Grilled Turkey In The Construction Zone

One time in the Construction Zone on one of the western projects, the trucks were lined up, coming in to weigh their loads.

One of the drivers was grinning when he walked in. 

'What?' sez I.

'Looks like we're having grilled turkey for dinner,' he says, still grinning.

'Really?  Someone brought out a grill for us?  And a turkey?'

'Yeah.  That truck behind me.'

'Good.  We can use a change around here.'

He goes back out and pulls his truck off the scale. 

As the next truck makes its approach, I watch through the door.

Sure enough. 

There was a dead wild turkey plastered into the grill on the front of the truck. 

He said it just flew up in front of him; there was nothing he could do. 

'What you can do is get that thing off my scale and off the front of your truck!'

Grilled turkey indeed. 

I tell ya ... !

CHASTISEMENT OF CONGRESS; CHALLENGE TO RIGHT WRONGS

You, the currently sitting Congress of our nation, are not sitting there on your own behalf.

You are there on behalf of your constituents – that would be We the People of the United States.

Your job is to represent us and to work for us, to do what’s right for us, not your own selves.

Each and all of you know how to read. 

I have here a copy of your job description.

It is the Constitution of the United States with the attached Bill of Rights. 

In front of each of you is a copy. 

I suggest you read it, as you have sworn an oath to support and defend it. 

Does the following ring any bells?

‘I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.’

We the People of the United States chastise you. 

It’s an old-fashioned word. 

It means you have done wrong and haven’t fixed it, and we’re calling you on it. 

Shame on you.

You blame everyone else. 

You deny culpability. 

That’s another word you might not recognize. 

It means guilt. 

This government does not belong to you.

It belongs to We the People of the United States. 

You have had plenty of time to rectify the wrongs done to the citizens of the United States by you and the ones who sat in your chairs before you got there. 

We want to know how far you’ve gotten. 

The other day a child – a little child, mind you – said to me that we should just start over.  This little child said that sometimes when she’s coloring a picture she goofs it up so bad that she just starts all over. 

Before each of you lies the template.  Use it.  That’s what it’s there for.  It is the final authority and it is meant to be used as such.  Start from scratch and get us back on track.  From the instrument that lies on the table before you is drawn all the authority you need to get the damn job done.

The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia took place from May 25 to September 17 back in 1787.

Those guys got their job done in less than four months, and the boat we’re in now isn’t very different from the one they were in. 

So what’s your problem? 

I suggest you get to it. 

Does that sound like a lot of work that you don’t want to do?    

Then what the hell are you doing there? 

Is it prestige, the free ride for the rest of your life, the quality of the medical coverage?

Whatever the reasons you wanted this position, it is now yours. 

It is not mine.

It is not anyone else’s.

It is yours.

You wanted it. 

You got it.

Now you’re stuck with it.

You are accountable to us.

If we haven’t held you accountable, that’s our bad. 

Now it’s time for accountability.

That’s all on YOU.

Why should you care about social security?  YOU don’t have to pay in; you get a free ride for the rest of your life. 

Fix that.

Take away your free ride. 

Your pay for your time in office can be the average of your constituents’ incomes. 

Be stuck with whatever insurance you can afford like the rest of us. 

Social security seems to have essentially been put on the block.  You have told our younglings not to count on it.  You have told them that it’s the responsibility of the individual to provide for their own elder years. 

Fine.

Begin with us. 

Begin NOW. 

Contrary to current trends, it really does NOT take all that baloney, or time, to fix something.

You have the records. 

Each of us has paid in a certain amount.  

Some have also used a certain amount. 

For each of us, take the amount we’ve paid in and subtract from it whatever we may have used.

Give us back the money we’ve paid in, minus what we might have used. 

And don’t you dare try to tax us on it, either. 

Do not try to raise it by taking it from the very people that got robbed in the first place. 

Take the lifetime salaries of all the previous seat-holders, and use that to buy the rest of us out.  They can also have whatever they paid in, minus what they've used.  They had their chance to fix it; let them live with the consequences, too.

Take the premiums we’re paying for their insurance and yours, pay your own, and use that to buy us out so we can also afford our own insurance. 

Someone before your time robbed the citizens of this nation and got away with it.  Does that exculpate you?  NO. 

You assume the seat, you assume the guilt, and you assume the responsibility for fixing the wrongs done by the seat you hold, regardless of when it was done or by whom. 

