Thoughts & Ponderables That Delve a Little Deeper

Judging Law

Law is the tool you turn to when society doesn’t work.  It should be the last resort, not the first response.

Do you agree?

In my humble ponderings, every law is a blanket, laid over an entire human situation, applying the same stringent repair to that section of the social herd.

The hope is that the individuals who suffer under a given legal dictate will be fewer in number than those helped.  The few individuals who might achieve remedy from some illegal substance will be far fewer than the enormous number of addicts enabled by allowing that substance to be freely marketed.  And often this appears to prove true.

Law, by its innate definition, limits human freedom.  Legal compliance mandates a confinement of the free flow of human behavior.   And when this keeps the gun-pointing intruder or the pen-wielding con artist from attacking our community, such confinement holds obvious advantage.  Yet when any solution by its very nature amalgamates the individual into the human herd, and encroaches on people’s precious freedom, must it not be one applied with some reluctance and careful monitoring?

One of the prices we pay for governing ourselves via a representative democracy is the creation of a system which rewards legislators for the sheer number of laws they create.  After all, lawmakers are in the business of churning out laws.  It is the sole fixit tool they hold in their social repair kit.  Everyone wants to elect and praise that Congressperson who creates constant legal action.  But perhaps with law’s immense power to crush as well as create, might we seek alternative methods of reforming our society and bringing a little better life for us all?

Just a thought,

– Bart Jackson

Our Children, Not Ourselves

          From our youngest days we are told, “You can be anything you want to be – and here, my child, is what you want to be.”  Mom signs us up for karate classes because we want to grow strong and become disciplined.  Dad urges us to join the traveling math team because it will help us in college.

Within this society that so dotes and devotes so much on its children, the slim reed of free choice becomes swallowed up in a sea of guidance.  With every hour of the youngster’s time already spoken for, there seems little need to include the experience of unaided decision-making in the curriculum.  Add to this the constant bombardment of subtle and unsubtle persuasions besieging us all, and the child enters adulthood obediently living in Default Mode.

Is this path inescapable?

Examples? Rebuttals? Solutions? Like to hear your thoughts….    info@bartsbooks.com

The Tool of Law

Law is the tool you turn to when society doesn’t work.  It should be the last resort, not the first response.

Do you agree?

In my humble ponderings, every law is a blanket, laid over an entire human situation, applying the same stringent repair to that section of the social herd.

The hope is that the individuals who suffer under a given legal dictate will be fewer in number than those helped.  The few individuals who might achieve remedy from some illegal substance will be far fewer than the enormous number of addicts enabled by allowing that substance to be freely marketed.  And often this appears to prove true.

Law, by its innate definition, limits human freedom.  Legal compliance mandates a confinement of the free flow of human behavior.   And when this keeps the gun-pointing intruder or the pen-wielding con artist from attacking our community, such confinement holds obvious advantage.  Yet when any solution by its very nature amalgamates the individual into the human herd, and encroaches on people’s precious freedom, must it not be one applied with some reluctance and careful monitoring?

One of the prices we pay for governing ourselves via a representative democracy is the creation of a system which rewards legislators for the sheer number of laws they create.  After all, lawmakers are in the business of churning out laws.  It is the sole fixit tool they hold in their social repair kit.  Everyone wants to elect and praise that Congressperson who creates constant legal action.  But perhaps with law’s immense power to crush as well as create, might we seek alternative methods of reforming our society and bringing a little better life for us all?

Just a thought,

                    – Bart Jackson

Celebrating Independent Principles

In June 11, 1776, young Thomas Jefferson, charged by the Second Continental Congress of the Thirteen United States of America, toiled over the wording of The Declaration of Independence.

A true son of the Enlightenment, Jefferson included his personal principle stating that humankind was “endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Upon reading it, the equally earnest Alexander Hamilton took objection.  He wanted the words altered to say, “….Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of property.”

Each man saw the threat of English crown’s incursions on the liberties of its colonials.  Each wanted to defend what was most important and most necessary to the fulfillment of the people, as he individually saw it.

– Emboldened by his principle, Thomas Jefferson went on to write and introduce the Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom, advocate for public education, found the Library of Congress and the University of Virginia.

