Independence rather than liberty

 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 appreciation:  For discussion, I convert the preamble’s predicate phrases to nouns and paraphrase it for my interpretation of its proposal as follows We the People of the United States proffer & practice 5 public disciplines —- integrity, justice, safety, strength, and prosperity, “in order to” encourage & facilitate responsible-human-independence “to ourselves and our Posterity”. I want to improve my interpretation by listening to other citizens and their interpretations yet would preserve the original, 1787, text, unless it is amended by the people.

It seems the Supreme Court occasionally refers to it, and 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

Independence rather than liberty

Lots of people are objecting to the Democrat Party taking away their liberties. Liberty is granted by the winner of war or the mob that municipalities use to repress civic citizens, flash-rob stores, and ransack police stations.

The 1787 U.S. Constitution proffers a culture of responsible-human-independence (RHI). The civic faction of We the People of the United States can& may reform to RHI instead of Congressional freedom of religion and Anglo-American tradition.

The first step is to revise the First Amendment’s religion clauses to “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or [promoting] the free exercise thereof.” “prevention”.

Quora

quora.com/Is-freedom-of-speech-more-accurately-described-as-allowed-and-not-allowed-communication? by Graham C Lindsay

I like “expression” from Article 1, Section 7, of my state’s constitution (Louisiana):

7. Freedom of Expression

Section 7. No law shall curtail or restrain the freedom of speech or of the press. Every person may speak, write, and publish his sentiments on any subject, but is responsible for abuse of that freedom.

The Louisiana constitutional debates are discussed at ebrary.net/114834/economics/freedom_intrusion.

When an expression causes harm, the law addresses the harm done, and the speaker may be indicted, tried, and convicted on statutory law rather than the expression. For example, if someone believes in poisonous snake handling and a child is orphaned as a consequence, non-snake handling grandparents might be favored in custody deliberations.

quora.com/In-your-own-words-how-can-a-person-refuse-responsibility-for-their-actions-or-decisions-and-justify-such-refusal? by quora

The demands on each person to develop their human being are made plain by their experiences& observations. Comprehensive safety& security to themselves is a transparent self-interest.

What’s required is the civic-integrity of responsible-human-independence (RHI). The-laws-of-physics-and-its-progeny (physics) impose on each person necessity& justice.

The human-being is self-reliant in assuring that they neither cause nor accommodate harm to-or-from another person or association. The infants who develop self-reliant RHI become civic-citizens, where “civic” expresses reliability in life’s connections and transitions more than conformity to civil rules.

It takes a quarter century for the typical infant to complete the wisdom-building parts of their brain. Atypically, some persons require assistance.

Adolescents accumulate choices that direct their adulthood unto either RHI, or reformable dependency, or irremediable wickedness. Common dependencies include religious-arrogance, indolence, crime, despotism, tyranny, and evil. Each person has a unique path to individual maturity and may or may not achieve their perfection.

Physics’ variability demands that civic-citizens constrain dependent fellow-citizens, in order to facilitate opportunity to each person. Therefore, in addition to responsibly pursuing the happiness they prefer, they maintain safety& security to everyone:  They observe the rule of law and pay taxes for both enforcement and research toward statutory-justice.

A culture of RHI is proffered in the 1787 U.S. Constitution. It was repressed to Anglo-American tradition by the 1789 Congress. English tradition is codified in the 1791 Bill of Rights to mimic the 1689 English Bill of Rights. The civic-people of the U.S., We the People of the United States can& may reform Congress.

U.S. civic-citizens can restore U.S. RHI. The first needed action is to amend the First Amendment. I suggest: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or [promoting] the free exercise thereof”, or better. Second, every Education Department must be reformed to inculcate modern U.S. RHI to our youth and adults.

The 1787 U.S. RHI-culture is an improvement on the codes of law that were developed by the Sumerians between 10 thousand and 4 thousand years ago. Those codes took eye for eye, thereby making some reformable fellow-citizens permanently disabled.

Human-beings cannot deny self-interest to provide comprehensive safety& security in their ways of living.

quora.com/unanswered/What-is-the-relationship-between-culture-and-irony? by quora

Culture expresses everyday existence, usually local yet it can refer to humankind on earth. In this application, I think “irony” refers to loss& misery accommodated by the individuals who live the culture.

About 5,500 years ago, Sumerian kings successively improved law codes to accept that many fellow-citizens collaborate for safety& security on earth. The Gods took care of their realm but could not and therefore would not pursue order& prosperity to life on earth. The codes took care of people who need assistance, like widows and orphans. It severely punished dependents: slackers, criminals, despots, and such. Many people now recognize that dependents must be constrained for reform rather than severe punishment, yet some dependents will not reform.

Providing safety& security requires the work to enforce the law codes and to continually discover injustices and revise statutory justice. Therefore, a civic-citizen must earn the cost of their responsible pursuit of happiness as well as the taxes to pursue mutually comprehensive safety& security. The modern civic-citizen practices, facilitates& encourages responsible-human-independence (RHI).

