Goodbye "Today's Thought"

Phil Beaver seeks to collaborate on the-objective-truth, which can only be discovered. The comment box below invites readers to write.

"Civic" refers to citizens who collaborate for individual happiness with civic integrity more than for the city, state, nation, or society.



Consider writing a personal paraphrase of the preamble, which offers fellow citizens mutual equality:  For discussion, I convert the preamble’s predicate phrases to nouns and paraphrase it for my proposal as follows: “We, a civic people of the united states, practice self-discipline for integrity, justice, peace, strength, and prosperity, so as to encourage human liberty to the continuum of living citizens and to develop statutory justice in the USA.” I want to collaborate with the other citizens on this paraphrase and theirs yet would preserve the original, 1787, text, unless it is amended by the people.

It seems no one has challenged whether or not the preamble is a legal statement. The fact that it changed this independent country from a confederation of states to a union of states deliberately managed by disciplined fellow citizens convinces me the preamble is legal. Equity in opportunity and outcome is shared by the people who collaborate for human justice.

Every citizen has equal opportunity to either trust-in and collaborate-on the goals stated in the preamble or be dissident to the agreement. I think 2/3 of citizens try somewhat to use the preamble but many do not articulate commitment to the goals. However, it seems less than 2/3 understand that “posterity” implies grandchildren. “Freedom of religion,” which fellow citizens have no means to discipline, oppresses freedom to develop integrity.



Selected theme from this week

The end of “Today’s Thought”?


I have long thought The Advocate editors performed a disservice by publishing G.E. Dean’s Bible commentary without balancing it with the-objective-truth. The-objective-truth is the ineluctable evidence that measures truth, actual truth, ultimate truth, whatever-God-is’s truth, etc. Humans cannot contrive or construct and can only discover the-objective-truth.


Hopefully, “Today’s Thought” on Page 5B, June 24, 2019 marks a milestone reform by the editors.

The June 24 quotation seems disjointed: “There is that speaks like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.” Proverbs 12:18. That’s KJV. I prefer CJB: “Idle talk can pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise can heal.”


Either way, I think Dean is arbitrary in his representation, “Make your words a blessing. Everyone needs a word of encouragement.” However, I agree that “blessing” means encouragement.


If discontinuing Dean’s opinions is a permanent change, I may hope The Advocate is entering a new age of encouraging responsible human liberty more than a dominant religious institution.

On the other hand, Mallard Fillmore cartoons seems a weak surrogate for religious conservatives and I expect complaints. Perhaps an opinions page with no daily fodder will be the ultimate outcome.


Did The Advocate decline to publish letters-to-the-editor that complained about the loss of “Today’s Thought?”

Letters

The Electoral College favors the people more than the state they are in (Paul J. Hogan) (https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/letters/article_398c3bc0-9388-11e9-9427-b7538d543609.html)

Hogan’s idea if effected would diminish the power of the people to favor the states, and therefore I oppose it. The present arrangement represents the people by 81.4% and the states the people are in by 18.6%.

The Electoral College is configured to favor representation of people in the state more than the state, much as Congress itself is configured. There are 438 electors in proportion to population and 100 as 2 electors per state for a total of 538.

This country is established under the U.S. preamble’s proposition, a people’s proposition. The subject of the U.S. preamble is We the People of the United States who accept the proposition stated herein. In other words, citizens can be dissenters to the proposition. The proposition is:  Willing citizens collaborate to provide Union, Justice, Tranquility, defense, and Welfare in order to encourage responsible human liberty to the continuum of living citizens.

The break from a confederation of states to voluntary civic discipline by individual citizens was controversial in 1787, established in 1788, and lessened by Congress in 1789. It is every living citizen’s opportunity to establish the civic, civil, and legal powers of the U.S. preamble’s proposition. Let’s collaborate for an achievable better future for our children, grandchildren and beyond.