Didn’t know that, either? 

Now you do. 

Get the job done. 

And we want our sons and daughters, our grandsons and granddaughters, back at home on American soil.

Bring them home.

The ones who are doing trouble-shooting or preventive type jobs – those can stay abroad if they so choose, because we of all people know they are needed. 

But bring the rest home and for God’s sake quit your meddling in other people’s crap.  Have NONE of you read the Federalist Papers?

We want our own back home.  We want them back here and working.

Bring our businesses back from abroad too.  If they won’t come, bid them a fond and permanent farewell.  Don't buy their products.

Develop our own resources and knock off being dependent on outsiders for what we can damn well produce on our own. 

There are over three hundred million of us. 

Do you really think that’s not enough to get done whatever jobs need doing in our country? 

When a hefty hunk of our population is sitting idle (no income, no taxes either), by necessity or otherwise, do you honestly find justification for outsiders doing jobs those people could very well be doing? 

Do you honestly believe that if our businesses came home we would refuse to take the jobs, pay fair income taxes, buy homes for our families, provide for our own futures, get insurance, and educate our young?

REALLY?

If your salary was based on the average income of your constituents, I betcha you all would vote like crazy to bring our businesses back home and give our own people good-paying jobs. 

Anyone who isn’t a citizen, in the process of becoming one, or a student, tourist, or consultant has no legitimate reason for being in our country.  Send them back home, or better yet make their own home countries provide transportation, and let them come back in like they’re supposed to if they qualify.  And for cryin’ out loud set up some reasonable standards for entry!  Like maybe having the wherewithal with which to support themselves, for starters.

You know what? 

A goodly portion of the angst you might be feeling coming at you is nothing new in this country. 

Even before the American Revolution, before there WAS a United States, people took exception to contributing their hard earned incomes and being reduced to poverty to provide luxuries for others. 

Look to the Carolinas in 1765.  It wasn’t a revolution there; it was not aimed at the form of government; it was opposition to the corruption of that form of government.

When the government refuses to listen to the people, the people take action.  It’s an American tradition.

If you don’t know the history of your own country, you don’t belong sitting in that seat. 

The fact that your own countrymen and women are viewing YOU in the self-same light that the colonists viewed their administrators ought to set your skin crawling with mortification. 

You were raised here. 

What the bloody hell are you THINKING?

 We hired you to do a job; we pay you to do that job.

So do it already.   

If you didn’t want to do the work you ought not to have applied for the job in the first place. 

Someone who sat in your seat screwed up royally. 

Fix it. 

Fix it or get the hell out of that seat. 

We are ashamed that we played any part in putting you there in the first place. 

We want to be proud of you; we want to be happy with our choices.

Make that happen.

Just do it. 

1976 Bicentennial Class of the United States Reunion in the Rotunda in 2033 - You think we wouldn't do it if necessary? Think again.

Some are in wheelchairs.

Some are using walkers.

Many more are hale and hearty. 

The High School Bicentennial Class of the United States is having a reunion.

Not all are in attendance, but they are two million strong and they have come to Washington D.C. for this reunion. 

The year is 2033 and they are, most of them, 75 years old.

They have come to grieve the loss of the nation they knew in their youth. 

And they have come armed, to teach the politicians a lesson. 

As they come by bus-loads to the Capitol grounds, the air is silent on this warm Fourth of July day. 

They have a message to deliver and they are going to have their say.  Their collective will is to say their piece.  They will not be denied.

They are the Bicentennial Class; many of them have been here but once before, on their Senior Class Trips in the spring of 1976; some have never been here before; a few work here, and they leave their desks to join their classmates as the assembly grows.

They fill the entire area, closing streets to vehicular traffic as they mass themselves quietly into one solid and united front, entering through designated checkpoints where each pauses for a moment before passing through to join the throng. 

Nobody says anything except in quiet murmurs; it has all been already said among them and their families.

The checkpoints do not allow anyone not of the Bicentennial Class to join them. 

This moment belongs to them and to them alone. 

Children and grandchildren have been left at home.

Those in wheelchairs and those who have walkers are carefully and tenderly escorted onto the main floor of the rotunda of the Capitol where they are comfortably placed. 

Others follow single file, a stately procession still silent except for the continuing quiet murmurs to one another. 

In they come, and they fill all available space, side by side, shoulder to shoulder, supporting those in front of them and supported by those behind. 

When no more will fit inside, the rest file themselves into neat rows outside. 

