Friday, September 9, 2016

2 Paragraphs 4 Liberty: #77 “America in Name Only?”

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                Although it is true that we suffer from the Original Sin of Slavery, since its creation America has in so many ways been the Hope of and Promise for a Better World.  Benjamin Franklin, often called the Sage of the Constitution, famously was heard to respond to the question: “Well Doctor, what kind of government have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” by saying: “Madam, it’s a Republic, if you can keep it.”  There are many trite phrases that Freedom is not Free, that it takes Courage to be Free, and Liberty takes Constant Vigilance – and they are all correct.  So now the mantle of keeping our Republic has been passed on to us.  But in many ways we are at risk of becoming America in name only!

                Today many people feel that we are besieged by terrorists and other threats to our safety.  And this climate of fear has resulted in a tangible loss of our personal freedoms and protections against government intrusions into our private lives – always done in the name of safety.  But Thomas Jefferson, that Great Libertarian, once stated that he would prefer to live in the dangerous world of freedom than in the safe world of slavery.  And Benjamin Franklin ratified that comment by saying that a people who give up a little freedom to have a little more safety deserve neither.  Do you agree with these two great men?  If so, please help us Libertarians protect our rights and liberties against this continual attack by our government.  Let’s Keep America the Land of the Free!  Our Founding Fathers are rooting for us!

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)                         

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice

President, along with Governor 

Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Please forward this on to your circle of friends for their consideration.  And by the way, now I am on Facebook at Facebook at http://ift.tt/1KPuMEA, LinkedIn at http://ift.tt/1cAMtZD, and Twitter with username as @JudgeJimGrayOAI, or twitter.com/JudgeJimGrayOAI.  Please visit these sites, and pass them along to your social world.

 

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Sunday, September 4, 2016

2 Paragraphs 4 Liberty: #74 “Respect for the Symbol of Liberty”

iStock_000009330394_Full_RESIZED2Happy 4th of July!  But along with all of the hotdogs, fireworks and other festivities don’t forget to raise a salute to our Great Country – on its birthday!  And also don’t forget to fly the Stars and Stripes. This is not only the third-oldest standard of the world (only the Union Jack of Great Britain and the Tricolor of France have been used longer), it is also the symbol of Liberty.  So it should be respected!

                To provide as accurate information as I could about respecting our flag I consulted with a Veterans of Foreign Wars handout entitled “Etiquette of the Stars and Stripes.”  Here are some of the rules that it listed:

  1. The Flag should be displayed only from sunrise to sunset, unless it is properly illuminated during the hours of darkness;
  2. The Flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously;
  3. The Flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is inclement, except when an all-weather flag is displayed;
  4. The Flag should be displayed on all special days;
  5. The Flag should never be dipped to any person or thing;
  6. The Flag should not be allowed to touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, floor, water or merchandise;
  7. The Flag should never be used as a table cover or receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying or delivering anything; and,
  8. The Flag should never be used for any advertising purposes whatsoever.

All of these rules are voluntary, so I do not recommend threatening your neighbors with sanctions if they forget to take their Flag down tonight as it gets dark.  But sometimes a quiet reminder to those neighbors might be a nice thing to do – for the respect of the symbol of everything we are as Americans, and everything we hope to be.




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Saturday, September 3, 2016

2 Paragraphs 4 Liberty: #73 “Liberty and The Brexit”

judge-jim-gray-1024x686                In my view, this past week the English voters took a big step toward taking back their Liberty by voting to withdraw from the European Union.  What were the problems?  Those voters were seeing issues, large and small, that addressed their daily lives increasingly being controlled by unelected and unresponsive bureaucrats in Brussels.  One of the large issues was losing control of their nation’s borders as a result of what they believed were the too liberal policies of the EU on immigration.  And many other smaller issues came from a host of dictates about, for example, not being able to use particular types of hair dryers or electric teapots because they were deemed to be using too much electricity.  And the voters ultimately rebelled.  (Don’t mess with my tea!)  Most of them understood that were would be some adverse economic consequences to their withdrawal, but they chose Liberty anyway.

                There is a distinct lesson for Washington in the British vote.  Today many people are increasingly seeing the same results in our country that the voters saw in Britain.  More and more decisions are being made by unelected and unresponsive powerful vested interests and federal bureaucrats in Washington about important things like education, housing, healthcare, drugs and childcare that appear dictatorial.  So maybe we should have an “Amerexit” from Washington – in the same name of Liberty and more local control.  Actually that rebellion has already started, and it is being led by Governors Gary Johnson and Bill Weld, the Libertarian candidates for President and Vice President!  Thomas Jefferson once said that we should have a revolution every generation in an effort to keep the vested interests at bay.  It has been a long time, but now that revolution is here!  Support this Libertarian movement against an unelected and largely unresponsive bureaucratic system that has been growing for decades.  It is long since time to listen to Thomas Jefferson!

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)                         

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice

President, along with Governor 

Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Please forward this on to your circle of friends for their consideration.  And by the way, now I am on Facebook at Facebook at http://ift.tt/1KPuMEA, LinkedIn at http://ift.tt/1cAMtZD, and Twitter with username as @JudgeJimGrayOAI, or twitter.com/JudgeJimGrayOAI.  Please visit these sites, and pass them along to your social world.

 

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Friday, September 2, 2016

2 Paragraphs 4 Liberty: #72 “The Legacy of Liberty”

Judge-Gray                Some day in the unknown future I will be dead, and whatever money I made or joys I realized will in many ways be insignificant.  The only thing that will really matter from my brief existence on this planet will be my effect upon the lives of my family, community and nation.  So what do I want that legacy to be?  It’s a good thing to think about.

                For me, it is that I left the world a little more likely to allow my fellow human beings to live their lives as they choose, i.e. to live in Liberty – “To Live and Let Live.”  Life is so short, and people should be able to choose how they will live their lives, freely – as long as that does not unreasonably or wrongly affect the ability of others to do the same.  So I would like that to be my legacy, and that is why I am supporting the Libertarian candidates for President and Vice President.  Of course, your personal purpose could be to Save the Redwoods, support the Performing Arts, or assist the students at the UCLA School of Architecture.  But whatever you want your legacy to be, focusing upon what you are actually doing now to achieve it is a gratifying thing to do.  Because tomorrow may be too late. . .

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)                         

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice

President, along with Governor 

Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

 

Please forward this on to your circle of friends for their consideration.  And by the way, now I am on Facebook at Facebook at http://ift.tt/1KPuMEA, LinkedIn at http://ift.tt/1cAMtZD, and Twitter with username as @JudgeJimGrayOAI, or twitter.com/JudgeJimGrayOAI.  Please visit these sites, and pass them along to your social world.

 

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