Tariffs are neutral to the buyer when competing products are available (Bob Kumse) (https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/letters/article_dd0a2f16-92c3-11e9-972c-a724f507c603.html)

Kumse makes a good point regarding shirts.



Technology theft seems the predominant point. For example, perhaps by stealing U.S. silicon wafer technology, the Chinese put American companies out of business. It may take some time to re-establish American or other foreign sources.

News

Writers for the press ought to be journaling the path by We the People of the United States toward civic integrity (Lea Skene) (https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_69e82aca-95f6-11e9-95d1-e37e08facb34.html)

In this local news story, Lea Skene expresses opposition to President Trump’s immigration policy. Thereby, she alienates herself and her employer, The Advocate, to the U.S. preamble’s proposition. In the USA, the U.S. preamble under the-objective-truth establish the standards for equity under the rule of law.

This story reports that both Mayor Sharon Weston Broome and Bishop Michael Duca are aliens to the civic, civil, and legal agreement that is offered fellow citizens in the U.S. preamble’s proposition. Broome advocates and enters the church-state partnership to impose on inhabitants of the city the objectives of that partnership.

Nothing in the U.S. preamble’s proposition authorizes the church-state partnership. American Bishops continue to favor themselves by advocating canon law to overthrow the U.S. preamble’s proposition. American Bishops thereby alienate themselves as fellow citizens with allegiance to the Vatican rather than We the People of the United States.

Fellow citizens who observed the U.S. preamble’s proposition but erred may reform. However, fellow citizens who have during their adult awareness opposed justice under the U.S. preamble’s proposition have no standing to reform. Such fellow citizens may confront their status as aliens to the U.S. preamble’s proposition and undergo a transformation of intentions for the remainder of their individual lifetime.

The U.S. preamble’s proposition does not advocate the proprietary political idea: separation of church and state. The U.S. preamble proposes 5 public provisions---Union, Justice, Tranquility, defense, and Welfare---in order to encourage and approve of responsible human liberty to the continuum of living citizens. To the living individual, the proposition offers privacy in the responsible pursuit of personal motivation and inspiration, whether the individual chooses religious pursuits or not.

Tons of paper and ink have been spent on interpreting the preamble to the U.S. Constitution. Contemplation of the 52 words and the proposition therein lessens the value of commentary. Each existing and aspiring citizen of the USA does well when he or she considers the U.S. preamble’s proposition and writes their own interpretation.

My current interpretation of the proposition is:  We, a civic people of the united states, practice self-discipline for integrity, justice, peace, strength, and prosperity, so as to encourage human liberty to the continuum of living citizens and to develop statutory justice in the USA. My interpretation is for my living, and I want to collaborate to establish the 1788 U.S. preamble after 231 years of abuse by political regimes such as the U.S. unconstitutional Broome-Duca partnership in Baton Rouge.

To Camille David:

Punishing the library is a view I do not support. Without the library, our group, A Civic People of the United States would have no public place to meet.


I welcome Kenya dancers at the public library, because it provides the civic, civil, and legal forum to ask: If slavery is America's original sin does America's responsibility override Africa's commodity trade in human beings, the Arabic marketing of those slaves, and the western European purchases of human beings so as to colonize lands for God and His Son Jesus Christ?

Do the American citizens who plea for retribution look to the African sellers, Arabic dealers, and European purchasers?

Do most African-Americans seek to establish the U.S. preamble's proposition: responsible human liberty? I think they do, but cannot prove it.

Columns

Here’s a writer who seems to be reporting events; Does reporting or something else define “journalist?” (Byron York) https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/byron-york-what-now-for-those-who-denied-a-crisis-at-the-border

The U.S. preamble calls for public collaboration to provide Unity, Justice, Tranquility, defense, and Welfare in order to approve and encourage responsible human liberty to the continuum of living citizens.

Provision of the five public institutions to posterity seems like conservatism. Encouragement of responsible liberty seems human. Is York a civic conservative and responsible liberal? Is he journaling the U.S. people’s seemingly regressed path toward responsible human liberty?

