June 25, 2017

Phil Beaver works to establish opinion when the-objective-truth has not been discovered. He seeks to refine his opinion by listening when people share experiences and observations. The comment box below invites readers to express facts, opinion, or concern, perhaps to share with people who may follow the blog.

Note 1:  I often dash words in phrases in order to express and preserve an idea. For example, frank-objectivity represents the idea of candidly expressing the-objective-truth despite possible error. In other words, a person expresses his “belief,” knowing he or she could be in error. People may collaboratively approach the-objective-truth.
 Note 2: It is important to note "civic" refers to citizens who collaborate for the people more than for the city.

  

Our Views (theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/our_views/article_fe7cb96c-5507-11e7-9cde-5f206f7b6535.html)

Gov. Edwards creates a smoke screen of his own by not allowing The Advocate to report how the DOTD budget is split. From several readers and Jeff Sadow, I get the impression that less than 15% goes to road projects. Of course, The Advocate acts according to its business plan and perhaps therefore includes the issue but not the number, say $0.51 billion DOTD budget-tricks.

I want Gov. Edwards to clean the DOTD budget up and disclose it.

However, I’d like to see a gas tax pass in the next special session, which I expect soon. That’s a second reversal of my opinion. Sadow had me not wanting the tax before integrity, but I want Louisiana integrity as well as a new gas tax.

Citizens who want comprehensive safety and security may impress their elected officials that they want relief from both bad governance and costly roads. The Advocate may get on board or remain a dissident against a civic people---citizens who collaborate for living more than cooperate with movements and special interests.

  

Columns. (The fiction/non-fiction comments gallery for readers)

  

Public harm (Jeff Sadow). (theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/jeff_sadow/article_ae15d336-56b1-11e7-b27d-bf28783ee974.html)

Smoking in public places illustrates constraint for comprehensive safety and security and use of the-objective-truth to determine laws, ordinances, and guidelines (often called “nudges”). Because secondary smoke kills over 41,000 Americans per year and harms children, exposure should be constrained by statutory law.

Collaboration for comprehensive safety and security, in language of the preamble to the constitution for the USA, separates a civic people from dissidents. Thus, the purpose and goals stated in the preamble may be used by the individual to ascertain whether he or she is willing to collaborate for safety and security or is a dissident.

The USA, perhaps not uniquely, offers citizens a possible community cooperation and a potential personal opportunity. The community may collaborate to assure freedom-from oppression. Thereby, the individual may acquire the liberty-to live according to personal preferences rather than someone else’s opinion. So far, past generations have failed to grasp these two objectives---collective freedom-from and personal liberty-to---and have neglected practicing the civic agreement stated in the preamble according to the-objective-truth rather than dominant opinion.

So far, religion and politics have been used by the religion-politics-partnership the keep the people divided 1/3 civic, 1/3 passive, and 1/3 dissident. The phenomenon may be described as Chapter XI Machiavellianism. Abraham Lincoln said in 1861 that only willing people can provide ultimate justice (my paraphrase). Jeremiah Wright says look to God rather than government, but Wright defines the God. It seems there will always be dissidents, but some 2/3 of the people may offer civic justice.

However, the 2/3 supermajority cannot create statutory law on majority opinion. They must collaborate to discover the-objective-truth as the basis for statutory law. In this case, secondary smoke kills people and should be constrained by statutory law.

In encourage the Metro-Council to ban smoking in public spaces.

  

Does skin color determine species? (Mark Ballard). 

theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/mark_ballard/article_8d8a88ea-5824-11e7-b334-9bf70357cfd1.html

The question of whether or not either skin color or direct-African ethnicity determines being human may be put to rest at last, but I doubt the US Supreme Court can conceive the first principle: people are human beings rather than pawns of dominant opinion.

To do so will require setting aside the conflicts for dominant opinion in order to comport to the-objective-truth. That is a tall order for a committee of nine that thinks its job is to determine the dominant opinion more than discover the-objective truth. The committee pays more attention to their web of opinion developed from opinion about understanding the articles of the constitution more than the purpose and goals stated in its preamble. An indolent people allow this tyranny.

Ballard kindly cites some practices that need remedy: Talk politics. Just as a person ought to take charge of his or her hierarchy of needs, politics has a major position in that hierarchy. Next to freedom-from oppression (community endeavor) there’s liberty-to pursue interests (personal duty). If you don’t exercise your political power, an organization will take it.

Legislators are elected to collaboratively discover the-objective-truth and take consequential actions. The claim “I represent constituents,” is often false in several ways. Most egregiously, officials act so as to gain more votes, even if official action harms their constituents. For example, New Orleans spent $2.1 million to remove monuments and has not yet cleaned up the ruined sites. See cnn.com/2017/06/12/us/new-orleans-confederate-monument-removal-price-trnd/index.html . Richmond, VA proposes informed use of their existing monuments, as many citizens still prefer for New Orleans and for Louisiana.

