2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #236 "UNIFICATION ON VETERAN'S DAY"

     As can be broadly seen, we are terribly polarized and split apart in our country today in so many ways.  But maybe, just maybe, all of us could unify each year on something that we all have in common, which is to celebrate and give homage to those of our military troops who have given their lives fighting for our country.  Yes, many times we may not have agreed with the political decisions that sent our troops into areas of conflict all around the world.  But we all must remember that our troops don’t make those decisions, they simply do what they are ordered to do.  And many of them have paid a dear price for that service.

      My great wife was raised in Canada, and she tells me that every November 11 since 1921 there has been a national celebration of Armistice Day or, as it is also known, either “Remembrance Day” or “Poppy Day.”  Thus starting on about November 1, people all around the country and from every walk of life wear artificial red poppies on their clothing.  This had its roots in the poem “In Flanders Fields” by a Canadian named Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, and which begins “In Flanders Fields the poppies blow, between the crosses, row on row. . .”  Thereafter the tradition spread to much of the British Commonwealth.  It is in remembrance of troops who have died, especially in World Wars I and II, but also in other military conflicts as well.  The red poppies are worn over the heart, with the red representing the blood of all those who gave their lives, the black representing the mourning of those who didn’t return home, and the green leaf representing the grass and crops growing and future prosperity after the war had destroyed so much.  The poppy should be positioned at 11 o’clock to represent the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.  So I suggest that we adopt that custom in our country as well!  Let’s unify and celebrate our troops who gave their ultimate contribution by universally thanking them at this time of year – nationwide!   Accordingly, this coming January I will make it a point to locate places where we all can purchase these red poppies, and I will pass the word on to you so that, if you would like to help, we can start this new tradition of unification next year.  We should all agree that our fallen troops deserve forever to be honored, and this is how we can do it.  And we can become more unified as a country along the way.

Quote for the week:  “In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”  Thomas Jefferson

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Please listen to our weekly radio show entitled “All Rise! The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray” as we discuss timely issues, and show how they will be addressed more beneficially by employing Libertarian values and approaches.  You can hear it every Friday morning at 7 Pacific/10 Eastern by going to www.VoiceAmerica.com, clicking on the Variety Channel and then upon the word “live.”  You can also hear past shows on demand as well.  And, by the way, these 2 Paragraph columns are now on Facebook and LinkedIn at judgejimgray, Twitter at judgejamesgray, and wordpress at judgejimgray.wordpress.com.  Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty.

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #228 "THE LIBERTY TO SEE THE USA!"

My wife Grace and I have spent the last ten days on a trip first to Portland, and then on a cruise on the Columbia and Snake Rivers (which explains why you did not receive last week’s edition of this series).   We have such a rich and interesting history here, like what we saw and envisioned with the Lewis and Clark Expedition, so why go anywhere else?  As a result, this week’s edition simply recommends that all of us often take time to pause and reflect how truly fortunate we are to be who we are, live where we live and have what we have.  We are genuinely blessed – and all the more so if we appreciate that fact.

                Among my blessings is the fact that I have been able to travel the world quite extensively – but there is nowhere more interesting or beautiful than our US of A!  Most of us actually have the Liberty to be able to go where we want – no walls with the barbed wire fences facing inward instead of outward like were present in East Germany and now are in North Korea!  But I recommend we more often use that Liberty to see the beautiful places in our great country.  No passports, no changes of currency – and many times no changes of time zones.  Good stuff!  So why go anywhere else?

My favorite Winston Churchill story:  Frequently before he would give a speech, Churchill would go to the men’s room to relieve himself so he would not be uncomfortable during his presentation.  But it happened that one time he was doing just that at a urinal when his political nemesis, Clement Attlee, came in right beside him.  So when Churchill stopped doing his business and moved over to one urinal away, Attlee said to him “You’re getting a bit prudish in your old age aren’t you Winston?”  To which Churchill responded: “Clement, I know you, and any time you see something that is big, private and works well, you want to nationalize it.”

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Please listen to our weekly radio show entitled “All Rise! The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray” as we discuss timely issues, and show how they will be addressed more beneficially by employing Libertarian values and approaches.  You can hear it every Friday morning at 7 Pacific/10 Eastern by going to www.VoiceAmerica.com, clicking on the Variety Channel and then upon the word “live.”  You can also hear past shows on demand as well.  And, by the way, these 2 Paragraph columns are now on Facebook and LinkedIn at judgejimgray, Twitter at judgejamesgray, and wordpress at judgejimgray.wordpress.com.  Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty.

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #221 "ISideWith.Com: WHERE DO YOU STAND?"

               Here is a poll that I strongly suggest you take.  Go to www.isidewith.com, answer its questions and see where you stand on a wide ranging number of political issues.  It won’t take long, it’s fun and I think you will find the results to be interesting (although it should have included more free market questions).  Of course, most of life is more complicated than “yes or no” questions, but this test is fairly sophisticated, and allows for gradations of responses.  So I truly think that it has merit.  (The poll is private, but you can share the results with others if you wish.  It’s completely up to you.) 

                After the isidewith program digested my answers, it told me that am a slightly left of center Libertarian, and that I agree with Governor Gary Johnson about 85 percent of the time.  (That’s pretty good, because I don’t even agree with myself 85 percent of the time. . . .)  But none of this surprised me because, as I have frequently written in this column, I support Milton Friedman’s concept of a national stipend for people who make less than a certain amount of money (and then doing away with all other welfare, except for those with truly special needs).  But try it yourself, and I anticipate that you will surprise yourself about how Libertarian you are!  As such, you may very well join me in believing that the Libertarian Party is the only real mainstream political party in our country today.  Socially we support a “Live and Let Live” policy, and financially we support responsibility at all levels of society, including individual, group, corporate and governmental.  This makes us the only political party that would actually confront our nation’s deficits – which are the biggest threat both to our nation’s security and to our children’s financial future.  (So take the poll and see where you fit.  I’ll bet you a hamburger that you are much more Libertarian than you thought!)

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Quote for the week, told to me directly by a retired stewardess from Southwest Airlines: “On occasion our plane would hit hard on its landing.  So when I saw the chins of the passengers in the first few rows touch down to their chests, I would get on the microphone and say: ‘Yes that was a hard landing.  But I want you to know that it wasn’t the crew’s fault, and it wasn’t the plane’s fault; it was the asphalt.’”

               Please listen to our weekly radio show entitled “All Rise! The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray” as we discuss timely issues, and show how they will be addressed more beneficially by employing Libertarian values and approaches.  You can hear it every Friday morning at 7 Pacific/10 Eastern by going to www.VoiceAmerica.com, clicking on the Variety Channel and then upon the word “live.”  

              You can also hear past shows as well.  And, by the way, these 2 Paragraph columns are now on Facebook and LinkedIn at judgejimgray, Twitter at judgejamesgray, and wordpress at judgejimgray.wordpress.com.  Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty.