Forge Ahead Whether You Like Each Other Or Not

I'm not sure when or where came the spawning of the concept that you have to agree with and like everyone else in order to get anything done.

As a matter of fact, if you think about it, there are plenty of times and places that a great deal got accomplished by folks who honestly flat out could not stand each other as individuals.

If you think for one minute that the colonists of what would become the United States of America all got along like bosom buddies, you'd best go back and take another look at the whole thing. Because that was NOT the reality.

Even so, a powerful nation was forged, a brand spankin' new form of government introduced to the world, and a new path was set.

By a bunch of people who didn't see eye to eye on exactly how to accomplish what they set out to do.

Point is - they did it.

They sat down and hammered out what needed hammering out, and I have NO doubt that there was a lot of shouting and name-calling (likely an understatement) in the process.

People who didn't like each other, didn't agree with each other, nevertheless worked together to get done what needed to get done.

If they could do it, so can we.

We the People of the United States of America have what it takes to stay on that path, to protect and preserve the nation forged in brutal times, and to accomplish what we set out to do.

We the People of the World, likewise.

2nd Amendment

*sigh*

Once again, for those who are slow on the uptake.


The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: 

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Period.

It's written in English, grammatically proper, spelled correctly, and doesn't even use any words that are unclear in definition.

So what part of that one relatively short little sentence do people not understand?

The federal government does not have the authority to regulate, legislate, or any other kind of '-ate' anything to do with the right of the people to keep and bear arms.

The Constitution of the United States of America and the attached Bill of Rights (first ten amendments for those who might not know) delegates and restricts the powers of the branches of our federal government and it addresses those of the states and the People.

Here's a Legal Link to some background, going back to the Federalist Papers and the ratification of the Constitution itself.

Here's a bit of what you'll find:

[note:  it's a bit like reading Shakespeare - you have to read it three times. Once just to get used to the language; once to get the general gist of it; and finally to understand. Be patient with yourself and take your time - it's worth it, trust me.]

The Federalist Papers

Alexander Hamilton in Federalist, No. 29, did not view the right to keep arms as being confined to active militia members:

What plan for the regulation of the militia may be pursued by the national government is impossible to be foreseen...The project of disciplining all the militia of the United States is as futile as it would be injurious if it were capable of being carried into execution... Little more can reasonably be aimed at with the respect to the people at large than to have them properly armed and equipped ; and in order to see that this be not neglected, it will be necessary to assemble them once or twice in the course of a year.

James Madison in Federalist No. 46 wrote:

Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments,to which the people are attached, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of. Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. And it is not certain, that with this aid alone they would not be able to shake off their yokes. But were the people to possess the additional advantages of local governments chosen by themselves, who could collect the national will and direct the national force, and of officers appointed out of the militia, by these governments, and attached both to them and to the militia, it may be affirmed with the greatest assurance, that the throne of every tyranny in Europe would be speedily overturned in spite of the legions which surround it.

Here, like Story, Madison is expressing the idea that additional advantages accrue to the people when the citizens' right to arms is enhanced by having an organized and properly directed militia.

The Federalist Papers Continued – "The Original Right of Self-Defense"

The Founders realized insurrections may occur from time to time and it is the militia's duty to suppress them. They also realized that however remote the possibility of usurpation was, the people with their arms, had the right to restore their republican form of government by force, if necessary, as an extreme last resort.

"The original right of self-defense" is not a modern-day concoction. We now examine Hamilton's Federalist No. 28. Hamilton begins:

That there may happen cases in which the national government may be necessitated to resort to force cannot be denied. Our own experience has corroborated the lessons taught by the examples of other nations; that emergencies of this sort will sometimes exist in all societies, however constituted; that seditions and insurrections are, unhappily, maladies as inseparable from the body politic as tumors and eruptions from the natural body; that the idea of governing at all times by the simple force of law (which we have been told is the only admissible principle of republican government) has no place but in the reveries of these political doctors whose sagacity disdains the admonitions of experimental instruction.

Hamilton explains that the national government may occasionally need to quell insurrections and it is certainly justified in doing so.