They are still and silent, quiet in their own selves. 

Each and all, they maintain their silence. 

They remain standing.

They won't be here for long.

One little old lady and one little old man approach a podium placed for them. 

There is no applause, no cheering, no sound whatsoever. 

The little old lady speaks into the microphone and her voice is stronger than one would expect from a woman of her years. 

‘We are the Class of 1976. 

‘We are the Bicentennial Class of the United States.

‘We have come together for this Reunion, here at the Capitol of our nation, for a reason.

‘We ‘76ers know that reason; others do not, so we will tell them.

‘We, the 1976 Bicentennial Class of the United States, have a message for the administrators of our government.

‘We have come to this place armed.

‘The arms which we bear are not guns, not knives, not bombs, not any of those types of things. 

‘We come armed with our voices, with our collective VOICE, which will be heard. 

‘We come armed with the Constitution of the United States and with the Bill of Rights of the Citizens of the United States. 

‘We come armed with the knowledge and wisdom we have accumulated over the years of our lives in this nation.

‘As we, each and all, checked in upon our arrival, we, each and all, dropped off a manila envelope with the keepers at the checkpoints. 

‘As we, each and all, passed through the checkpoints, we, each and all, received another manila envelope. 

‘The envelopes we, each and all, dropped off as we entered this place contained our individual wills.

‘The envelopes we, each and all, accepted in their place contain our collective will.  These envelopes contain copies of the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights of the Citizens of the United States.

‘We have come here with a purpose.  We shall proceed with and complete that purpose.’

The words fall distinctly and with resolve into the silence. 

After a brief moment of contemplation, the little old lady and the little old man open their envelopes. 

There is a rustle as more than two million other envelopes are also opened. 

The little old man silently steps up to the podium. 

He holds in his hands pieces of printed paper. 

He does not so much as glance at the pages as he begins to speak. 

As his voice booms through speakers, two million voices join in. 

‘We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.’

There is another moment of silence, broken by rustling pages. 

The voice of the little old man continues, and the others again join in. 

‘The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.’

As the final echo of the last words fade into silence, the little old lady joins the little old man at the podium. 

Together they stand shoulder to shoulder and face their classmates, who also stand shoulder to shoulder, two million strong in silence. 

The little old lady speaks. 

‘As you all know, the words we have just recited are the first words of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States and the last words of the Bill of Rights of the Citizens of the United States.  I mention their sources not because We the People do not know what they are, what they mean, but for those who either never knew or never cared what they are and what they mean, or have forgotten.

‘These words are our legacy.

‘First and last, the government of the United States belongs to the people, the citizens of the United States.

‘Seventy-five years ago we were born into this legacy; we did not have to fight for it – that was done by others long before our time. 

‘We, the 1976 Bicentennial Class of the United States, together with all other citizens of the United States, were gifted at birth with the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. 

‘Let us not forget that we, each and all, were also born into the responsibility that goes along with those rights.’

In the silence every head bows. 

The little old man takes the podium once more. 

He faces one of the flags that are hung at intervals around the rotunda.

He places his right hand over his heart.

Two million join him.

His voice is strong and firm.  The voices that join in are strong and firm. 

‘I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’

As the echo of the final words fade the music of a flute begins soaring through the air. 

Two million hands remain firmly over two million hearts and two million voices join. 

‘Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?’

The flute continues quietly playing as the little old lady and the little old man step once again to the podium. 

The little old lady’s voice cracks a bit as she begins to speak. 

‘We the People of the United States, we the Bicentennial Class of 1976, have done what we set out to do today.  We have said what we wanted to say. 

‘The government of our nation is set forth in the Constitution of the United States and in the Bill of Rights our individual and collective rights as citizens are guaranteed.

‘When we leave this place we will leave also our copies of the Constitution and Bill of Rights for those who have an apparent need to either learn them or refresh their memories, and we, each and all, will take back again our individual wills and continue with our individual lives, protected by the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and by those newly reminded who have sworn by oath to support and defend  them as our representatives. 

‘Should they fail us, we shall come back again, and with us our families.

‘God bless us every one.’

Silently the 1976 Bicentennial Class of the United States parted to allow passage of their wheeled and walkered members, and filed behind them back to the checkpoints. 

Each and all, they left their copies of the Constitution and Bill of Rights as they collected their individual wills and returned, silent but for quiet murmurings among themselves, to the transportation waiting to return them to their individual lives.