– Hamilton, seeing the freedom to possess as a greater avenue to personal power, became the architect for new America’s economic system, advocated for national banks, wrote most of the governmental-defining Federalist Papers, and supported the incipient manufacturing might of the new nation.

Both of these founding fathers were guided and motivated by their differing principles.  Both orchestrated an immense body of public service in accordance with their beliefs.  The question remaining for each of us, as beneficiaries of these hard-won freedoms, is not which one was right, but rather how would I personally finish the sentence: among humankind’s inalienable rights are….?  (Insert your beliefs here.)

P.S. Ironically, it was not Hamilton, but Jefferson who, as President, made the greatest property purchase in the history of the U.S. when he bought the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon in 1803 for about $18 per square mile.  Folks do not live by one principle alone.

Just a Thought to Ponder,

     – Bart Jackson

 

Isn’t it amazing who the grandest visions flourish when planted in the hard bedrock of moral principle, rather than the over-watered swamp of peer praise and adulation?

Goldfinches and Cyclists 

Goldfinches and flocks of grimacing, t-shirted cyclists return to The Garden State.  Daffodils grace lawns and tables.  Green, smiles, and more sunshine joyously invade our routine.  ‘Tis Spring time and Easter Celebrations rise bumptiously before us.

On April 16 (The Sunday that in 2017 follows the first full moon after the March 21 Equinox), Christians will dress up their bodies and spirits and celebrate the rising of Jesus Christ, and His conquering Death to bring life and love to all humankind.  Songs of joy will fill churches and get carried out into the street in folks’ hearts.  Wow!  Even if you are unfamiliar with any Christian theology, something just tells you that you really would like a piece of that.  Rebirth – New Hope – Inspire (breathe in) some glorious and brand new lease on life.

Over the past four decades, business has gotten increasingly global and increasing competitive.  Workers and executives alike seek any advantage to make themselves a little sharper, more able, and more on the ball.  The paunchy old business person is being hip-checked aside by the young, gleaming-eyed guy who spends hours in the gym and hires a personal nutritionist.  And for the past decade another personal advantage has dawned and gained a slow, grudging acceptance in the workplaces of the world:  Spirituality.  It is an appropriately sanitized term for the belief that some greater force dwelling outside and within us is present.   Business pundits now nod, “Yeah, there really is something to this power of personal faith.”

As it has for a score of centuries, the particulars of the Easter story and its rituals of celebration will come under the ceaseless scrutiny and debate.  But for those many folks who may currently be orbiting the fringes of the spiritual sphere, wondering if there lies any benefit, allow me to proffer one brief consideration.  Man may be, as Protagoras claimed, the measure of all things.  But he is not the answer to all things.

Any honest person readily realizes that she or he just doesn’t possess the power, all the time, to handle all the hardballs thrown at them by the whimsical hands of Fate.  Certainly would be a comfort to feel that it’s not just me fighting my way alone out there.  No, no.  You’re not admitting defeat; it’s just that now you would welcome some backup reserves – some additional power to face this day’s doings.  Perhaps there lies within some divinely planted seed that, with a little help, may be brought to fruition.  And perhaps, you could really use  a little assistance with the cultivation of what’s been within and without all along.  And perhaps calling on such assistance might help you rise to a bit of rebirth.  You know, like you see in the faces of those folks celebrating Easter.  Just a thought.

Wishing you every success,

– Bart Jackson

The art and glory of war may be found writ large in books – and endlessly echoed by non-combatants.  But the truth about war lies wounded in the surgeon’s tent:  “Doctor, will I see again?”  “Doctor, will I walk again?”  Generals may glitter, but soldiers only bleed.

We need not belabor that war is a tool for profit, launched by shadowy creatures seldom seen.  We all know that war’s true causes are deliberately, and usually effectively, blurred by its makers.  Yet this does not mean we have to deceive our very own selves as to what we are getting into.  We need not veneer hate with the label of patriotism; deem murder as glory; or most dangerously, envision the slaughter of armed and explosive combat as some sort of fist fight that displays our personal courage.

Within the past 2 years, 470,000 Syrian civilians and soldiers have died in war.  And the reason for my nation’s exterminating more stands unclear to me.  Does anyone hold an explanation?