Hamilton continues:

If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government, and which against the usurpations of the national rulers may be exerted with infinitely better prospect of success than against those of the rulers of an individual State. In a single State, if the persons intrusted with supreme power become usurpers, the different parcels, subdivisions, or districts of which it consists, having no distinct government in each, can take no regular measures for defense. The citizens must rush tumultuously to arms, without concert, without system, without resource; except in their courage and despair.

Hamilton clearly states there exists a right of self-defense against a tyrannical government, and it includes the people with their own arms and adds:

[T]he people, without exaggeration, may be said to be entirely the masters of their own fate. Power being almost always the rival of power, the general government will at all times stand ready to check the usurpations of the state governments, and these will have the same disposition towards the general government. The people by throwing themselves into either scale, will infallibly make it preponderate. If their rights are invaded by either, they can make use of the other as the instrument of redress. How wise will it be in them by cherishing the union to preserve to themselves an advantage which can never be too highly prized!

Thus the militia is the ultimate check against a state or the national government. That is why the founders guaranteed the right to the people as opposed to only active militia members or a state's militia. But of course, via the militia clause, the Second Amendment acknowledges, as well, the right of a state to maintain a militia. (For more on militia see: http://guncite.com/gc2ndmea.html.)

Hamilton concludes, telling us the above scenario is extremely unlikely to occur:

When will the time arrive that the federal government can raise and maintain an army capable of erecting a despotism over the great body of the people of an immense empire, who are in a situation, through the medium of their State governments, to take measures for their own defense, with all the celerity, regularity, and system of independent nations? The apprehension may be considered as a disease, for which there can be found no cure in the resources of argument and reasoning.

Again, it is the recurring theme of the people's right to keep and bear arms as individuals, enhanced by a militia system, that (in part) provides for the "security of a free state".

See, THIS is what our education system seems to have been neglecting for a very long time. EVERY American citizen should know this stuff. It would avoid a lot of conflict if we all knew what the heck we were talking about.

DACA, Visa Over-stays, Illegals ... IF ONLY ...

IF ONLY our laws had been enforced all the way down the line.

IF ONLY our judicial system had stepped up to the plate and given a resounding 'NO!', backed up by the House and the Senate when somebody just upped and made a unilateral and unconstitutional decision all by his lonesome (because, you know, he had a phone and he had a pen).

We can 'if only' until the cows come home.

The fact of the matter is that we have been handed a rather daunting situation and somebody's going to have to figure out what to do about it. We cannot go back and change anything; all we can do is the best we can with what we have to work with.

Thankfully, we do have our Constitution. Although it has been kind of ignored in recent years it is still our guide and our law.

Because somebody did ignore it, and nobody stepped up to say, 'Hey, you can't do that; it's unconstitutional!' we've got a mess on our hands. That it didn't have to happen in the first place is entirely moot, except for the unlikely possibility of somebody getting held accountable for what he has wrought. As I say ... unlikely. I think the DACA folk ought to sue him as an individual (not the government), a class action suit, for landing them in this boat. He could have chosen otherwise; he could have enforced the law of our land; he could have insisted that their parents obtain citizenship; he could have made it mandatory that they apply for citizenship upon reaching their majority (or leave at that time) ... they've all got to be going through some powerful anxiety as a result of his actions ... he himself, out of his own pocket (although over a million/year plus a lot more for secret service is coming out of OUR pockets) ought to at LEAST pay any associated fees for them to obtain citizenship as well as any mental health services required for them to cope with their lot. HIS pocket, not OURS. We're the ones who are already lining his pockets; why should we have to pay multiple times for how he chose to use his phone and his pen? Which we also paid for, come to think of it. Uffda.

There are now hundreds of thousands of folks who are not guilty of anything except having had parents who broke the laws (which weren't  being enforced anyway). They are innocent (unless they've broken laws themselves - other laws, not the ones broken by their parents) and do not deserve to be punished for something they did not do. That's a fact.

Because one branch of our government, without being checked or balanced by either of the others, did something that was illegal, We the People have been saddled with the sorry situation of having to look askance at all three of our branches of government. Many of the 'guilty parties' are still right where they were when they failed us as a nation. That too will have to be dealt with.

