2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBETTY: #209 "A LESSON FROM DOGS"

 The old saying is that dogs love their owners more than they love themselves – and I believe it.  So let’s take a lesson from dogs.   They love us regardless of our heritage, race or economic status, or whether we are overweight or slim.  If we treat them well, they will give us tribute, security and wonderful companionship and affection.  What a great lesson for us all to learn, and also a particularly great lesson to use in mentoring our children!  In fact, this reminds me of the lyrics in the song “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught” in the musical South Pacific, which ended with:

“You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!”

The most important thing in our relationships is that we are all brothers and sisters, and children of God.  All small children understand this reality, as seen by the fact that they will voluntarily play with any other child their age.  But they soon learn discrimination based upon artificial factors from us adults.  I think of it this way: We are all in the Service Business: Treat people well, and they will treat you the same way.  Similarly, successful employers know that if they treat their employees well, they will almost always treat the employers and their companies the same way. So say it how you will: “What Goes Around Comes Around;” “Reap as Ye Shall Sew;” or “Do unto Others as You Would Have Them Do unto You.”  These are the lessons that can be learned from Man’s Best Friend, and I wish more of us would take them to heart.  If we did, the world would be a more peaceful place, and everyone’s lives would be more fulfilling. 

Quote for the week: “Don’t just do something, stand there.”  Secretary of State Dean Rusk during a meeting in the Oval Office in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

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.

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #208 "IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE"

      Recently I mediated a case in which two medical professionals who did not know each other got involved in what can only be called an ego fight while driving their cars on a road as it merged from two lanes into one.  And neither would yield to the other, which resulted in one of their cars crossing the double center line into oncoming traffic, obliterating an oncoming car and killing the two men inside it.  In the blink of an eye.  Liberty allows us mostly to go where we want, do what we want and be what we want.  But we responsible human beings would all be well advised to stop for a moment of reflection and cognizantly determine that when something happens to us, even in the blink of an eye, we will keep control of ourselves.  I know that these two men, who are otherwise good citizens and respected in their professions, wish they had made such a determination and lived up to it.  But for them it is too late.  So two innocent people died and the lives of the family members of each of the four participants are changed forever.  (And this incident will always affect me as well.)

Author and entrepreneur Laura Fenamore once said that “We can control how we respond to things we can’t control.”  And she is right.  Let’s all strive to control how we respond, even in challenging and unforeseeable stressful situations.  Someone cuts us off on the highway, insults us in a restaurant, or bumps into us while walking in a shopping mall, keep control.  Set the example for the way good and responsible people should respond – every time.  And show that to our children – by example and teaching.  We each have the Liberty to do that.  And, who knows, maybe that will keep us and our families from situations of despair and loss in the future.

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Quote for the week: “Today was a great day.  I sold my condo for $1.2 million in cash – until I remembered that I was only leasing it.”

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.

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #207 "WHAT HAPPENED TO THE 10TH AMENDMENT?"

     On occasion as a judge I have the opportunity to swear in various officers into organizations like the bar associations and others.  So, as you know, all of these oaths of office require that people swear that they will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.  But after they say they will, I ask them to keep their hands up, and also swear that they will read the Constitution.  This normally gets some chuckles, but there is a purpose, because even some of the appellate opinions I have read make me question whether the authors have read the Constitution.  And this is a scary concept.

        The most egregious example is the 10^th Amendment, which holds unambiguously that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States, respectively, or to the People.”  And which powers are delegated to the federal government?  They are found in Article I Section 8.  Very briefly, they are: powers to lay and collect taxes, pay debts, provide for the common defense, borrow money, regulate commerce with foreign countries and among the various states, form rules for naturalization and declaring bankruptcy, coin money, punish counterfeiting, establish post offices, provide for a system of patents, establish a court system, punish offenses that occur on the high seas, declare war, raise and support an army and navy and make rules to regulate them, call forth a militia to suppress possible rebellions, and make rules to govern military posts as well as a capitol city (which eventually became Washington DC).  Yes, sometimes issues can be complex and ambiguous, but since that time the federal government has expanded far beyond the expectations of the Founders.  For example, it owns large amounts of land within the various states, controls wildlife, enacted laws of Drug Prohibition, and has entered into the fields of healthcare, housing, education and the arts.  In fact, the list of powers the feds have entered into and even controlled goes on and on.  But our country was founded upon the concept of federalism, which allows our “50 crucibles of democracy” each to try out various approaches to address issues, and then we all can learn from each other.  So ask yourself the question: “Who believes the federal government has all the answers?”  If you say no it doesn’t then help us Libertarians go back to the approach in the Constitution.  And we can start that approach by reading it.

  Quote for the week: “I hate it when people don’t know the difference between the words “your” and “you’re.”  There so stupid!”  Fortunately Anonymous

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.