Frank Crane begins our discussion with an absolute flash of brilliance from the Eternal Semaphore:
“I am law. I am Nature’s way. By me comes order, unity. In my hand, I hold three gifts: health, happiness, success. I am more clever than the cleverest. I am as old as God. I am the secret of goodness; I am the horror of sin. I am the eternal path, and besides me, there is none else. Without me, men wander in the labyrinth of death.”
Do we understand what Frank Crane is trying to communicate? Nature is ruled by law, God executes actions according to law, and justice and mercy can be served without compromising either. Law is eternal, and nobody can escape the power and majesty of the law. Consider another truth when understanding the majesty of law:
“Give a man a chance, and you will often find him equal to the occasion.” – The Majesty of the Law (Short movie 1910).
What is the potential of a man; nobody but God knows for sure, but through obedience to the law, that man can become more than he ever thought possible. I am listening to M*A*S*H 4077, episode 18, from season 9. This is the episode where two buddies come in wounded, they enlisted together, they got injured, and the buddy discovers he has leukemia. In the same episode, Father Mulcahey is expecting a visit from a Cardinal. Two men were given a chance, faced with difficulty, who both rose to the magnitude of their stations. What is Nature’s way; law. R. W. Alger is quoted:
“Laws are silent assessors of God.”
When the law is described, Leo J. Muir provides five words that are inseparably connected to describing what law is:
“Eternal; Immortal; Immutable; Irrevocable; Inexorable!”
Looking back to Rome, how was Rome able to achieve greatness; they wrote their laws down and posted them above everyone’s head to symbolize that no one is above the law. Writing down laws was nothing new, but holding everyone accountable to the law equally was unique in human history. On this single principle, Rome rose in glory and failed ignominiously; everyone was accountable to the law equally. Senator, pauper, soldier, general, no one could escape the equality under the law. How did Rome lose their empire; Ceasar held themselves above the law. At the second that law was to be applied unequally to the various classes of citizens in Rome, the fall of Rome was set in stone.
Flash forward a couple of thousand years, what do we find; the law is no longer the supreme entity governing civilized behavior. For the cost of a lawyer, all laws become rubberized, twistable, and not applicable to those with enough money. More than that, the tools of law, police officers, are not treated to the same laws they are enforcing, and the Monday morning quarterbacks strip them of their initiative, ability, and dignity.
The USA Today calls this Monday Morning Quarterbacking “transparency.” As a point of fact, USA Today credits their actions to George Floyd’s death. The officers involved in the George Floyd debacle followed standard and acceptable policing procedures. George Floyd died from the drug combination in his system and his own stupidity. Yet, the officers have been harassed into jail, their lives destroyed, their families ruined, all because the George Floyd inanity “looked bad” to the same media who hold themselves above the law. The same laws that magically did not apply to Michael Jackson, politicians like Hillary Clinton, or even the Bidens and Romneys. The media harps and complains when the rules are applied equally to them, and then harps and complain when the law equally applies to causes or people the media protects. What destroyed Rome was the failure to equally apply the law to all citizens regardless of job, title, and friendliness with reporters. H. W. Beecher sums the problem nicely:
“Expedients are for the hour, principles for the ages.”
Laplace also pitches some additional power for consideration:
“Truth and Justice are the immutable laws of social order.”
What is most often missing in modern society, any country globally; truth and justice are the laws of good social order. Calling upon Frank Crane again, we find more consideration upholding the majesty of law:
“Truth is the logic of the universe. It is the reasoning of destiny; it is the mind of God. And nothing that man can devise or discover can take its place.”
What are the constraints upon a mans potential; look to the laws that man will obey. Going back to Rome, Julius Caesar was but one of the more notable of Rome’s emperors; what moral laws did he obey; not many. What social laws was he willing to follow; few to none. Is it any wonder he was stabbed? Modern society has the term “Arkancide,” it was invented to describe all the mysterious deaths, accidents, and happenstances that occur to people close to the Clinton political machine. True, nothing has ever been proven, and neither President Clinton nor Hillary Clinton has ever faced justice, and I am not casting aspersions. Merely noting there are a lot of incidents that need full and complete explanations, and transparency and accountability appear to be dodged by the Clintons at every turn.
Not that these two are the only politicians needing to face a judge and jury to explain and expound the whys and wherefores, merely noting they are definitely in the top ten of those needing to come clean about their actions while supposedly being “public servants.” Hence the point of laws and the power in obeying the law. When those who need to explain and expound come clean before the law, this concludes the speculation and truth and justice are meted to those needing it.
Think of the great questions in modern society where truth and justice would solidly end speculation. JFK’s murder, Epstein’s “suicide,” TWA Flight 800, Michael Jackson, OJ Simpson, etc. Yet, for all the world, the truth remains missing, and questions rightly remain. What is the power of law; the ability to publish the truth. Consider the wise words of Rousseau:
“Truth is the most precious of all blessings; it is the eye of reason.”
Radcliffe detailed the same semaphore a little differently:
“There is no progress in fundamental truth. We may grow in [the] knowledge of its meaning, and in the modes of its application, but its great principles will forever be the same.”
Both authors are semaphoring the same message and provide clarity of reason to denounce the falsehood that the US Constitution is a “living breathing document.” This constitutional republic’s foundational principles of the American experiment are not living or breathing but are alive only through our continuing growth of knowledge in how we apply the principles. Only those who would destroy the law talk of the principles as “living and breathing,” easily changed,” or “plasticized” into any shape to justify the application of law to let the guilty free and punish the innocent.
Cast your mind upon the first amendment to the US Constitution, also the first of the rights discussed in the US Bill of Rights:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Why is this the first right in the US Bill of Rights; without this right being acknowledged by the government, the executors of government would have zero restraint before forcing people to believe what they choose them to believe. Communism in China requires the CCP member to carry their “little red book” close to their hearts. Mimicking and parroting the twisted ideals of Mao, who learned them from Marx. Equally as important is the final phrase, the “right of the people to PEACEABLY assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances [emphasis mine].” Tell me, how often have riots been “peaceful petitions for grievances to be redressed” in any of the recent years? I repeat only for emphasis, when you block traffic, start fires, yell, scream, destroy property, etc., you are no longer “peaceably assembled” you are a terrorist group, and the total weight of the law should come down upon; you!
Consider all the “criminal justice reform,” “bail reform,” and other legislated and judicial chicanery foisted upon the American citizenry. Surely Colton and Joseph Parker are semaphoring an urgent message:
“Truth, like light, travels only in straight lines.”
“Falsehood is in a hurry; it may be at any moment detected and punished. Truth is calm, serene; its judgments on high; its king cometh out of the chambers of eternity.”
Leo J. Muir asks a question worthy of deep consideration, “Why this rigorous inflexibility of law?” The answer should be apparent, especially when considering Rome and comparing America’s growth and current deterioration, “The immutability of law is the assurance of progress and the guaranty of justice upon the Earth.” The US Constitution cannot be an easily plasticized document and still be a foundational bedrock of this constitutional republic. A stone cannot be like silly putty, a non-Newtonian fluid. Solid one moment, flexible another, shatterable, and resilient. Laws cannot be a law and be shapeable and moldable to a situation, for then it is no longer a law, but a good suggestion applicable only to specific situations and people. Is the point clear?
William Ernest Henley, in his immortal poem, “Invictus,” declares this immutable truth poignantly in the final stanza:
“It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishment the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.”
The entire poem Invictus is a declaration of the majesty of law, the power of law, and the reliability of law. Obedience of law does produce fruit or consequences for choices made, and in that choice and consequence cycle comes the justice and mercy of the law. Once, I was asked, when I step before the bar of God, for a final judgment, do I want a lawyer or an advocate? I do not want a lawyer, for a lawyer only plays with the law. I want an advocate who knows the law, is aware of my good and ill choices, and can plead my case as if my fate was worth the universe’s weight. How would you answer, and why? Do you understand the role of law better? What will you do right now to honor the law, even if in honoring the law you must loyally oppose those who are twisting the law for personal gain?