The issue at hand is poignantly heart-rending. Hundreds of thousands of innocent lives are on the line. Maybe not literally, but they will most assuredly be affected (as will we all) over the course of the next months as the legislative branch of government, who should have been the ones to either deal with this in the first place or at least stepped up to either confirm or deny what the executive branch chose to do unilaterally (AND - I presume - the judicial branch, who also should have come out with a very clear statement about the constitutional validity - as in the lack thereof - of said choice) are at last called to task about the whole thing.

I'm just a little old lady and not personally affected by DACA, except in the sense that as a citizen of the United States of America I am inherently as culpable as anybody else.

So what are we going to do about all these folks who are just living their lives out as best they can, but are suddenly faced with the consequences of the actions of others?

Are we going to turn them out?

I think not.

That they are now adults is a factor that has to be taken into consideration.

That they have been well aware of their status for all this time has to be taken into consideration.

That they have, each and all, had ample opportunity to apply for legitimate citizenship, and could have done so as soon as they reached their majority, has to be taken into consideration.

Some of the culpability here belongs squarely on their shoulders as well as on those of the (now-ex) executive branch of our government, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch - and our own as we didn't step up to say, 'Hey that's unconstitutional, what are you DOING!?!' either.

We're all guilty, when it comes right down to it.

Solutions?

I have no 'solutions', only thoughts on the matter.

I'm thinking that every last one of our DACA folk need to get themselves posthaste to the closest immigration office and get their paperwork started.

I'm thinking the legislative branch needs to clearly and definitively put an end to the continuance of something that was unconstitutional in the first place.

I'm thinking that the judicial branch has got to present a decisive ruling on the matter.

I'm thinking that enforcement ought to be stepped up even more, to clear out the criminal elements.

All of these things ought to have been done long since but 'long since' is long gone.

Now is going to have to suffice.

I looked up the DACA thing and the guidelines are pretty clear. The people affected fall into specific parameters, which does help.

It's not like this is the end of the world, folks. It's just got to be taken care of so everyone can calm down and get on with getting on.

The same goes for those who are over-staying their visas. They can follow the rules about renewing them if that's an option, or they can go home. It's not complicated.

I have a feeling it's liable to come as a shock to some peoples' systems that there really are actual laws in our nation, and that (until/unless duly changed) they're (GASP!) supposed to be followed. I know there has been a great deal of 'flexibility' these past years about that little detail, and it might take a while for the concept to sink in. Hopefully it won't take too long.

When it comes down to it, the same goes for all of the illegals among us. It seems to me that, while our legislative branch is dealing with this one part of the whole they may as well extrapolate and deal with the rest of it at the same time. If your paperwork for citizenship is in the works, and; if you're gainfully employed or enrolled in a bonafide educational/training program, and; if you've been here straight through for five years or so, and; if you have no criminal record ... welcome home. Everyone else, so sad too bad, you had your chance, out you go.

Effective immediately, until we as a nation get back onto our feet and can assess our ability to take on anything more, the doors are closed. To everyone.

That's about the only way I can see the whole thing.

No doubt I'm not being 'politically correct' here but honestly I don't much give a rodent's behind about being 'politically correct'.

It's not the current administration's fault, this mess. It's part of the 'legacy' of the one/s before. A disrespect for the laws of our land, coming from the highest of our governmental positions, has been disheartening for a lot of us. For those who didn't know, didn't care, or welcomed it ... I don't know what to tell you except that now you know. You might still not care, and you might not welcome the return of our Constitution, but now at least you know.

God bless us all, and most especially those directly affected by what's coming down the pike including those whose paths are to enforce what has to be done.

And ... you know ... God bless our President. Mr. Trump's destiny is not one many of us would envy. His is the task of righting the wrongs of others, on our behalf I might add. The least we can do is give him our prayers and not get in his way.

Taking care of our DACA folk is a step.

Our legislative branch has six months to get something done that ought to take a whopping fifteen minutes tops. IF they can't manage to do even that much, I hope they're busy getting alternative careers planned and prepared for. It's too bad they can't be 'recalled', but they sure as heck don't have to be re-elected. None of them, on either side of the aisle. We can't repeal them, but we can most certainly replace them.

Our DACA folks have those same six months to get their rears in gear and get their paperwork started, get a job or enroll in a training program, prove their residency for the past five years, and make sure their records are clean and clear. The ones who can't/won't do those things might want to take this opportunity to vacate our nation voluntarily.