Determining voter districts on anything but citizenship is beyond the-objective-truth and therefore bogus. Neither the Republican Party nor the Democrats can claim they represent constituents; not only that, they may not survive future elections. The parties may each be at a nadir and on the way to extinction.

Favoring African-Americans based on the Voting Rights Act of 1965 never has made sense. People can’t have it both ways: Be human and beg favor because of a self-proclaimed allegiance to something else, like Africa or blackness or “victimization” of ancestors. A person is either human or not, citizen or not, civic or dissident, living for the present or in the imaginary past, collaborating for living or organizing for an institution’s cause. After all, we’ve all forgiven the Catholic Church for the doctrine of discovery with monopoly on African slave trade, even though the Church has not apologized.

The-objective-truth is that with 2/3 of citizens collaborating for comprehensive personal independence, the nation may achieve independence from opinionated politics at last.

Personal Independence Day comes each June 21, the day in history when the preamble to the constitution for the USA was ratified by nine states, and the four tentative states could join or not. June 21, 1788, commemorates governance of by and for willing people, and is more important than July 4, celebrating the independence of thirteen eastern-seaboard states, according to the Treaty of Paris, 1783. A nation whose citizens authorized the nation in 1788---yet do not exercise civic personal independence---is not independent.

Citizens cannot be human if they focus on dehumanizing differences.

Particulars in Louisiana:

The Advocate and Ballard, intentionally or not, cannot be trusted to volunteer pertinent information. I think my group is the most long-suffering political minority in the USA and the fraction that contains my group, non-religious, has risen such that it is now the largest faction in the country, perhaps as large as 25% compared to the nearest religious faction, Catholics, perhaps now at 20% nationwide. Let’s divide districts to favor my group---use religion rather than race!

Ballard could have told us that the Democrats are the larger demographic in Louisiana at 44%, 30% republicans and 26% other. See sos.la.gov/ElectionsAndVoting/Pages/RegistrationStatisticsStatewide.aspx . More importantly, voter registration is split 64% white, 31% black and 5% other. Ballard could say he left it to me to do that work, but I suspect he did not want us to confirm that this is a majority democrat state. Omission of pertinent facts is a form of mendacity. (My appreciation to Tom Schedler. When I wanted to know, the 2017 data was there and 2016 and prior years as well.)

However, I focus on the split: civic person vs dissident. I work to persuade 2/3 of inhabitants to collaborate for comprehensive safety and security.

Revising history (George Will). washingtonpost.com/opinions/let-america-plunge-toward-our-fast-unfolding-future/2017/06/21/3799bde8-55d6-11e7-ba90-f5875b7d1876_story.html?utm_term=.56c7f31f314d

Will’s 241 years takes us to 1776 as the age of America.

Any way you look at it, 1776 was not the founding of this nation. It was a declaration of independence from England by thirteen loyal colonies. In 1774, they held a congress, and appealed to England for relief from continental governance. But they also changed their style from colonists to statesmen and started writing state constitutions.

France was in their Second Hundred Years War with England and joined with the states to plan and execute the battle at Yorktown, VA in 1781. That victory is why the Treaty of Paris, 1783 was negotiated in France. It names 13 independent states, and the Continental Congress ratified it in 1784, the date now recognized as “Ratification Day.”

By 1787, the states comprehended that they must have a nation and met to strengthen the Articles of Confederation. Instead, delegates wrote a draft constitution for the USA, and 2/3 of them signed it. On June 21, 1788, the required 2/3 of states had formed the USA and the reluctant 1/3 had the choice to remain independent.

  

The USA, in its preamble, specifies government of, by, and for the people, and that possibility emerged 229 years ago, when the USA was established. Regimes have never seen fit to establish a holiday for this important event: ratification of the constitution for the USA by nine states.

We propose each year to celebrate Personal Independence Day on June 21. In Baton Rouge, we did so at Goodwood library in 2017. It was our 4^th annual celebration of June 21, 1788.

The USA is 229 years old, not Will's 241 years. Will might say I am niggling, but the details are important. Because most people neglect the preamble, America still suffers tyranny.

Other forums

Last evening my raucous, singing family tried to send me out to buy them some peanuts and cracker-jacks. We’re all set for LSU vs Florida.

Phil Beaver does not “know” the-indisputable-facts. He trusts and is committed to the-objective-truth of which most is undiscovered and some is understood. He is agent for A Civic People of the United States, a Louisiana, education non-profit corporation. See online at promotethepreamble.blogspot.com.