Human integrity

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: “Willing citizens collaborate, communicate, and connect to provide 5 public institutions—integrity, justice, peace, strength, and prosperity—so as to encourage responsible human liberty to living people.” 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

Human integrity. Many events and the articles I commented on this week motivated the phrase “human integrity” in an interpretation of the U.S. preamble’s proposition. It enabled the phrase “to provide freedom-from oppression so that the individual may accept the liberty-to develop . . .” See the comments on Walter Williams’ work, below.

I think “human integrity” expresses humankind’s understanding as actual reality unfolds. Actual reality or the-objective-truth exists and can only be discovered, comprehended, and utilized by humankind. Human action can change a train of events, but the consequences unfold according to the-objective-truth.

We observe the consequences of Congressional lies and are inspired by human integrity that is precious to the USA and beyond. The power of the actor in the U.S. preamble, We the People of the United States, is awesome. Imagine what it would be if more citizens interpreted it so as to collaborate, communicate, and connect for responsible human liberty.  

News

Religious cosmopolitanism inferior to civic integrity  (Adelle M. Banks) (https://religionnews.com/2019/07/23/most-americans-can-define-atheists-easter-dont-know-us-share-of-muslims-jews/)

In civic integrity, the language of religion is known to be divisive, and therefore civic citizens choose to develop jargon that defuses the emotions that cause conflict, exclusion, enmity, and violence.

Consider the mystery of “whatever-God-is.” No human knows and no human has ever known the answer to the riddle: Does anything other than chaos control the universe and its discovery? Yet individuals routinely use the term “God” to justify self-righteousness so as to separate-from and perhaps conflict-with other people.

This survey used narrow criteria to define “atheist.” I regard it as “areligious.” Further, it’s someone who prefers not to possess a God so as to admit to himself or herself not knowing. That is, someone who accepts human humility rather than claims “divine” knowledge.

The survey-designer’s preferred answer was, “Does NOT believe in God.” Thereby, the designer denied the non-believer the human humility to accept that whatever-God-is knows the riddle, and the non-believer need-not, should-not take a stand against whatever-God-is.  With the possibility “Does NOT believe in whatever-God-is” the definition of “atheist” could be more accurately considered. Whatever-God-is could judge any human who claims to know God as atheist; it depends on whether or not the believer’s God conforms to whatever-God-is, even if God is Maxwell’s Hamiltonian chaos.

With a culture of civic integrity, fellow citizens could freely explore the mystery of whatever-God-is without psychological or physical violence. On the other hand, the mystery cannot be restrained by reason, so private pursuit of hope and comfort respecting death seems preferable. I feel that developing civic integrity while I am living is preferable to seeking relief from death. After all, neither my ovum nor my spermatozoon sought relief from life.

Readers who cannot grasp this writing might consider responsible human liberty under the U.S. preamble’s proposition. It proposes an achievable better future.

Note: posted at the above URL. However, they blocked it.

A great USA-redemption story (Scott Rabalais) (https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/sports/lsu/article_806630d0-acd0-11e9-946c-878f74fe001d.html)

The Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf story recalls the people’s continuing opportunity for civic integrity. It all depends on the outcome of the mystery presented in Rabalais’ report:  Will the name associated with LSU’s retirement of “35” be accepted by most of the people? “Whatever name he picks, it will be a memorable night [in the USA] when his banner goes up.”

As a young man, Abdul-Rauf accepted human-individual power, energy, and authority (HIPEA) to develop personal integrity rather than submit to dominant opinion. The majority, shocked by Abdul-Rauf’s religious preference, eventually rejected basketball-fun such as the videos in https://www.sbnation.com/2014/3/25/5544920/mahmoud-abdul-rauf-nuggets-national-anthem.  

We can hear some of Abdul-Rauf’s HIPEA in his voice and image at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAotAfvcgSo. He (typically) seems to dedicate his HIPEA to the mystery of whatever-God-is. The failed intention of the USA is to keep religion preference private.

The preamble to the U.S. Constitution expresses 5 public provisions to support responsible human liberty. The 1787 nouns are Unity, Justice, Tranquility, defense, and Welfare in order to encourage Liberty to living citizens. Each living citizen may interpret these nouns so as to accommodate the HIPEA he or she is developing. My respective interpretations for my life-development are integrity, justice, peace, strength, and prosperity. With the 6^th noun, liberty, the mystery of whatever-God-is is included in the U.S. preamble’s proposition.

My personal God is private, because I do not know the-objective-truth about the mystery of whatever-God-is, and I am loathed to influence someone else’s development of religious integrity. However, I agree with the authors of the U.S. preamble:  Pursuit of the mystery of whatever-God-is is neither a civic, a civil, nor a legal matter. It is an erroneous sports matter, and that can be reformed.

