2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #229 "I FELL FOR IT!"

         This past week I received a forwarded email from a friend with the title “Why Obama Hates Trump,” which stated that, since he had left office, President Obama had taken 692 travel days at the expense of the taxpayers.  It continued by saying that Obama had often taken with him not only his family members, but also friends and staff – to the extent that it had cost taxpayers about $214 million!  There actually is an allowance for ex-presidents to travel at public expense, but only reasonably and when on public business.  But, the article concludes, when President Trump found out about this activity, he immediately canceled the program, and stated he would call for Obama to reimburse the government for all non-work-related expenses.  Finally, the article encouraged the recipients to forward the information on to their social media friends – which I actually did to three people.  The next day, one of those friends responded to me that Snopes said this simply was not true.

           I fell for it!  And me, of all people!  Why?  Because within the last month I have taped interviews on my radio show* expressly talking about “fake news,” and how all responsible people should counteract it.  How?  By being skeptical before believing anything in the social media unless it was first checked out.  As you know, I am a Libertarian, and do not believe in censorship almost ever.  So that is not a way to address the problem.  And the government requiring private online groups to ban some groups or people is not what I believe should happen either.  Instead, we must all understand that sometimes the world can be a cruel and deceptive place.  So what is the answer?  Intelligence and skepticism in what we accept, what we believe and, particularly, what information we pass along to others as being true.  I hope and believe I have learned from my mistake, and for it I sincerely apologize to everyone – especially including former President Obama!

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

On our recent trip along the Columbia River, our guide told us that the Lewis and Clark Expedition had started to spend the winter on the north side of the mouth of the Columbia, where it rained continually, was cold and had no firewood or game.  After a couple of weeks a group of Native Americans came over in a canoe to great them and told them they should stay on the south bank.  Why?  Because it was drier, had firewood, was sheltered from the wind, and had no sales taxes.  (Today the State of Washington has a sales tax, but Oregon does not.) 

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.

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #190 "THE IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY"

     Demonstrably since the time of FDR the presidency has usurped to itself or been abrogated by Congress increasingly large amounts of power.  As such, in many ways, it has been turned into an Imperial Presidency.  But we should all be reminded that we do not have a monarchy in this country.  Instead we have a democracy based upon the Separation of Powers as expressly set forth in our Constitution – and this works for the benefit and protection of us all.  Thus a president should not be able unilaterally to send our combat troops into war in places like Korea, Vietnam, Serbia, Panama, Somalia, Iraq or Afghanistan.  Similarly, President Obama should not have been able unilaterally to change our laws to keep “Dreamers” from being deported.  And President Trump should not be allowed unilaterally to impose tariffs, withdraw us from treaties, or stop the practice of awarding citizenship to people solely because they were born in this country.

        Regardless of whether we agree with the decisions made by our presidents or not, we should insist that the Constitution be followed. (I happen to agree with President Obama about the “Dreamers,” and also agree with President Trump that people born in this country should not have automatic citizenship – but I still strongly object to the procedures used by them both!)  Congress should be involved before we change our laws or treaties, and before we go into battle on an extended basis.  And if the interpretation of the 14^th Amendment is to be changed such that people who are born here are no longer determined automatically to be citizens, a test case should be brought in our federal courts, eventually leaving it to our Supreme Court to make that interpretation.  Congress has allowed these usurpations to happen because not enough of the individual members want to take the political responsibility for the various outcomes.  But if they don’t act within the Constitution, they should be replaced by others who will.

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Fake news report:  Recently a reporter was interviewing President Trump, and asked: “I know that your name is Donald J. Trump, but what does the ‘J’ stand for?”  The response:  “It stands for Jenius.”

                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.