2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #243 "LET'S LEARN TO EMBRACE EACH OTHER"

      My great friend Dean Tom Campbell recently published in the Orange County Register the following quote that I pass along to you: “Most offenses taken are not intended.”  This hit me hard because I have always somehow inferred this, but had never seen it put into words.  And what a thought that will help us to live our lives more fully.  Then the next day, Christmas, the Register also published the following in an editorial: “The truly valuable things of this life are not found in power and riches but in our relationships – in our capacity to cherish our families, love our neighbors, stretch out a helping hand to those less fortunate and seek reconciliation with those who would be our enemies.” 

     Following up on both of those quotes, with the fall of the former Soviet Union, it was fully documented that the great composer Peter Tchaikovsky actually committed suicide at the age of 53 to avoid publicizing that he was gay.  And this act wasn’t done to protect his good name, it was instead to protect the “good name” of his former university.  Can you simply imagine how deprived the world has been by not embracing him even for his perceived frailties (that all of us share in some form)?  Look at what society lost not only in unnecessarily shortening his life, but also in the additional brilliant compositions that he would have created for us!  Pope Francis preached this past Christmas Day that “God does not love you because you think and act the right way.  You may have mistaken ideas, you may have made a complete mess of things, but the Lord continues to love you.”  Just like with the commonalities of the world’s religions and philosophies that are highlighted at www.Pro-JectUnderstanding.com, we human beings have so much in common that we should embrace each other more.  So as we are now beginning a New Year, let us all strive to exercise our Liberty and learn both not to take offense so quickly at things that other people say and do, but also to embrace each other more fully.  That is – or should be – what life is about.  Happy New Year!

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 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 friends, and send in a review.

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #204 "THE GREEN BOOK"

        Easily one of the best movies I have ever seen is The Green Book, and I strongly recommend you see it as well.  The story is about a working-class Italian fairly racist bouncer (Viggo Mortensen) who becomes a driver on a concert tour from New York City through the Deep South for a truly refined and gifted African-American classical pianist (Mahershala Ali).  The title comes from a book called The Negro Motorist Green Book, which listed facilities like motels and restaurants in the South that would accommodate African Americans and, by 1962, it had a circulation of 2 million people.  But, as one reviewer said, this movie has family, culture, honesty, dignity, genius, respect, stereotypes, racism, music, class, friendship and fried chicken.  What I say is that it has character development almost beyond belief, and that it is simply laden with human and socially-redeeming value.  And, by the way, I understand that the fantastic piano playing was actually all performed by Mr. Ali, and who was born in Oakland!

        But why talk about a movie in this 2 Paragraphs 4 Liberty series?  Because it simply would never have been made except in a free society.  Repressive regimes like in Cuba, China or the former Soviet Union would never have allowed a movie depicting their police or people acting in such a racist and inhumane fashion!  Only with Liberty can artists truly create, publish and thrive in accordance with their own inner drives and desires, and we are all so much better off for it.  Only with Liberty would a film like this ever be allowed to be shown and openly discussed.  I’m sure that each one of us could come up with other similar examples, but my strong example is “The Green Book.”  If you don’t see it, you are missing a rare masterpiece! 

Quote for the week on a Father’s Day Card sent to me by my daughter: “Dad.  No matter what life throws at you, at least you don’t have ugly children.” 

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: #182 “CUBA NOW DESERVES LIBERTY”

     Way back in 1959 there was a popular uprising in Cuba against a ruthless and corrupt dictator named Fulgencio Batista, who had maintained power with the backing of the U.S. Government.  During his time in power it was widely known that Batista had forged a business partnership with the renowned gangsters Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano who had, for their part, turned Cuba into a veritable international drug and prostitution haven.  Yes, the revolution was led by Fidel Castro and, yes, when in power, Castro quickly formed a communist government that wrongly appropriated the land and assets of many innocent people.  And yes, as a result, our government immediately punished Cuba with economic sanctions and soon, in April of 1961, endorsed a failed military raid on the island that became a fiasco at the Bay of Pigs.  But that was long ago.

     Of course, since that time we have continued to punish Cuba with economic sanctions, even though we are virtually the only country on earth that continues to do so.  (And, ironically, this policy strongly helped to keep Castro in power, because he was always successfully able to blame almost everything that went wrong in his country on our sanctions.)  But at least with the fall of the Soviet Union, and Cuba’s incumbent loss of the subsidies that it received from that failed country, Cuba has increasingly turned to the Free Enterprise System.  And now with the death of Fidel, and his brother Raul transferring power to a new government, it is well past time for the United States to choose to stop punishing the people of Cuba with these sanctions.  Realistically Cuba poses no threat to the United States, and the People of Cuba are at least now entitled to Liberty!  And we should all do our part to make it so.

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Quote of the week: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that

matter.”                                       

-Dr. Martin Luther King 

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!