Duties (NLRD). The first approach parallels the most likely manner in which basic morals were developed; that is, by evolution through the experience and contemplation of men on social interactions over many centuries, even millennia. It is relatively easy to believe that the cardinal tenets of the Natural Law were adopted simply to reduce the conflicts and anguish of members of families, groups and tribes of early man long before the written word.
Such tenets as: 1) do not murder; 2) do not steal; 3) do not commit adultery; 4) honor one’s parents; and, 5) do not perjure against or slander another, are quite readily seen to be common sense rules for social behavior, and man was very ready then to accept the benefits of groups and tribes, especially greater security. Then, too, 6) “do as you would be done to” has arisen as a tenet of many ancient societies around the world, and is the essence of the Golden Rule; for example—Confucius (597-451 BC). The duties that attend to rights are also a part of the derivation of the concept of Natural Law.
This approach predates the formation of many major religions, and follows the idea that development of morals preceded such writings as the Ten Commandments (The Decalogue) in the Christian Bible. Another right that is implicit in these behavioral prescriptions is 7) the right to both life and self-preservation, which leads naturally to, 8) the right to defend one’s rights,
The central fact about these laws and rights is that they are universals. They apply to all men and all times in all places. Many of these laws and rights are fundamental, in that they are irreducible and incapable of being derived from some higher principle. As Cicero (106-43 BC) stated, they are unchangeable and eternal.
One can derive a number of subsidiary natural laws and rights from these few given here, such as, 9) the right to private property, since 2) do not steal, implies ownership of property, and, 10) the right to privacy as well ( or, your home is your castle!).
The other derivation of Natural Laws, Rights and Duties is from the prescriptions of the Bible taken as the immutable words of God. Hence, we begin with the Ten Commandments and the many other prescriptions in both the Old and New Testaments, but primarily centered on the New Testament taken as a whole.
It seems to me that the principal difference between these approaches is the advent of religion and the several commandments to worship God. The rest of the natural laws and rights of man are essentially the same, and are derived from right reason. Thus, Natural Law and Natural Rights can be accepted whether one is religious or not. In fact, I believe they ought to be a dominant part of everyone’s worldview.
There are many historical thinkers that have advocated Natural Law and Rights in one form of government or another, to mention a few; Plato, Aristotle, Polybius, Cicero, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, Jeremiah, and Paul. The form of government taken may vary, from pure democracy to republicanism to the rule of kings or an oligarchy, but the rights of man always remain very close to the same, regardless of the form of government, and the relationship between man and his government remains to be sovereignty over their respective domains. In later times the NLRD thinkers of more modern times include; Locke, Burke, Hobbes, Montesquieu, Blackstone, and all of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.
Where further rights are derived
In tracing these logical threads, I have taken liberties with the process in this first attempt to derive a number of the subsidiary tenets of Natural Law, Rights, and Duties. I welcome corrections, and additions to strengthen the line of argument.
If you begin with the right of self-defense as a universal, and you live where force is all around you in the form of weapons, then it is easily seen that you have, 11) the right to own and use weapons in self-defense, and to practice their use. This is further reinforced by 12) the right to support and defend your family and kin, which leads to, 13) the duty to provide for your family in terms of food, shelter, clothing, instruction, and so forth. But this means you also have, 14) the duty to perform work of some sort, even if only hunting, gathering or farming, to earn a living so that you can provide for your family, and, 15) the right to keep the fruits of your labor for the same reason—by far the most of them anyway.
The duty that you must support your family leads to, (16) the right to select your own mate and create a family in the first place in order to perpetuate the race, and 17) the right to choose you profession, in conjunction with the family support duty in (13), as well as the right to own, barter, sell, and give away property as in (9) above.
If you begin with the duty not to bear false witness against your neighbor (perjure or slander, in other words), and the admonition not to steal (2), it follows that you must, 18) be honest and keep your word, bargains, contracts and agreements, or else you are either causing distress, cheating, lying to or stealing from another person, which is a violation of the Golden Rule (6).