Moreover, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution may be reformed so as to defend civic integrity rather than the institution of religion. The U.S. preamble’s silence on “religion” is sufficient, and Abdul-Rauf’s story encourages that reform.





Opinion

Social-democracy assimilation (The Advocate editors) (https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/article_47ce84f8-aa4a-11e9-a8e1-431c27b95631.html)

It takes Obama-like or Hillary-like or squad-of-four-like or John-Bel-Edwards-like audacity to try to turn human vulnerability about expected or actual flooding into Democratic nobility. The editors arbitrarily pretend that “deplorable” conservatives and Republicans deride government officials who work natural and human disasters. Shame on The Advocate!

Human vulnerability does not equate to “common humanity.” Every individual has the opportunity to accept responsible human liberty---civic integrity. Some choose integrity: some prefer infidelity. On that choice, humans divide themselves. Democrats seem to favor infidelity to the-objective-truth.

The Advocate editors, arbitrary victims of liberal democracy, seem vulnerable to freedom of the press. Will they discover responsible human liberty? It is proposed in the preamble to the U.S. Constitution.

Lowry glossary (Rich Lowry) (https://lacrossetribune.com/opinion/columnists/rich-lowry-ilhan-omar-is-completely-assimilated/article_57071101-3ec0-5a38-a216-6247eb63b6d6.html)

Lowry’s writing could have an attached glossary (like mine for promotethepreamble.blogspot.com).

A difference is that Lowry’s phrases, like “woke” are explained online. See Merriam-Webster’s “aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).”

I use a glossary to explain my use of words that have many nuances in political discussion. For example, “civic,” defined in my glossary found by googling “A Civic People” + glossary, means “iterative collaboration, communication, and connection during every decade of life in order to provide mutual, comprehensive safety and security as essential, both to the public and to private hopes.”

I work to discover expressions that foster civic integrity (both wholeness and understanding). Social groups use identity jargon that helps them collaborate while keeping fellow citizens out of communication so that public connection is not possible. It’s much like 2 people in a group of 3 speaking Greek or French when the other party speaks only English.

I seek words and phrases which eliminate doubt as to what I am expressing, so that the person who cares to understand can know what I intended to convey. For example, if I speak “the-objective-truth,” I add the phrase “has two hyphens so that the reader cannot separate the three words so as to misconstrue my reference.” The-objective-truth is the ineluctable evidence by which truth is measured.

I take it a step further, and modify the glossary when, through collaboration, I discover a better expression. Public collaboration may lead to a stable glossary that reflects the experiences and observations of most people.

Human integrity (Walter Williams) (http://jewishworldreview. com/cols/williams072419.php3)

I appreciate and admire Williams’ writing and perspective, yet have perceived something un-helpful about it. Perhaps this particular essay and my own work to develop civic integrity sheds some light. Perhaps it explores identity politics.

My newspaper captioned Williams’ column “Black community must tackle crime problems.” That’s consistent with Williams’ theme that only the black community can solve problems like internal vigilantism and inter-family emotions. With that much, I agree. But there’s more, as everybody knows.

This winter, the sixth with our public meetings to promote national application of the U.S. preamble’s civic, civil, and legal proposition, the collective collaboration created this interpretation:  Willing citizens collaborate, communicate, and connect to provide 5 institutions: integrity, justice, peace, strength, and prosperity. The purpose is to provide freedom-from oppression so that the individual may accept the liberty-to develop human integrity---accept responsible humanity. (That is the first time I expressed the U.S. preamble’s modern proposition that way. I normally focus on responsible human liberty with civic integrity.)

What if Williams started encouraging communities to accept responsible human liberty?

Note: an earlier version of this comment is posted at the above URL.

Quora

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-equality-equity-and-justice?

Assuming you are referring to comparative status of a human individual, starting with Merriam-Webster online (MW), and trying to stay with first definitions, we have:

Equality:  “the quality or state of being equal.” Further, “equal” first means “of the same measure, quantity, amount, or number as another.”

Equity: “justice according to natural law or right.” Natural law means “a body of law or a specific principle held to be derived from nature and binding upon human society in the absence of or in addition to positive law.” Positive law means “law established or recognized by governmental authority.” Right means “qualities (such as adherence to duty or obedience to lawful authority) that together constitute the ideal of moral propriety or merit moral approval.” In this paragraph, “held to be” implies “equity” is a matter of opinion or a political standard.

Justice: “the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments.” Impartial means “not partial or biased: treating or affecting all equally.”

If you feel I have constructed a dilemma, I look forward to your aid to establish civic collaboration, communication, and connection. Leaving MW, I will express my opinion.

I think the dilemma is discovering the human standards for determining equality, equity, or justice.

If so, we may consider what standards humans should pursue, using not MW but words and phrases that may be developed for communication so as to connect people rather than to divide using dominant opinion. Hereafter, I express my opinion, because I neither know the-objective-truth nor can claim the benefit of comprehensive civic collaboration.