Ever Feel Like Getting Up On a Soap Box?

Once in a while I do. 

Feel like it, that is. 

I hardly ever give in to the urge, but it's there. 

There have been times I've wanted to just cut loose and give someone what for in no uncertain terms, but generally I don't do it. 

Getting into trouble over it is the least of the considerations.  I've gotten into trouble more than once and it hasn't phased me in the least. 

No, it's more that when I'm seeing red I tend to first back off as best I can, difficult as that may be when all I really want to do is retaliate. 

Unless it so happens that the person has been deliberately and maliciously trying to harm me or mine, and unless that is obvious to me, in which case all bets are off, I'll do my best to walk away - for the moment. 

Most often this is interpreted as me backing down; they'll think they've intimidated me or scared me.

Not so, my friend.

I flat out do not scare easy and any more I can't find anybody who can intimidate me. 

The biggest reason for walking away (besides giving me time to cool off some) is the recognition of and respect for the FACT that the other person no doubt has his/her own reasons for doing or saying whatever it was that triggered my reaction.  Chances are that it's something going on inside of them that has nothing whatsoever to do with me in particular.

Better by far to step back and get a deeper reading of the whole thing. 

Most of the time I'll find a safe place to blow off a little steam of my own, and then I'm either amused by the whole thing or else I end up feeling so sorry for the other person that I don't have the heart to take them to task over whatever it might have been. 

And so the moment passes and my soap box remains unoccupied. 

Still ... sometimes I really REALLY DO want to step right on up there and pontificate about a thing or two or three. 

One of these days I'll maybe cut loose in writing (which is a better idea anyway, being as I can do it in the privacy of my own home and my 'audience' can just close the tab if they want!) just to see what it feels like. 

heh heh

Now THAT sounds like it might be kind of fun! 

After all the tirades I've listened to over the years I sure as hell ought to know how it's done.

GETTING READY TO DO SOME ILLUSTRATING - I HOPE

WRITING AND ARTWORK

HAVE DIFFERENT REQUIREMENTS

FOR ME

I DON'T KNOW WHY

When it comes to writing, I don’t really have any specific requirements.  I have, can, and do write anywhere and anytime under any conditions. 

I have also produced a couple of fun artwork pieces at odd times, but in general I’m a little OCD about my art-creating environment.  Not that I can always control for it, but when I have the option I’ll opt for zero distractions. 

THEREFORE: 

This weekend I’m going to spend as much time and energy as it takes to make my work-room as close as I can get it to the way I want it – because I’m WAY behind on getting illustrations tended to.

IF I can get my work environment set up right, I want to spend at least two, maybe three, days working on illustrations for the kid stories (aka youth fiction) that have been waiting impatiently for all this time. 

Now they’re starting to NAG me, so I’d best get to it.

It will be a much-needed change of pace for me.

Assuming I can get at least some of them done, I’ll get them into the stories. 

It’s a little intimidating; most of my art has been … well … not illustrations … but we shall see what we shall see!

If I never TRY, I'll never know, will I? 

STORAGE

Here are a couple of my current projects. 

First, these are shelves in my new kitchen.  Because the room is small, the shelves are shallow, a foot deep for the lowest ones; eight inches for the top ones. 

 

The bottom ones will get punched tin doors; I’m not sure about the rest of them yet when it comes to doors.  That will depend on how sick I get of punching tin by the time I get the first ones done.

I still have a set to go on top – they’re two feet by four feet and will be centered on the others, taking the shelves almost up to the ceiling.

Next is the gun cabinet/book shelves. 

 

All I have to do for this is cut and place the shelves and then shelve the books.  Since I’m pretty sure I have too many books to fit in there, I might have to add more shelves to one of my display units …

 

This Is The Day

This is the day that the Lord hath made.

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Been Thinking. And Writing. Gifts. Spirituality is not a showcase.

I have several pieces sitting in DRAFT form, which I won't put out into my blog until a little later. 

I've also done a couple of poems, not really related to the drafts
except in the sense that there is a sort of emotional connection, as there is in most things. 

Essentially, I've been learning to look at myself.  My perception of myself and the perceptions of others as I read them. 

For a LONG time, people have come right out and asked me how come I'm so happy all the time.  For the longest time I didn't understand what they were talking about because I didn't necessarily FEEL all that happy at any given time.  Yet that was what they were seeing and feeling.  Where was it coming from?

