2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #235 "OUR LIBERTIES: THE SOUL OF AMERICA"

During World War II many of our troops who were being held as prisoners of war were tortured by the Japanese.  I understand that one of the things that kept our troops’ morale up during these ordeals was the strong belief that, if the situation would have been reversed, we would not torture them.  Why ?  Because we were better than that!  And that is one of the bases of American Exceptionalism.  But are we that way today?  Many terrorists around the world argue that, although we profess to be more pure, we are not.  And they invariably cite to our “state secret” laws that prevent people who claim they were tortured by our CIA or its agents from pursuing law suits in our courts against our federal government. 

What is the actual situation?  Few of us know – or even think about it – because it is out of the news. Wrongly so, in my opinion, because this strongly affects who we are.  And if we are torturing people for any reason whatsoever, We the People should be aware of it.  Of course, reasonable people can differ as to what constitutes torture, and the circumstances in which it can be used.  But regardless of how that discussion is resolved, that still does not address the State Secrets Act.  To further bring this issue into focus, Erwin Chemerinsky, Esq., the dean of the Law School at the University of California, Berkeley, has set forth his findings in a book entitled Closing the Courthouse Door: How Your Constitutional Rights Became Unenforceable.  And his message is disturbing.  He writes convincingly that our government is torturing people in our names to “protect” our national interests, but without being forced to show in court that state secrets would actually have to be revealed if a trial were to go forward.  In other words, since our Liberties are the soul of our great country, our soul is under attack by our very own government!  How do you think that would make our troops from Japanese prison camps feel?

Quote for the week:  I finally figured out what I wanted to be when I was older.  And the answer is: Younger.

Note: No edition was circulated last week because our housepainters cut the wires bringing the internet into our house.  Ah, technology. . . .

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.  And now my new book entitled “2 Paragraphs 4 Liberty: Solutions that are Practical, Effective, Responsible, Libertarian is available at Amazon.com.   Please send in a review.

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #202 "A COMPENSATION DILEMMA"

     One of the issues today that appears mainly unfixable but also eminently unfair and even infuriating is the disparity of compensation paid to the lower working classes versus that sometimes provided to some senior employees and officers of some public companies.  For example, when I read about severance packages in the tens of millions of dollars for some senior executives, it feels obscene.  Why should any such person ever be in the position to receive any such payout?  It is simply too much money!  I know that life is often unfair and it is certainly complicated, and that compensation is also often reduced by a progressive income tax system, but this still bothers me.  But the problem is, what can be done about it, if anything? 

       For the government to reach in and put limits upon compensation packages in the private sector both strongly violates my libertarian philosophy as a clear violation of Liberty, and is also impractical.  It is clear that private competing companies must be able to attract and retain gifted, experienced, creative and insightful leaders, and one effective way to do that is to offer attractive compensation packages.  For example, most people probably agree that people like Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Thomas Edison should be well compensated by their companies.  The problem is that the compensation packages of most CEOs and other high officials are mostly set by the board of directors.  But, as a practical matter, most of the members of the boards have their positions at the pleasure of those same officials.  So the relationship can be incestuous and often hollow.  An alternative would be for there to be a law that everyone’s compensation package be capped at something like ten times that paid to the lowest-paid worker.  But formulas like that can bring both substantial philosophical and practical problems of their own, depending upon many variables.  (Remember the Law of Unintended Consequences?)

         I don’t have a proposed resolution for this nagging and sometimes even galling problem, but instead bring it to you for your thoughts and suggestions.  Please respond as to those thoughts.  It is an important issue that bothers many people in our country in a time that we need both to heal many wounds and also have people believe that they are being addressed and healed.  Do you agree?  If so, what should be done about this issue, if anything?

Quote for the week:  “Dreams are not so different from deeds as some may think.  All the deeds of men are only dreams at first.  And in the end, their deeds dissolve into dreams.”                                                                                          Theodore Herzl:  Old New Land (1902)

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.) 

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

 Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

By the way, these 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.