Among the dependents are elite people who continually bemuse gullible people to think a higher power will usurp their individual responsibility for safety& security. An effective strategy is for elite politicians to partner with the clergy to divide the people over beliefs in personal-Gods. For example, people read the Bible, believing that if they master its interpretation they will enjoy the kingdom of their-God, neglecting sufficient humility toward the-High-God, whatever it is.

I think the-High-God is whatever constrains the consequences of human choices& actions. Experiences& observations since the Sumerians suggest that the-laws-of-physics empower humankind to pursue safety& security on earth.

The irony is that most people are waiting for their personal-God or their government to provide safety& security: to usurp their self-interest. By individually& collectively accepting RHI, we can begin to facilitate an achievable better future in the U.S. Ironically, such a culture is proffered by the repressed 1787 U.S. Constitution.

quora.com/Considering-the-sources-presented-what-is-the-best-way-to-establish-a-civic-nation-inclusion-rights-values-beliefs? by Maxime Sauvaget

I received the question: Is humanity a moral value?

Merriam-Webster online says the first “humanity” usage is: “compassionate, sympathetic, or generous behavior or disposition”, and the fourth is ” the totality of human beings”. Usage for “moral” is “of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behavior”.

According to Genesis 1:28, a Sumerian political philosophy, humankind is responsible for order& prosperity to life on earth. It calls for necessity& justice, more than compassion, sympathy, and generosity.

Some people hope for a utopia wherein people can be dependent and receive compassion, sympathy, and generosity. However, history proves that facilitating dependency enslaves the dependent. Enslavement is bad behavior.

It seems that humanity as a moral value requires dependency-constraint, in order to facilitate reform to the dependent. The disabled must be helped until they achieve their unique independence.

quora.com/unanswered/What-is-intellectual-liberation-How-do-you-get-there? by Saif H.

The tandem question is, “What is intellectual liberation? How do you get there?” I want to answer and add consideration of independence.

Merriam-Webster usage for “liberation” is “the act of liberating : the state of being liberated”. Adding the modifier “intellectual” lessens the impact of “liberation”, because free-thought can be ineffectual. There must be action.

To achieve intellectual liberation, one must study the topic enough to either earn an opinion about it or know the ineluctable evidence that resolves the issue. For example, people often remark about the sunrise, and some people note that it’s not a rising by the sun but an un-hiding by the earth’s rotation on its axis at 1,000 miles per hour. On the other hand, no one can resolve the mystery of soul.

In both of my illustrations, the intellectually free person understands my arguments and owns their response I would not refute.

A second consideration is psychological liberation. I seek improvements on my view of both sunrise and soul and listen to responses to consider them. In other words, I welcome comments from others. That’s because I am psychologically independent of other opinion and therefore hear the opinion hoping to learn from the other party.

I think independence is an original human condition. The transition from infant to child and beyond involves declining dependency on care takers. Between adolescence and young adulthood, the person can& may acquire the comprehension& intention to live independently. Without practice, facilitation, and encouragement from caretakers, the person might not accept& develop independence. Fortunate is the person who achieves civic independence on their own. “Civic” refers to reliability in human connections. Both parties can be civic yet responsibly pursue their personal perception of happiness.

Unfortunately, no civilization inculcates the above principles in their youth or to their adults. Consequently, there’s widespread confusion& conflict over how to constrain dependent fellow-citizens such as despots. I write to urge Education Departments to promote childhood transition to the civic-integrity that is needed to practice, facilitate, and encourage responsible-human-independence (RHI).

RHI is acquired by the person who considers possibility for harm to or from any person (including self) if a planned action is taken. If harm is envisioned, the person does every responsible thing they can to prevent it. The first option is to take no action if there is no necessity. If justice demands action, take every precaution to prevent or lessen harm. In an emergency, apply the knowledge gained by habitual pursuit of safety& security on earth.

I discussed intellectual liberation then added RHI and suggested how to accomplish it. I hope the suggestions help.

quora.com/Is-nationalism-most-associated-with-the-ideals-of-a-limited-government? by Stef Lynn

Maybe so, depending on many word usages, beginning with “limited”.

Without your modification, “nationalism” does not seem positive. See for example, merriam-webster. com’s “loyalty and devotion to a nation” and “a nationalist movement or government”. Wikipedia’s article “Nationalism” addresses movement, and the first paragraph introduces many issues, which can be positively practiced.

Let me disconnect from these conventions and construct a positive view of “nationalism” as pursuit of civic-integrity rather than as loyalty or love-of a constrained people. This is the reason I view “limited” a critical condition for “Yes” to your question.

I think Genesis 1:28 expresses a six-thousand-year-old-Sumerian political philosophy we can improve: the Gods cannot and therefore will not provide safety& security on earth. Necessity& justice require humankind to pursue statutory justice. When a people perceive this way of living in self-interest, they are self-constrained in responsible pursuit of the happiness they perceive rather than subjugated to another’s vision for them.

This philosophy accepts that most human beings can& will choose civic-integrity and value safety& security enough to earn not only the life style that responsibly accommodates the happiness they want but to pay the taxes needed for infrastructure. Infrastructure includes maintaining a constitution, the rule of written law, and funding the research needed to continually improve statutory justice. The civic-citizen prepares to supply wanted goods and services, in order to fulfill their income needs.

Statutory justice is required. The human individual has the power to accommodate, even nourish, chaos in their way of living and thereby risk harm to fellow-citizens. Some choose dependency. Dependencies include exclusive religious beliefs, indolence, crime, tyranny, and evil. Civic-citizens can& may fund constraints that facilitate and encourage dependent fellow-citizens to reform. Sumerian legal codes called for “eye for eye”, which disabled the convicted citizen, lessening reform chances. We can do better.

I hope my considerations, so far, suggested that human-beings divide themselves according to the way of living they pursue: most tend toward civic-integrity and a few pursue a dependency. The proportion of civic-citizens is increased by a culture of civic-integrity. I call it responsible-human-independence (RHI).

Nations likewise divide themselves: some pursue safety& security to the living species and to the earth, as in Genesis 1:28. Others are warring nations, preferring aggression rather than equitable trade with other peoples. Aggressive nation-states are at war with their citizens.

Since the Sumerian civilization, many political philosophies have been invented, but none has pursued the improvements on Sumerian political philosophy described above. However, one nation proposed RHI: the 1787 USA.

The 1787 U.S. Constitution proposes a republic that deliberately pursues RHI rather than social democracy. As specified the civic-people pursue statutory justice by amending the Constitution. It prevents democracy through laws governing how offices in three branches of national government are filled and by reserving to the states powers the civic-people do not assign to the nation. The intentions to statutory justice are stated in the preamble: civic-citizens practice, facilitate, and encourage 5 public disciplines – integrity, justice, safety, strength, and prosperity, “in order to” pursue RHI “to ourselves and our Posterity”. There is neither religious discipline nor standards of achievement, leaving statutory justice perpetually attainable.

These intentions can& may be restored, starting with amendment of the First Amendment to, I suggest, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or [promoting] the free exercise thereof”. This change would clarify the Genesis 1:28 Sumerian claim: humankind is independently charged with safety& security to life on earth. It would clarify that We the People of the United States is not a totalitarian title. Only citizens who commit to comprehensive, mutual safety& security own that title.

The U.S., limited by the preamble’s stated intentions, would be worthy of loyalty by every citizen, both those who perform and those who may reform.

Facebook

facebook.com/phil.beaver.52/ August 12, 2022

At age 79, my life has been ruined for a long time. Yet I feel I am the luckiest man alive: I have never stopped trust-in and commitment-to lessons Jesus volunteered, mysterious as they may seem.

With my wonderful-for-me-wife almost paralyzed -- in “the late stages” of PSP, progressive supra-nuclear palsy, our daughters never seem-to face more-than-each-can-handle. I recognize& appreciate their persons& practices.

Stay with me.

I know a Southern Baptist and Christian, call him “Person”. Person affirms, in daily living but not articulation, the message I perceive in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Divinity School Address”, 1838. In my Emerson-expression, Jesus taught responsible-human-independence (RHI).

Person says Bible readers can& may apply common sense (Person’s phrase doesn’t suggest our friend Thomas Paine).

Yesterday, a discussion member mentioned Jesus was aggressive (e.g., turning tables over when vendors abused the temple). Person commented, “I prefer to turn the other cheek”, then reviewed Genesis 26’s Isaac, successively moving and digging water-wells neighboring tribes later claimed. After a fourth relocation, Isaac’s tribe found accepting neighbors. I think the point is, Person finds a peacemaker is always available.

Since Isaac’s is an Old Testament story, it is not definitively Jesus’ message. However, Jesus asserted the mystery, “Before Abraham was born, I am.” I speculate Jesus meant: The peace I advocate is available to patient people. Person attests to this principle, citing patience in hiring tree-service after strong winds.

Stay with our discussion group:

A member begged the question, “Was Jesus a Christian?” Person added, “Was the-High-God a Christian?”, then, “You can detect Christians by their-appreciative-living you may perceive.” That implies that Jesus was the-High-God, a term we mutual friends use to avoid pride-in personal-Gods.

I asked Person a compound question: “Do you, Person, accept three mysteries -- the-High-God’s love for you, Jesus’ peace to you, and salvation to your soul -- regardless of your actions?”

Person responded, “I need to think about it”, and paused. “I make-mistakes and sin. Therefore, I am reluctant to say.”

I responded, “I think you answered, ‘Yes’.”

Person responded, “I accept that you think so.”

I am glad I talk with mutual friends.

Here’s the evolutionary point:

The divisive adage, “Never talk religion and politics” is to be avoided like a pandemic. Friendship takes practice, facilitation, and courage. The rewards are profound.

 

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.