IF (yes that IF is in capital letters and in bold) our legislative branch isn't completely dead, and they know the meaning of the word 'extrapolate', it's not just the DACA folk who might want to be taking care of the paperwork, the job/training, the documentation of residency for five years, and proof of a law-abiding lifestyle.  As for the Visa folks, just get 'em renewed or go home.

Just sayin'.

Ach. But what do I know?

Something You Might Or Might Not Want To Hear

note: I have no idea why this blog isn't posting any of the photo images these past months :( 

A few years ago it would never have occurred to me that what you are about to read might possibly be anything that anyone would need to be reminded of, let alone be something that some people may not have even heard of. It’s not new news; it’s not a new take on anything; it’s not unique in any way – at least until these past few years … the growing up years of our young adults. 

Below you’ll find excerpts from three separate blog posts. Together they say something you might or might not want to hear.

this is an image of the Constitution of the United States of America, which isn't showing up

1)  We are governed not by any one sitting president, not by any single current congress, not even by our courts. 

We are governed by the Constitution of the United States of America which grants sovereign rights to the PEOPLE of the United States. It is We the People of the United States of America who wield the final authority. We are not just saying 'NO' to corruption in our government; we are also saying 'NO' to those who have for too long been disregarding the fundamental premise of our form of government. 

  

these are images of a flying Bald Eagle and a standing American Bison

2)  Both the National Bird of the United States and our (apparently soon-to-be) National Animal/Mammal - the Bald Eagle and the American Bison - were both around for that last big ELE (Extinction Level Event, almost 13,000 years ago) - and somehow survived.

In much more recent years, both were on the verge of extinction (again) and both were 'brought back' from that verge by the collective will of the American People.

That we as a people, once we recognized what we had done, were doing, did what we had to do to correct ourselves ... something about that is reassuring, gives me hope.

God Bless America

Indivisible

3)  … I refer you to the stars that grace the Flag of the United States of America. Yes I know they represent each and all of the States of our Nation. They can also represent the forging of this Nation, one made up of many. You notice that each of those stars is the same size; each is equal to all of the others. The fact that Texas and Alaska are far bigger than Rhode Island and Delaware is entirely moot. They share equal status, and our Flag needs ALL of her stars in order to be complete. Not a single one of those stars carries a label but together they, and the stripes of red and white that flank them, represent one nation. One. Recognizing and respecting individuality in NO way diminishes what that means but enhances it.

this is an image of a flying dove carrying an olive branch

All of the above having been said, here’s what I want to remind you of:

First, regardless of who is in the White House, regardless of who fills the Seats of Congress in Washington DC, even regardless of who sits the benches of our courtrooms, the United States of America’s Constitution and Bill of Rights are what govern us.

Administrations come and administrations go, one after another after another. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights cannot be changed, only added to by the collective Will of the People via amendments (which are not easily achieved).

Second, we as a people have made mistakes. That we have, and do, and will come to recognize our mistakes, speaks well of us. That we have, and do, and will take steps to correct our mistakes speaks even louder.

Bringing back the Bald Eagle and the American Bison from the brink … how many of our younger folk even realize what that means? How many care? I would venture to say  :  few – very few – too few. Yet it is symbolic, and perhaps therein lies the issue at the moment. It is symbolic of something we as a people did RIGHT. These days, everyone’s focusing on other symbols, interpreting them in ways that are twisted.

Third, connected to second (and to first when it comes right down to it) the individual groups that make up our larger population have been, are, and will be collectively We the People of the United States of America.

That’s a statement of fact folks, not a recommendation.

There was a time, brought to mind by recent events, when mistakes were made by more than one ‘faction’. The effect was not pretty. The result was a still-united nation, albeit a wounded one.

The three points merge.

Today we can, if we look, see what has come of ‘that time’ which is of course our own Civil War, something that I hear some people threatening again. We will not go there, people. We will not.

For those who think perhaps it is a viable option, think again.

You have only to look to our southern states of Texas and Louisiana, right now, in August of 2017, to see the incontrovertible conclusion of that war. In the midst of horror and pain We the People, once divided and again threatened with division, are oblivious to the factors that once divided us. Watch, and listen. You can’t help but see what I’m talking about. There is no South any more; there is no North. There is no Urban; there is no Rural. There is no Rich; there is no Poor. There is only ONE People of the United States.

What you will see, if you care to look, is the United States of America, full-blown and just doing what it does – pulling together in a time of crisis. Addressing with steadfast resolution (a cliché I know but here it fits so yes I’m going to use it) those who would use the hurt of others for their own ends – the looters are being arrested; the politicizers are being shouted down or ignored; the price gougers are being documented and will be dealt with; the haters are being called out and shown up for what they are.

So, contrary to what ‘current events’ in the form of riots and protests and the destruction of symbols of our past successes and the haters might want us to believe, our nation as a whole is actually reaffirming what we have needed to be reminded of: we are ONE nation, indivisible. Made up of many and many different folks, this is true, but nevertheless ONE.

In our ‘crisis mode’ nobody cares about anything that doesn’t matter. Nobody cares about who someone is sleeping with; nobody cares about skin tones; nobody cares about how big someone’s house is or how fancy their vehicle is; nobody cares about who anybody else voted for; nobody cares when or how or under what circumstances anybody else’s ancestors came to these shores. Nobody cares about what anybody else ‘identifies as’ – because at the moment the only ‘identity’ anybody has is ‘American’.

Part of me weeps that it has had to take a Powerful Act of Nature to bring home to us what should have been recognized and celebrated all along. Instead, we’ve had divisiveness shoved down our throats for so long that we were starting to believe in it, even while choking on the very thought of it.

So y’all haters can just sit down and shut up now. We do accept that even you are a part of us. You are the part of each and all of us that we know we have inside, the dark ugly part that we fight to subdue and overcome. You are in the dark corners of our internal ‘gardens’, where we put the rotting detritus that we don’t want to see. You are there, and we are not denying it – but just as we nurture and care for the beauty and productivity of our own selves and our nation and set the detritus aside in a dark corner, so too will we set you aside. You need no nurturing; natural processes will decay you until you become again something we can use to further nurture the beauty and productivity. In the meantime, we do not want you front and center – not of our own selves and not of our nation.

Going back to our points …

The laws that govern us as American citizens forbid harm to any, for any reason.

We the People of the United States of America have been making a mistake; we can and will take steps to correct ourselves.

We cannot, and do not, and will not deny the value and importance of any part of our collective population. We might have to put you haters in a corner for a while, but in so doing we are but protecting the beauty and productivity while you’re decaying enough to become again nurturers of said beauty and productivity.

Just as, at the moment, Houston and other places are addressing the weeds (haters) in their sodden garden while caring for the beauty so too will the United States as a whole.

So you can either go to the corner on your own or we can put you there. Your choice.

Frankly, it would be a great deal more pleasant if you choose to become a part of the beauty right away, for you and for the rest of us. I can’t imagine it would be at all pleasant to find myself rotting and decaying for as long as it takes to become fertilizer. You can skip that step. Pay the piper (can’t skip this step, sorry), be forgiven, and ‘come on home’ – if you want.

It took many of our folk a real long time to make that happen, but … look to Texas and Louisiana right now. Look to We the People of the United States of America as we respond to the needs of our own. Look to the various States kicking in and getting the job done. Look to our Federal Government doing its part.

Tell me you don’t want to be a part of that; tell me you’d rather be rotting in a dark corner instead. Go ahead; try to convince me; give it your best shot; tell me why you’d prefer divisiveness over unity. Your chances of convincing me are slim to none, and slim isn’t really in the running, but here’s your chance to try.

My words to you are: come home – just come home to the America who already accepts you and loves you enough to put you in a corner when need be. You don’t have to stay in that dark rotting corner. Your place is here in the beauty and productivity of this oh so precious nation that we all call Home.

Justice

+Mercy

=Peace

The Authority of the United States of America is WHAT?!?

Me, I think we as a nation have been trying to look through the wrong end of the telescope. 

IMO we ought to ditch that telescope and go with a microscope, start focusing on what we can reach. 

The way things are right now is bass-ackward from the way our nation is designed to be run. No wonder it's not working the way it's supposed to.

Yeah that's kind of a pretty design, but it is NOT the way things are supposed to go.