One time I was sitting with a group of evangelical-pentacostal-charismatic type people.  They were mostly strangers to me except for one or two.  I was sitting kind of at the end of the group, near one of the people I knew fairly well, and someone toward the other end looked at him and said she could feel peace radiating from him.  He looked a little surprised but didn't say anything although he gave me a sideways 'look'.  I, of course, didn't say anything either. 

Later he approached me and said, 'It was YOU, wasn't it?'  I don't think I either confirmed or denied, but I didn't have to because he knew. 

I HAD 'sent' him some peace right about then, because he had seemed to be getting a little agitated inside. 

BUT ... it wasn't ME at all.

And this I MUST make clear:  It was NOT ME.

Yes he got a dose of peace, but it didn't come from me.  It no doubt came THROUGH me, but it did not ORIGINATE within me.

I think that, sometimes, the Holy Spirit does not choose the most direct route, that's what I think. 

I have been blessed with a kind of calming serenity that underlies and overrides even the most anguished times.  It's not something I generate within myself and there have been times I have almost lost contact with it - but it's there always and ALWAYS it will assert itself.  I can only ascribe it to the Holy Spirit, having no other possible source that I can identify it as emanating from.  

As the Spirit abides in me, and in you for that matter, I think She (and yes, for some reason I have the sense of female when anyone mentions the Holy Spirit, not sure why; maybe because I think the Trinity ought to have a girl in it too, who knows?) might choose to deposit a large quantity of peace in any one of us at any given time. 

That way it's available to others when they need it. 

This is pure speculation, of course, because nobody knows how it all works. 

At any rate, if a person has a big hunk of peace in them, and another person needs some, it makes sense for them to draw it from the nearest available source.  You would THINK that the Spirit would just dose them up directly but it doesn't seem always to be that way, as in the case I just mentioned.  It could also be that the person blessed with great peace may also be given discernment about another, to see their need and 'send' them some, whether they realize they need it or not.  Or maybe it's just a nudge for them to recognize the peace they already have within themselves; I honestly have no idea and expect I never will understand. 

At any rate, to get back to the incident of the group thing ... the leaders of the group were recruiting from among those of us who seek spiritual community. 

Me, I didn't find in them a spiritual community in which I felt comfortable, although others may well have.  Then again, I'm not one to find comfort in just about any community, spiritual or otherwise.  I don't know why, but there you have it. 

In my eyes, spirituality is not a showcase. 

These people were telling us that THEY could TEACH us how to be spiritual, so to speak, how to speak in tongues, how to acquire the different gifts of the Spirit, etc. 

Me, I was sitting there taking all this in, as I do, and wondering what on earth they were going on about. 

If you want to seek the Spirit, you do it in the solitude of your own soul. 

When the Spirit seeks YOU, well ... guess what.  She may or may not put others to work on Her behalf but I can pretty well guarantee that NOBODY has the authority to USE the Spirit as tool to advance their own personal agenda. 

Now obviously somebody in that group had the sensitivity to pick up on that peaceful easy feeling. 

I'm NOT saying that they were all a bunch of charlatans because that's not for me to even have an opinion about. 

All I'm saying is that what I picked up on at that meeting was that someone was wanting to serve their own ends somehow, and it didn't sit too well with me to have the Spirit/gifts trotted out for inspection as though you could pick and choose what you wanted and they would provide you with it. 

Seems to me that it's not our place to decide such things and we'd maybe best just leave it to the Spirit to do Her own job.

I wanted to say something of the sort but didn't - lest my words interfere with some other's good.  Because, even though it didn't fit  in with MY ideas or MY needs, the needs of others might have been being met in some way.  And so I remained silent, which no doubt actually said a lot in its own way. 

When they did their little ritual thing where everyone stands up and goes to them for blessings or whatever, they were some surprised when I didn't fall over at their first little nudge like everyone else did - so they pushed me again, and then again somewhat harder. 
I did NOT fall over but looked the guy who was doing the pushing straight in the eye and walked away under my own power - so to speak. 

Not too sure what that guy saw in my eyes but I have my hunches.  He backed off a step or two. 

Now the Spirit has knocked me to my knees on a regular basis and had me face down on the floor a time or two - but NOBODY's going to PUSH me down without Her say-so, not in Her name!  I figure if the Spirit had wanted me to go down right then it wouldn't have taken anybody else's push to make it happen. 