The duty not to murder is properly interpreted as not to murder innocent people. This leads to the concept of just killing (which is not murder), and just war. From just killing comes, 19) the judgment of death for heinous crimes, and the necessity for judges of guilt or innocence and the proper penalties to be applied. This results in punishment for crimes, and, 20) the right to require full restitution by the guilty party for property crimes. From the idea of justice and the need to judge comes, 21) the right to a fair trial, 22) trial by a jury of your peers, 23) the right to assemble freely and peacefully; 24) the right to petition the government to redress wrongs, and 25) the right of Habeas Corpus.
From the right to private property (9) comes, 26) the duty not to trespass on another’s property without just cause. Since property includes intellectual property as well, if follows that you have, 27) the right of free speech, free press, and the right to sell, barter and trade your intellectual property. It also follows that to exercise free speech and press, and to sell, barter and trade, you must have, 28) the right to free association with your peers: that is, 29) the right to liberty, and freedom of choice. Obviously, you have the consequent duty, 30) to obey the law, and, 31) The duty to uphold the social standards of decency and moral rectitude. This is why the right to private property is so important to our Law of the Land---The Constitution---and to the idea of unalienable and universal rights.
In my opinion, when you add the spiritual factor that these rights and duties of man are sanctioned by God the Creator, and not mere man alone, and that they are formed by right reason, God’s Natural Law becomes the basis for man’s full obedience to God’s Law and full acceptance of man’s Natural Rights and Duties, especially the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
More Subsidiary Rights
There are a number of other Natural Law tenets that can be traced. These include:
32) Provide for the ill, injured, crippled, and poverty-stricken. This is an obvious duty to humanity and needs no further derivation, but it could well be said to derive from the Golden Rule.
33) The necessity for limited government follows from the rights of freedom and liberty, since every added function of government is a subtraction from the freedom and liberty of citizens.
34) Separation of powers is also a necessity in order to maximize freedom and liberty, since centralization of powers in one or a few persons is a subtraction from the freedom and liberty of citizens.
35) Checks and balances in government ensure that no one group or person achieves too much power over citizens. This tactic is carried out in our nation to an exceptional degree, and is entirely due to the genius of our founding fathers.
36) Self-sufficiency is a duty of all able citizens in order to ensure minimum need for governmental intervention in our everyday life.
37) The duty to participate in civic activities and government is a further safeguard of our rights and freedoms, since an informed populace is far more difficult to turn into vassals. It is a further extension of separation of powers (34), to include all citizens.
38) Do not give aid to criminals is a duty to society, to justice, and to upholding the law.
39) The right to contrive and invent is properly a parallel to the duty to work (14).
This brings me to a major point. Since I accept all of these 39 tenets of NLRD, as well as a number of others not explicitly mentioned, my next thought must be their absolute preservation in society.
This Natural Law, Rights and Duties set of tenets, then, is the very essence of Conservatism as a political, social and fiscal mind set, and can readily be seen to be a substantial basis for our Constitution.
Summary Listing of Rights and Duties
Rights to:
Survival
Property
Self Defense
Fruits of Labor
Barter and Trade
Select Profession
Choose Wife
Procreate
Defend Family and Kin
Own and Use Weapons
Work
Privacy
Create and Invent
Pursuit of Happiness
Explore Nature
Free Conscience
Free Speech
Free Press
Freedom of Worship
Assembly
Association
Restitution
Habeas Corpus
Fair Trial
Freedom and Liberty
Petition
Duties to Perform:
Civic Participation
Support Family
Obey the Law
Serve on Juries
Self-Sufficiency
Do not Steal
Do not Murder
Do not Lie
Do not Commit Adultery
Honor Mother and Father
Do not Trespass
Adhere to Standards of Decency
Adhere to the Golden Rule
Maintain Moral Rectitude
Love they Neighbor
Show Mercy
Practice the Positive Virtues
Labels: Conservatism, Natural Law, Natural Rights