Let me be perfectly clear; I abhor the suffering the Ukrainian people are experiencing in the strongest language. I denounce the actions of Russia in creating violence. But, Zelensky is using the excuse of a Russian invasion to destroy the laws of Ukraine and create a dictatorship. These actions are as reprehensible to me as the invasion of Ukraine! Yet, if the American citizenry does not awake and arise, using the laws currently written, we too will see ourselves in a similar position. Where the laws of America are twisted out of shape and then used as a cudgel to beat the American spirit out of her people, and destroy the last bastion of freedom on Earth. The saving grace for America is her laws, and her citizenry needs to demand that all are equal under the law, for the innocent to escape and the guilty to be punished.
Let us now understand the role of law and thank “Whatever gods may be” for the immutable power of law!
© Copyright 2022 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images. Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.
Between Christmas and New Year 2019, I accepted an offer to write more frequently for a group that, at the time, was calling itself “No More BS.” What an amazing opportunity the challenge to write more regularly became, and how much I have come to enjoy writing. Like all things in life, the challenge came with a cost; I had exhausted myself mentally, I was spent by October. Physically my body could not answer the call of my mind, and my mind was screaming at me to stop. Let’s talk about drivers and BS, for the importance to American society success is found in ending the BS.
Worse than the corporatization of the US Military has been the continual erosion of the rule of law. The Uniform Code of Military Justice is regularly abused for the benefit of the powerful and the destruction of the weak. When the law is cheapened, joked about, and castigated, the trust in civil society is broken, and the military is but a smaller example of what is occurring in American society as a whole. When warriors are not judged by their deeds, but upon their political connections, the society hiring warriors, training warriors, and sending them into harm’s way will quickly find the warriors are gone. Their replacements are not worth the honor and trust. Leading to society being taken over and destroyed.
The biggest lesson I have learned in writing this year, a degree doesn’t represent smarts or capability; those come by working in the trenches for something more important than self. The US Navy taught me endurance in the face of insurmountable odds and enemy shenanigans, and the US Army taught me to think and have grit and determination. I know I am not perfect; I am not the “picture perfect politician.” I prefer blue jeans and button-downs to suits and ties, but I know people, and I prefer real people to the fake effrontery currently holding the reigns of political power.
Emperor Titus Flavius Vespasian began work on the Coliseum of Rome in 69 AD. Upon completion of the Coliseum, his son Emperor Titus held 100-days and nights of festival in the Coliseum. Ostensibly to calm the masses after the civil unrest following the death of Emperor Nero, the Coliseum acted precisely as it was planned, distract the masses, while the emperor consolidated his power, undermined the Roman Senate, and set the stage for the end of the Roman Empire. Roman laws were built, originally, upon the consent of the governed until the emperors broke the law. The people rebelled, and before the squabbling senators could take control, the Roman government was subjugated to empirical rule. All historical facts, reflecting the power of the consent of the governed and a lesson upon which we can plot the future if we are brave enough to take action.
The consent of the governed is built upon the intermingled trust between people as a body electing government officers and people representing those elected as government officers. The problems have arisen because many in public office have refused to accept the government of those who elected them and have served only themselves and the monied interests buying their time. Thus, trust propensity in government has dropped to disastrous levels. Adding to the problem are the accumulated actions of previously elected officials who have set a pattern for personal wealth by tax and spend, supporting political cronies, and gerrymandering system to protect them from negative election results. The trust between people of shared values has been broken by those elected, who never shared values, who refuse to live in their home districts, and whose time and the highest bidder can purchase interests. Thus, is it any wonder that people no longer believe the lies of government are restless and agitated?
If you are browsing a second-hand bookstore and come across the book “We, The People: Great Documents of the American Nation” by Jerome B. Agel, I recommend picking the book up and adding it to your library. I have not found a better book discussing the founding documents of this great American Republic. It is historically accurate, provides insights, and is a treasure of wisdom and knowledge.
All of which is mentioned as we discuss the origin of the philosophy of the consent of the governed in American jurisprudence. Virginia, 1776, The Virginia Declaration of Rights prefixed the Virginia Colony’s constitution and was written by a reluctant statesman and largest landowner, George Mason. In sixteen statements on government and the rights of man, we find the consent of the governed and the need for controls on government pertinent to our day and time!
Consider today’s tragic events in Boulder, Colorado. Before the blood was even clean at the scene, we have the President and selected hysterical gun-grabbing politicians making hay and demanding “gun reform.” Except, “Gun Reform” always means stealing guns from legal owners and doing nothing about illegal gun holders. Nothing is being urged to avoid and eliminate criminal behaviors with a firearm. The Rule of Law’s role only applies to those who choose to live according to society’s laws and rules. Those choosing to live outside society’s rules are terrorists and need to be treated as such!
What is the “Rule of Law?”
Like Rome, the legislators and the President are not above the “Rule of Law.” Even though these people continue to consider themselves above the “Rule of Law.” Worse, no matter how many laws a country produces, if the society is immoral, the “Rule of Law” is a joke. Consider the knife and machete attacks in the United Kingdom, outlaw guns, and people are still finding ways and means to hurt other people. France has stringent laws, yet people rent vehicles and mow their neighbors down in case lots. Japan, very orderly society; how do criminals make the news there; they use chemicals to poison their neighbors on a subway. Laws do not dictate moral behavior, ever!
I am not saying everyone needs to change religions; I am claiming that religion plays a significant role in reducing people’s animal minds to become amenable to living in a social order that respects the law and being ruled by law to enjoy maximum freedom. We also need to be clear, 
New Mexico’s current Governor, Gov. 
Context is not the issue in the use of discretionary funds, paid through forced taxation and other government means, to rob the citizen and businesses of their money. Context, according to Webster is, “the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed.” Let us use Gov. Grisham’s spokesman Tripp Stelnicki’s own words for expounding upon the problem. Please remember, Gov. Grisham is only being used as an example as she is currently in the news for dipping her hands into discretionary funds. Many politicians need their discretionary funds scrutinized, audited, and accounted for by the politician to the public for wasting the public’s money.
New Mexico Governor (D) Bill Richardson’s annual spending of discretionary funds climbed to $139,000 in 2008 while playing host to Hollywood types foreign dignitaries and community groups the Governor wanted to woo. The ethical lapses of discretionary spending were but one reason why Governor Susana Martinez (R) was elected as the people hoped for a change and better accountability for their tax dollars. Sadly, Gov. Martinez was not the fiscal hawk needed. New Mexico State continues to struggle because of the politicians’ ethical and moral positions in the house, senate, and Governor’s mansion. Not to mention the fiscal illiteracy found in the same politicians.
Public corruption also rears its ugly head where discretionary funds and people with hands out conduct business. “Former City Representative 
Want some interesting insights on discretionary fund abuse; 
A simple search of discretionary fund abuses brings up discretionary trading and a host of articles citing and supporting the claims that anything with the term discretionary in the title is an opportunity ripe for abuse by nefarious actors who want their cut. Hence the problem, too many accounts in public funds include discretionary in their titles. Like the famed hydra of old, if discretionary funds are removed, a new head will appear to abuse and steal the public’s money to the benefit of a few politicians, non-profit groups, and in the case in Rome, “consulting fees.” The following suggestions support a “Liberty FIRST Culture:”
Remember, these suggestions are only a beginning to the solution, not the end resolution. In conducting audits, previous politicians will be discovered for the schemes they perpetrated, and they will need to be held accountable. Some schemes have lived for so long; the scheme is now an organizational design problem, costing money and other resources requiring locally adaptable solutions to correct. Regardless, cleaning up the government’s size and the funds spent will be a significant undertaking requiring the best innovative minds. Pitch IN! We need all hands on deck to fix these problems and pay off the fiscal malfeasance!