As for all that other stuff they were pushing, I reckon some good might have come out of it, if only in the educational area. 

I DO realize that not all of us are made the same; we have different needs and God has appropriate methods of meeting those needs. 

I do, however, believe that, at least for me, if I have a question for God the thing for me to do is ASK HIM. 

And then leave it up to Him how and when and where to answer. 

I have to say - sometimes it takes a while. 

I doubt that it takes a while for Him to answer. 

What I'm saying is that sometimes it takes a while for me to RECOGNIZE that answer! 

Sometimes it's a matter of recognizing that we are gifted with certain things for a REASON - that maybe, just maybe, it isn't a random hodgepodge. 

Maybe sometimes our ability to recognize answers is geared to coincide with the proper time to USE gifts that have been developing in the interim. 

Who knows?  Not me. 

All I know right now is that if a smile on my face and a song out of my mouth makes someone happy when they need that happiness, it's all to the good. 

A couple of times people have told me that seeing me happy gives them hope that all the 'happy' in the world isn't gone after all. 

So doesn't that make it worth it?

Doesn't that make it worth it for me to smile and sing even when I don't FEEL particularly happy at the moment? 

Because, you have to remember, that comforting serenity IS STILL THERE, even when I don't feel it! 

Maybe that's what all those people have been picking up on for all these years, I don't know.  If so, it's a good thing. 

Usually when they ask I just say, 'Well, it's better than being miserable, isn't it?' 

You see, the miserable is temporary; the serenity is always. 

And in case you're curious, no it isn't just me. 

It's everyone. 

Each and all of us.

When times are bad and life is hard and there are pins and needles and nails and knives and swords and spears and machetes of nasty feelings flying all over the place in our world, or in our own little part of it, or inside our own selves, it's a comfort to remember that. 

EVERY ONCE IN A GREAT WHILE

Every once in a great while the words come together just right for some unknowable reason. 

That makes me smile. 

Life is good.

FEDERALIST PAPERS # 10 - LITTLE OLD GRAMMA LADY'S THOUGHTS

2013 APRIL 16 FEDERALIST PAPERS # 10

As a preface to this piece I’m going to quote my own words which you’ll see again at the end:

‘We the People of the United States’:  The very phrase itself captures the essence, the core, of our nation.  We are PLURAL; we are diverse INDIVIDUALS – we are ALSO UNITED. 

Push doesn’t come to shove very often but we’ve seen it in our lives.  Let’s not forget that.  Diverse does not mean divided.

Do NOT tell me that this nation is not UNITED. 

Okay, onward we go.

Because I’m pretty sure that the Federalist Papers are in the public domain, I want to copy and paste some sections here rather than try to paraphrase for you.  If I get in trouble and wind up in jail at least I'll have three squares and a roof.

Remember that Hamilton is explaining the Constitution to the people who will have to vote on whether to accept it as their form of government, or reject it.  He wants them to understand it.  The Articles of Confederation under which they had been functioning just wasn’t cutting the mustard any more and an elected Assembly had convened to come up with something new and different.  Each State had, still has, its own constitution, too.  Those were not what this was all about.

These are the words of Alexander Hamilton, addressed to the People of the State of New York, in 1787:

‘Complaints are everywhere heard from our most considerate and virtuous citizens, equally the friends of public and private faith, and of public and personal liberty, that our governments are too unstable, that the public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties, and that measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority. However anxiously we may wish that these complaints had no foundation, the evidence, of known facts will not permit us to deny that they are in some degree true. It will be found, indeed, on a candid review of our situation, that some of the distresses under which we labor have been erroneously charged on the operation of our governments; but it will be found, at the same time, that other causes will not alone account for many of our heaviest misfortunes; and, particularly, for that prevailing and increasing distrust of public engagements, and alarm for private rights, which are echoed from one end of the continent to the other. These must be chiefly, if not wholly, effects of the unsteadiness and injustice with which a factious spirit has tainted our public administrations.’

He’s talking about factions, special interest groups, political ambition, etc.

‘By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.’

I reckon that’s a pretty good definition.  He goes on to say:

‘There are two methods of curing the mischiefs of faction: the one, by removing its causes; the other, by controlling its effects.

There are again two methods of removing the causes of faction: the one, by destroying the liberty which is essential to its existence; the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests.’

