Well, my life became much less complicated this past weekend because I did not receive the nomination of the Libertarian Party for President. Instead the nomination went to Dr. Jo Jorgensen, who is an instructor at Clemson University. My great team was sensational, and I believe my running mate, Larry Sharpe of New York, and I successfully got our message out. But that was not what the delegates wanted. Of course we believe they made a mistake, but they had every right to make it. (You can make up your own minds using this link for the video clip of my nominators’ and my presentations to the delegates in the virtual national convention: https://vimeo.com/421983993.) But now Onward: please join me in congratulating and supporting Dr. Jo as she carries the banner of Liberty forward – for all of us!
Among other things, for me “onward” means that we all should focus this Memorial Day weekend upon the fact that it is our government, and if it isn’t working we have no one to blame but ourselves. So in that spirit, here are the lyrics of the song You Are The We. This is the encore to my new musical Convention: the Birth of America. The song is first sung by George Washington and our moderator Benjamin Franklin and then, increasingly, the entire cast. What do you think? I wish you a Happy and Thoughtful Memorial Day Weekend!
They say you like to call us Founding Fathers,
Our portraits are still in your history books.
To that we’d like to say we’re deeply honored,
And glad to see the artists captured our good looks.
But if we’re your Fathers, you’re our sons and daughters,
With some greats and grands appended that’s for sure.
And though we never met you, we knew you’d be coming along some day,
So we wrote this Constitution to keep you safe and strong the American Way:
Keep it alive, see that it thrives, and pass it along again.
But open your eyes, you have to be wise,
You have to be strong and then:
Teach your children well, maybe even tell them
Of our Founding Fathers, how their sons and daughters
Carried it through a hundred or two perilous years to hand it to you:
For now you . . . you are the People
It’s you . . . you are the We.
It’s yours, your Constitution,
It belongs to you and me.
Yes you . . . you are the People,
It’s you . . . you are the We.
It’s yours, your Constitution,
For this Land of the Free.
Carry it forward, carry it on.
Protect and defend it, in keeping it strong.
And when there is weakness, amend if you must,
But harbor no meekness defending this Trust.
For you . . . you are the People,
It’s you . . . you are the We.
It’s yours, your Constitution
For this Land of the . . . Free!
Quote of the week: “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” St. Augustine
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 all past shows on demand as well. And, by the way, these 2 Paragraph columns are now on my website at www.JudgeJImGray.com, 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. In addition, my new book entitled “2 Paragraphs 4 Liberty: Solutions that are Practical, Effective, Responsible, Libertarian, is now available at Amazon.com. Please read and discuss it with your friends, and send in a review.