Whining without thought to cause and remedy (Cal Thomas) (https://www.conservativeinstitute.org/opinion/sulzberger-right-and-wrong.htm)

Unbridled power leads to corruption, and the U.S. First Amendment unconstitutionally assigns to the press absolute freedom. We know this by reading the preamble to the U.S. Constitution (the U.S. preamble for short).

The U.S. preamble’s literal proposition is: “We the People of the United States” who agree to provide 5 public institutions---Unity, Justice, Tranquility, defense, and Welfare---accept the responsibility for human liberty to ourselves and future citizens. We hope by our example that dissident fellow citizens will reform.

Show me the writer for the media who claims to collaborate under the U.S. preamble’s proposition, and I will agree he or she is a journalist. I’m thinking of one candidate, but would need to hear it from him and his interpretation of the U.S. preamble rather than mine.

I propose to amend the First Amendment so as to hold writers for the media to the U.S. preamble’s civic, civil, and legal proposition.

Quora

https://www.quora.com/Where-can-I-learn-civic-education-online?

First, decide what you mean by “civic.” By “civic” I mean committing to mutual, comprehensive safety and security to willing citizens from the moment of human awareness until loss of cognizance whether by death or by senility. Unhappily, some individuals never awaken to humanity.

What I pursue is discovery of 1) standards by which two people may collaborate to discover the best practices by which both parties may responsibly pursue the happiness each individual prefers rather than the dictates of the other, and 2) a statement of purpose both parties can agree to so as to order the civic, civil, and legal issues they will encounter as their lives unfold and end.

In my effort to understand, I study documents more than scholarly comment about the documents. People who read my essays from the latest to the earliest may notice a decline in reference to obsolete opinion. For example, I recently do not quote George Washington or Abraham Lincoln unless it is a public address.

I have no regard for the 1776 Declaration of Independence as a basis for civic studies, because I understand it as a vehicle for American colonial independence from England. Conservative scholars use it to preserve colonial-English psychology and leftist scholars use it to claim arbitrary “rights,” not necessarily human rights. Principal to the human is the right to develop integrity. Abraham Lincoln used the 1776 document to trump the Constitution for the USA.

I lead library meetings to present a public concern with well-grounded civic remedy then LISTEN to the audience so as to collaborate with them to 1) reach mutual understanding of the actual concern I tried to address and 2) collaborate for reform that accommodates collaborators’ responsible intentions. The audience has taught me that my goal is civic collaboration and discovery rather than civic education.

There is so much knowledge. Read avidly; write opinion about what you read; be flexible in your choices but rely on documents such as the preamble to the Constitution for the USA; always be true to your responsible individual-preferences; and accept that your body and mind will not discover your completed person until just before they stop functioning.



https://www.quora.com/Do-we-have-any-purpose-as-human-beings

To Jocelyne Steeves:

“Today both physicists and chemists agree with this. And religion has nothing to do with it.”

In my latest presentation someone walked out when I made an “absolute” statement, and I am trying to stop it! Stop Phil Beaver from writing absolutes! In this first example, “some” could be used rather than “both” to keep my listener from walking.

Also, “religion” may be used in broad application so as to avoid an absolute. For example, long ago, I committed-to and trusted-in the-objective-truth; that is, the ineluctable evidence on which truth is measured. I have no problem if someone calls my practice a religion, because I admit: I could be wrong to trust-in and commit-to the-objective-truth. I don’t think I am wrong and doubt my ability to discern that the-objective-truth controls all events: I don’t know.

Phil Beaver does not “know.” He trusts in and is committed to the-objective-truth which can only be discovered. Conventional wisdom has truth founded on reason, but it obviously does not work.

Phil is agent for A Civic People of the United States, a Louisiana, education non-profit corporation. See online at promotethepreamble.blogspot.com, and consider essays from the latest and going back as far as you like.