He then goes to eliminate the option of removing the causes of factions :  in the first place, destroying liberty is NOT AN OPTION;  in the second place, people are people - they have their own ideas and the freedom to promote them, and it ain’t never gonna happen that everyone will all be on the same page at the same time. 

He got a little long-winded on that issue so I give you the short version.

Onward we go.  Here again is Hamilton:

‘The inference to which we are brought is, that the CAUSES of faction cannot be removed, and that relief is only to be sought in the means of controlling its EFFECTS.

If a faction consists of less than a majority, relief is supplied by the republican principle, which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by regular vote. It may clog the administration, it may convulse the society; but it will be unable to execute and mask its violence under the forms of the Constitution. When a majority is included in a faction, the form of popular government, on the other hand, enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens. To secure the public good and private rights against the danger of such a faction, and at the same time to preserve the spirit and the form of popular government, is then the great object to which our inquiries are directed. Let me add that it is the great desideratum by which this form of government can be rescued from the opprobrium under which it has so long labored, and be recommended to the esteem and adoption of mankind. 

By what means is this object attainable? Evidently by one of two only. Either the existence of the same passion or interest in a majority at the same time must be prevented, or the majority, having such coexistent passion or interest, must be rendered, by their number and local situation, unable to concert and carry into effect schemes of oppression. If the impulse and the opportunity be suffered to coincide, we well know that neither moral nor religious motives can be relied on as an adequate control. They are not found to be such on the injustice and violence of individuals, and lose their efficacy in proportion to the number combined together, that is, in proportion as their efficacy becomes needful.’

Here he goes into the differences between pure democracy and a federal plan. 

I think he’s pointing out a couple of things:

1)     A pure democracy, even when the group is small, is still vulnerable to the machinations of ‘factions’.  For example, even when such a small group as a high school class has to vote on something, individuals within that class can lobby or convince a majority to go along with them to, for example, spend the entire class budget on an entirely inappropriate purchase.  In a pure democracy, the majority truly does rule, even if the actual leaders of that majority might be few.   By contrast a federal government is more apt to provide a more balanced representation of the constituency as a whole.  The different factions have their say, but it’s a more EQUAL say; small factions can be just as well-represented as large ones.  In other words, in the federal government, small states have equal representation in the Senate as the big ones.  The fact that some states are more populous than others is where the House comes in.  More population equals more Representatives.  The whole thing is that ‘We the People of the United States’ ELECT these people to represent US – and that goes for both the state and federal levels. 

2)    A pure democracy might work okay for a smallish population and geographical area although even then it’s susceptible to the manipulations of ‘factions’; on the other hand a federal form of government lends itself more readily to representing both a growing population and a growing geography.  The geography can expand; the population can expand – the form of government stays stable, adding representation as the expansions happen. 

Keep in mind that this was 1787/88, there were thirteen states, and the population stood at about three million people.  The western ‘border’ was the Mississippi River and there were territories already waiting to become states, or parts of confederacies, or SOMETHING, depending on what those thirteen states decided to do about adopting (or not) the Constitution. 

He goes on to discuss the pros and cons of small versus extensive.

Opponents to the Constitution wanted a number of smaller confederacies, not one united federal government by which all States are bound.

Basically he makes the point that the larger the pool to draw from, the more likely true representation will happen.  Hence his recommendation for a union -  a federal form of government rather than a bunch of smaller individual independent pools.

He gives us a warning:    

‘… on the one hand, to refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country, and whose patriotism and love of justice will be least likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial considerations. Under such a regulation, it may well happen that the public voice, pronounced by the representatives of the people, will be more consonant to the public good than if pronounced by the people themselves, convened for the purpose. On the other hand, the effect may be inverted. Men of factious tempers, of local prejudices, or of sinister designs, may, by intrigue, by corruption, or by other means, first obtain the suffrages, and then betray the interests, of the people.’ 

His point seems to be that the more people a person has to convince, the less likely ‘factious tempers’ are to succeed.  There will be others to stand against them to give the constituency a wider choice.

He also points out that:

‘It must be confessed that in this, as in most other cases, there is a mean, on both sides of which inconveniences will be found to lie. By enlarging too much the number of electors, you render the representatives too little acquainted with all their local circumstances and lesser interests; as by reducing it too much, you render him unduly attached to these, and too little fit to comprehend and pursue great and national objects. The federal Constitution forms a happy combination in this respect; the great and aggregate interests being referred to the national, the local and particular to the State legislatures.’