In watching the United States Chemical Safety Board (USCSB/CSB) videos on YouTube, an epiphany occurred. In a safety-first culture, the employees are all responsible for near-misses. The employees are expected to have the ability to act in a manner conducive to and appropriate for the safe operations of their roles. Next, each employee has the power to halt operations if a safety problem is detected or if a better solution presents itself to avoid near-misses and future incidents. In the protection of the US Republic, every citizen has these same two powers for the continuation of liberty and freedom inside the borders of the United States of America.
For example, President Clinton had an extra-marital affair with Monica Lewinsky, this is a known fact, and this relationship has ruined Monica’s life and defined President Clinton’s presidency. The affair damaged America’s core fabric, showing to the world the callousness of Hillary Clinton in the abuse of women who have come forward to accuse her husband of impropriety, and crimes against this country were committed, and justice was never delivered due to political gamesmanship. Because politicians put politics before protecting this Republic, America has suffered tremendously, and other sex crimes and problems have further deteriorated America’s morals and culture.
Consider Harvey Weinstein’s crimes, compare those to any politician caught in the same act, doing the same crime, for the same purposes, and ask yourself were they treated similarly under the law? The answer you arrive at will dictate the culture you prefer. Myself, I see the politicians being not held to a higher standard but a lesser standard and consider the US Constitution in trouble because of a “One rule for thee, but different for me” mentality. Liberty is always jeopardized when one rule for all is not upheld. Consider Rome, the Army had one rule, slaves a different law, politicians a separate rule, the Caesars had an entirely different rule, and their Republic failed because the “Rule of Law” was destroyed!
We can do better! We can be better! We need to be better to save this Republic! Thus, I implore the following:
A “Liberty First Culture” is needed right now in America and in every democratically elected society worldwide. Liberty lovers far outnumber the petty thugs, wannabe tyrants, and terrorists, and it is past time for us to take the stand for liberty and freedom. We can make a difference; believe that with your soul and blessed change will come!
Padmé in “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” makes a powerful statement about the galactic war being fought, “This war represents a failure to listen.” While Padmé insists that diplomacy is required, this is incorrect. Diplomacy is the political game of charades, with smoke and mirrors of intelligence games. Diplomacy fails because each sides agenda is more important than the words being spoken, which is why so much of the work done in diplomatic circles is done in “informal settings.” Diplomacy fails to listen.
The Russians thought diplomacy was the appropriate approach to Nazi Germany; and Nazi Germany made the Russians pay in blood for the failure of the government to listen. Even though history has regularly taught the Russians not to engage in diplomatic solutions with Germans. This was hardly the first fight between Germany and Russian troops and governments. Failure to listen, and the citizens suffered tremendously to overthrow both Nazi Germany and then the chains of Communism.
How many families cannot have a meal without choices of lifestyle and hostility ending conversation over a failure to listen? Can a Chicago Bears Family survive long with a fan from Minnesota or Wisconsin? What about the other choices people make in their lives, religious flavor versus another religious flavor; this simple line has been destroying nations since history began being recorded. What do we see in the Old Testament; governments repeatedly failing because they stopped listening.
Why did Anakin stop being a Jedi; he stopped listening, then he selectively listened, he began acting as a terrorist, and then he became Darth Vader. This plot line of refusing to listen is so prevalent and obvious because humans continue to make the same mistake. When we stop listening to each other, we stop talking; when we stop talking, we become overwhelmed by our own echo-chambers, and create the chaos that ultimately destroys our lives, our dreams, and our futures until we begin to lay aside petty differences and listen to each other again.
Listening appreciatively is reflective listening, where we commit to listening with the intent to achieve mutual understanding. Essentially, to improve government we must listen first with the intent to reach mutual understanding, before we ever open our mouths to speak.
DNC-Consulting 