I assert that the applicable standard is: what humankind has discovered and applied about the-objective-truth. “The-objective-truth” is the ineluctable evidence by which truth is measured. For example, the MW definition of “justice” is circular to the word “impartial.” An impartial settlement of “conflicting claims” conforms to the-objective-truth. “Evidence-based” can be statistically designed to conflict with ineluctable evidence and may be rejected when it conflicts with the-objective-truth.

Further to “equality” is the question of when human life begins. If fellow citizens consider personhood from the emergence of a viable ovum, each ovum is unique---unequal. Similarly, no two spermatozoon are equal. Therefore, it is not feasible for living adults to offer much less provide individuals equality. Each person has origins and develops from feral infant to young adult with individual understanding and intent to either live a full life of nearly a century or not. The young adult who, either by encouragement or by fortune, accepts individual human power, energy, and authority (HIPEA) to develop integrity toward the-objective-truth may psychologically mature faster than the adolescent or adult who nourishes infidelity. Consequences will differ---will not be equal but may be equitable and just according to the-objective-truth.

Further to “equity” is the consideration of “positive law.” Just government offers citizens a civic agreement on which the individual may collaborate, communicate, and connect with fellow citizens to pursue freedom-from oppression so as to accept the human liberty-to pursue personal happiness rather than submit to someone else’s plan for the individual’s life. In the USA, the civic agreement is proposed in the preamble to the U.S. Constitution. On that sentence, fellow citizens divide into two groups: civic citizens and dissidents. Aliens are not of We the People of the United States and may have an equal or better civic agreement, but I doubt that, neglected as the U.S. preamble’s proposition may be.

Further to justice, humankind is on an ineluctable path toward fidelity to the-objective-truth. The sooner governments legislate so as to amend unjust laws according to the impartiality of the-objective-truth, the better. The alternative is chaos, which is being nourished by the U.S. Congress as I write.



https://www.quora.com/What-cultural-norms-were-acceptable-in-past-societies-but-are-inappropriate-or-shunned-in-modern-societies

Attempting to impose a religious belief on the public.

An exception is made in Congress. Perhaps that is one reason congress members have the highest sum of “low” plus “very low” public esteem among 20 professions. Their total is 58% vs 44% for car sales persons and 15% for clergy! See https://news.gallup.com/poll/1654/honesty-ethics-professions.aspx .

https://www.quora.com/What-in-your-opinion-is-the-most-innapropriate-backwards-disgusting-or-immoral-tradition-held-by-any-society-you-can-think-of

Christianity’s belief that if you don’t agree with their doctrine you hate whatever-God-is, even though Christians, unbelievably unawares, only agree that the whatever-God-is is a mystery. See John 15:18-23 CJB or NIV.

There’s an alternative view that seems plausible: Whatever-God-is hates hate and punishes haters.

Second is Christian snake-handling that orphans children.

https://www.quora.com/unanswered/What-is-a-good-civics-book-to-read-for-a-teenager

I don’t recommend a book, but you might consider books by Eric Foner; https://www.amazon.com/Books-Eric-Foner/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AEric+Foner .

Scholars write to influence the people. For example, Abraham Lincoln, perceiving the U.S. Constitution did not empower him to, encourage emancipation of the slaves invoked the Declaration of Independence (DoI). Many Americans still think the DoI influenced the U.S. Constitution. Even the U.S. Supreme Court does not accept the legal standing of the preamble to the U.S. Constitution. On the preamble, the people’s representatives of 9 of 13 states legally terminated the 1774 Confederation of States.

For a survey of civic education, consider https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/civic-education/ and https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/republicanism/ . Also, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civics has a list of further sources.

A federal view of “civics” is expressed in U.S. naturalization advice. See https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship/learners/study-test and https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Office%20of%20Citizenship/Citizenship%20Resource%20Center%20Site/Publications/PDFs/test_components.pdf. For federal, biased studies, see http://loc.gov/teachers/civics-interactives/.

I recommend the student find a pertinent guideline to documents and focus on comprehending the documents rather than books with opinions about the documents. For example, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/default.asp and https://www.ourdocuments.gov/content.php?flash=false&page=milestone.

Also, creatively use timelines to discover pertinent documents of interest. For example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Timelines_of_United_States_history_by_period. Also, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_abolition_of_slavery_and_serfdom, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_voting_rights_in_the_United_States, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Christianity.

Learning sources like these would help a teenager establish human individual power, energy, and authority (HIPEA) to protect his or her freedom-from oppression so as to have the liberty-to pursue individual happiness with civic integrity for his or her lifetime. Freedom-from oppression so as to have the liberty-to pursue personal preferences is as essential to one’s life as working for the preferred quality of food.


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.