And finally, he emphasizes another benefit of preserving the Union:

‘The influence of factious leaders may kindle a flame within their particular States, but will be unable to spread a general conflagration through the other States. A religious sect may degenerate into a political faction in a part of the Confederacy; but the variety of sects dispersed over the entire face of it must secure the national councils against any danger from that source. A rage for paper money, for an abolition of debts, for an equal division of property, or for any other improper or wicked project, will be less apt to pervade the whole body of the Union than a particular member of it; in the same proportion as such a malady is more likely to taint a particular county or district, than an entire State.

In the extent and proper structure of the Union, therefore, we behold a republican remedy for the diseases most incident to republican government. And according to the degree of pleasure and pride we feel in being republicans, ought to be our zeal in cherishing the spirit and supporting the character of Federalists.

PUBLIUS.’

The point being, I think, that we are protected by our very DIVERSITY from any single faction becoming powerful enough to overwhelm the whole.  Paradoxically (a paradox is when two things are seemingly totally incompatible yet in reality fit together like a hand and glove), the UNITY of the diverse factions protects us not only from outsiders but from each other if necessary. 

Take it down to the smallest common denominator:  family units.  WE can whine and criticize each other, but an outsider saying the same things will find he is facing a united front.  Take it up one more step:  communities.  WE can condemn our football coach all we want but if you’re an outsider you’d best keep your yap shut or the locals will run you out of town.  Extrapolate from there to state and federal levels and you’ll know exactly what I mean. 

‘We the People of the United States’:  The very phrase itself captures the essence, the core, of our nation.  We are PLURAL, we are diverse INDIVIDUALS – we are ALSO UNITED.  

Push doesn’t come to shove very often but we’ve seen it in our lives.  Let’s not forget that.  Diverse does not mean divided.  That’s the paradox. 

Note:  All three of the writers of these papers - Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay – have been ‘named’ PUBLIUS.  

Note:  Underlines and highlights are mine.

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Ha.  Now I get to patter a bit about my own reactions to all of the above. 

In regard to the diversity which we (my own self included) tend to view as antagonistic here’s a thought for you:

Within my family we are a diverse group.  Among us are a variety of strengths.  Once I drew a circle with my mother, my sisters, and myself.  To each I assigned the strength I most associated with that individual.  I do not have to BE all of them because each is available to me through the others.  We don’t have to all get along perfectly all the time; dissent is normal.  But if push ever came to shove, guess what.  Whoever’s doing the shoving would probably be sorry.  And that’s not even counting the men. 

Also within my own family, some of us have firearms while others do not.  If one of us was about to be mauled or killed by a wolf or mountain lion and had no weapon, do you really think an armed family member would stand there and say, ‘See?  I TOLD you so!  Too bad so sad, I guess you’re a goner.’?  They would shoot the bloody beast, if only because it would likely come after them once it had taken care of the unarmed person - but more likely their first thought would be to protect the other person. 

South Dakota might get irritated with North Dakota when we ease our flooding by letting the Missouri River past our gates, but I’d be willing to bet that if North Dakota was ever under attack, South Dakota would be running to our aid.  We take that for granted. 

How many times in the recent past have natural disasters hit one state or another?  Have ANY of them been left high and dry by the others?  NO.  And you notice that it doesn’t matter if the state happens to be Red or Blue or Green or Yellow or Purple or Orange. 

Personal case in point:  Some years ago I was in Pennsylvania when the Red River of the North flooded.  It was national news.  On my race home through all of those intervening states I did not get pulled over once by any of their officials although I saw a number of them.  I can only guess at why they let me pass through their territory without slowing me down any.  My guess is that the license plates on my vehicle told them where I was going and why I was in such a hurry to get there.  And they didn’t stop me although I reckon they probably should have.

Despite my rush I noticed things.  Every time I had to stop for gas others would let me go first once they saw my plates.  Without exception they expressed their care and concern and support and hurried me on my way. 

In EVERY state I saw stations set up for the collection of relief items to be sent to the flood victims.  Not a one of them sat empty or idle. 

Nobody asked, ‘Are they Republicans or Democrats or Baptists or Catholics or pro-life or pro-choice?’ 

That’s one incident among many. 

You ALL know how ‘We the People of the United States’ react to emergencies. 

Factions DO exist.  SO WHAT?  We can, have, and DO set it aside in the face of a larger issue. 

Do NOT tell me that this nation is not UNITED.