2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #248 "RESPECT THE PROCESS!"

       Many people have complained that President Trump has wrongly set aside some of President Obama’s “good works” regarding things like DACA, which has kept people who were brought into our country as small children without complying with our immigration laws from being deported.  But the problem does not lie with Trump, it actually lies with Obama and Congress.  Why?  Because Mr. Obama issued Executive Orders for our laws not to be enforced for those young people.  So, that being the case, no one has a legitimate complaint when Trump similarly issues Executive Orders counteracting them.  However, if President Obama had respected the process and successfully attempted to have the immigration laws changed, President Trump would have been forced to follow suit.  (What’s good for goose also good for gander. . .)

        In other words, the process is critically important.  We don’t have dictators in our country who can rule by fiat.  The DACA issue to me is clear: we should keep those young people who have adapted well into our society here – and I believe most Americans would agree with that result.  So if I were in Congress, I would vote for the modification of our immigration laws to enact that result.  But this is yet another example of Congress abrogating its lawmaking responsibilities to a president.  Another huge example is Congress’ having passed the so-called War Powers Acts that have allowed presidents, in effect, to declare war on other nations or peoples.  No, Constitutionally only Congress can declare war!  Of course our laws still allow a president to respond to an immediate threat.  But otherwise it is meaningless for a country to be based upon the Rule of Law if its elected officials don’t respect the process– and these failings are laid at the feet of Congress!    

Quote for the week: “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”  George Bernard Shaw

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: #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: #196 "IT'S ABOUT WHO WE ARE"

      Last August Reason magazine editor Matt Welch commented in an editorial in the New York Times about the teachings of the late Senator John McCain on the subject of torture.  He said that McCain taught us that torture “produces faulty intelligence, that ‘every man has a breaking point,’ (and) that military personnel derive a motivational pride from America having higher moral standards than its debased adversaries.  ‘Your last resistance, the one that sticks, the one that makes the victim superior to the torturer, is the belief that were the positions reversed you wouldn’t treat them as they have treated you.’”  But we must continue to learn from McCain, because interest in this important issue appears to have waned.  And it should not because, as Mc Cain says, “This is a moral debate.  It is about who we are.”

     The prison at Guantanamo is still open, much to our discredit!  And, although President Obama banned torture as soon as he took office, our present president has stated publicly that torture “absolutely works.”  Furthermore, our government even under Obama has continued secretly to send terrorist suspects off to third-party countries to be “questioned.”  So do we care?  Have we learned from Senator McCain that unaccountable power behaves unaccountably?  Yes, we know that after Osama bin Laden was located and killed, many officials in our government widely spouted that this never would have happened without using “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques.”  But was this true?  Ask McCain, who subsequently wrote: “In truth, most of the C.I.A.’s claims that abusive interrogations of detainees had produced vital leads to help locate  Bin Laden were exaggerated, misleading, and in some case, complete bullshit.”  But even if it worked, the very soul of the United States of America is its Freedoms and its Liberties.  Do we not believe that our soul is under direct attack if we do not treat everyone in our custody humanly?  Of course, we should also define what we mean by the word torture because there is a significant difference between breaking bones and subjecting people to sleep deprivation and loud music.  But in the end, it is not about other people, other countries or even the Geneva Convention, it’s about who we are!  

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Thought for the week:  Technically Moses was the first person with a tablet to download data from the Cloud.

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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.