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: #219 "THE TEACHINGS OF 'I PENCIL'"

     “I Pencil” is an essay by Leonard Read that was first published in The Freeman in December of 1958.  The full title was “I Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read.”  The point of the work is to provide a first person account of how a pencil is manufactured by first harvesting and then refining the raw materials of cedar, lacquer, graphite, ferrule, factice, pumice, wax and glue, and then assembling them into a pencil.  Obviously large numbers of people are involved in this process, including the person who sweeps out the factory and the lighthouse keeper who guides the shipment into port.  But none of those workers are directed or forced to cooperate.  They do so because of the “Invisible Hand” of working for their own economic benefit.  Ayn Rand described this phenomenon by saying that “Greed is good!”  Unfortunately, that comment has been misconstrued, and Libertarians have thus been tarred for generations as approving of greedy people – which is a totally different concept.  But instead this means that, to the degree possible, creative energies should be left uninhibited so they can be productively harnessed – for the benefit of the actor, and of us all.  Or, as Leonard Read encouraged us, “Have faith that free men and women will respond to the Invisible Hand.  This faith will be confirmed.”

                Actually this is basic economics, which focuses upon supply and demand, and is based upon the incentives of allowing people to be able to profit from their own labors and creativity.  But this concept is vastly under-taught and misunderstood in our society today. In fact, in many ways, it is vilified.  But, as Dr. Milton Friedman taught us, no society has ever raised itself up out of poverty except through a system of free enterprise combined with private property rights.  So how can this historically beneficial system be under attack today?  Because numbers of politicians are simply pandering to the voters.  Why?  Because in politics, reality is irrelevant – it is only the voters’ perception of reality that matters.  So that leaves it to the rest of us to stand up and proselytize the teachings of “I Pencil.”  And if you do, you will be performing a great service for our country and, especially, our children!  

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 these and other 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.

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #217 "WE THINK IN WORDS"

 We all think in words.  Thus if people do not understand the shades of meaning between two (or among three or more) different words, those people do not understand the concepts.  For example, I heard that there are more dialects in languages around the world that do not draw a distinction between the word “enemy” and the word “stranger.”  As a result, if I were to stumble out of the wilderness into your remote village, and you didn’t understand this distinction, I would automatically be your enemy.  Imagine how much needless violence, or at least lost opportunities, have occurred just from this situation alone!  Similarly, when we are driving our cars in the countryside and see the sign “Slow Traffic Keep Right,” what often goes through our minds?  “Oh, I’m not slow traffic, so I’ll stay in the fast lane.”  But if, instead, the sign were to say: “Left Lane Only For Passing,” our thoughts would more likely be: “Oh, I’m not passing, so I’ll move back to the right lane.”  Same intent, but different result.

                Other common but neglected differences in words that I find to be interesting and even fun are:

·         May vs. Can: permission as opposed to ability.

·         Imply vs. Infer: Speakers imply and listeners infer.  So many problems occur when the implications are different than the inferences.

·         Solution vs. Resolution:  Most human problems have no solutions.  If you want a solution, become a mathematician.  Human problems almost always are limited to resolutions, but they allow people to put those problems behind them and move on with their lives.  (I use this illustration often in my mediations.)

·         You’re welcome vs. No problem:  The former implies that the doer was happy to help; the latter implies that if it had been a problem, the doer wouldn’t have done the good deed.

·         Need vs. Want:  We want to be alive, but don’t need to be.  But we do need oxygen to be alive.  (Or, in a political context, a “need” is just a “want” that you should give me.)

·         Love vs. Like:  We can Like many things, but Love is special, and should be thought of in that fashion.  

·         Education vs. Indoctrination:  Upon reflection, that difference should be apparent.

·         Risk vs. Gamble:  Almost all things we do have some risks to them, but they can be controlled – think going for a swim.  Gambles cannot be controlled – think roulette.

·         Rule of Law vs. Rule of Man: The former strives to provide Equal Justice for All; the latter is often used to rewards one’s friends and punishes one’s enemies.

There are many more, and I think they’re both fun and important.  I hope you agree.

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

  Quote for the week:  “We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.”  (And speaking of traveling, I will be on vacation for the next two weeks, so there will be an interruption in our series.)  And, BTW, last week I recommended people boycott the movie “Long Shot,” but this week I recommend people see the movie “A Dog’s Purpose.”  It was wonderful, and much redeeming social value!

Please listen to our weekly radio show entitled “All Rise!  The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray” as we discuss these and other 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.

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY #188: “NO FREE LUNCH”

It was Milton Friedman who coined the slogan “There is no such thing as a free lunch.”  And this is exemplified by the following story that was recently sent to me, which is: Once there was a chemistry professor in a large college who had some exchange students in her class.  One day in class the professor  noticed a young male exchange student who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt. When she asked the young man what was the matter the student told her he had a bullet lodged in his back.  He had been shot while fighting communists who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist regime.  In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked, "Do you know how to catch wild pigs?"  The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said this was no joke.  The answer is that you catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground.   The pigs find it and begin to come every day to eat the free corn.  Then, when they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming.   When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. So you continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side.  The pigs, which are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, and then you can slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom.  They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught.  But soon they go back to eating the free corn.  They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, and quickly they begin to accept their captivity.

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening in America.  “The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops, welfare, medicine, drugs, etc., while we continually lose our freedoms - just a little at a time.  And then, in not so long a period of time, we are captured.”  So all of us should always remember that there is no such thing as a free lunch!  Dr. Friedman also gave us another eternal truth when he said that we get more of what we subsidize, and less of what we tax.  And the truth is that today we are subsidizing entitlements, victimization and even laziness, and taxing success.  So what are we getting more of?  Does this concern you?  It certainly concerns me.

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Quotation for the Week: “I know that God will not give me more than I can handle.  I just wish He didn’t trust me so much.”  Mother Theresa

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!