Me, I cannot believe I'm sitting here on a 'day off' trying to think of how to explain something to people whose educations OUGHT to have drilled this stuff into them years ago. That's a part of the bass-ackwardness I'm NOT going to get into today, not if I can help it.

Mmph.

What I'm hearing from our young folk is that the rich guys have all the good stuff, the government is in cahoots with them, and we poor folk are stuck doing all the work and paying all the bills, with no end in sight. They're torn between getting mad about it and giving up.

Little do they know the whole situation is absolutely nothing new. The whole concept they're experiencing is exactly why there is a United States of America.

So what does it have to do with telescopes and microscopes?

This:

When you look through a telescope from the wrong end, what you wanted to see closer gets further away instead.

The more we of the general population try to get a handle on what's going on nationally or globally, the further away it all seems to get. Even if we were looking through the right end of that telescope, we wouldn't be able to see the whole of the 'big picture'. We're only going to get more frustrated and upset at what we do see. It ain't all that pretty out there these days, folks.

So ditch the bloody telescope for a while. All it does is make us mad and convince us that yeah our government and our world are seriously out of balance. Trying to use it is just going to make us dizzy. Washington and Wall Street are too far away from the reality of our lives for us to fret ourselves about right now. 

True story, folks. I kid you not. 

There's not a damned thing any of us can do in the immediate future to make those things the least bit different, not right now. We can moan and groan and gripe and complain until the cows come home and it's not going to do anything except waste our breath and our time.

So ditch the telescope for the time being.

Grab that microscope and start focusing on things you can do something about. Instead of whining about Big Government and Fat Cats, put your local area under that microscope.

Why?

Because, my friend, the larger picture that we all think we want to have this huge impact on so everything will change for the better is made up of guess what?

Without getting all technical about fractals and golden ratios and all that, I can tell you this:

The whole is but a bigger representation of its parts.

You want to change Big Government?

Look in the mirror because you yourself are a part of it.

Look within your own family.

Look at your community.

Look at your County.

Look at your State.

You know what you're looking at?

Duh.

See, our nation, the United States of America, and its government, is built on the rebuttable presumption that she has a halfway educated populace who KNOW what the heck said government is supposed to be doing, and not doing.

There's a whole lot of rebutting going on right about now regarding that presumption, both here at home and in the world at large. So be it. That's another thing we can't do anything about at the moment. Let it be for now.

We're all at least partway familiar with our three branches of government, right? Legislative, Judicial, Executive.

How familiar are we with another set of three that's even more important than those? Hmmm?

Federal, State, and We the People, which I've listed in REVERSE order of importance for a reason.

The reason is that the above order is the way We the People have been taught about this hierarchy thing. 

For whatever reason, we ordinary folk have become convinced that we're lucky to even be on that list. When it comes to Authority, what do we believe? That the Feds are at the top of the pile, then the States, and then (maybe) us. We really do believe that, have believed it for a great number of years.

That is NOT the design of our Constitution, people. It is NOT the way our nation is built and not the way it's going to function the way it's supposed to.

Back to telescopes and microscopes.

The Authority of this nation doesn't begin out there somewhere, in Washington or anyplace else.

It starts microscopically small, to go with our theme here.

It begins with you. 

And me. 

And all the them people and the us people that make up WE the PEOPLE. 

Think about that for a minute. It's right there in the Constitution that rules our nation, for cryin' out loud. More than once. 

And we aren't only just the starting point - we are the whole of it. 

WE are the ones, you and me and Jane and John over there, and every other citizen of this Constitutional Republic (what? you thought we were a democracy? oh my. well, that will have to be another post I reckon)

Where was I?

Oh yeah, the starting point of the Authority by which this nation is supposed to be governed.

That would be us.

We're also the next point, and the one after that, and the one after that.

Since the outward spiral of Authority seems to have taken a twist somewhere along the way, there's only one way this nation can get herself back into the balance she's designed to have.

We need to quit worrying about telescopes for the moment and turn our focus to the microscope - we have to look at the beginning point.

That would be us.

Quit trying to look 'out there somewhere' for answers and changes. If 'out there somewhere' was going to fix anything, it would have been fixed long since.

And I'm talking to our young folk here. (Us older ones too, but you young folk have a chance of seeing this thing through so I'm passing the buck to you. You'll be the ones to benefit, too - not us old folk.)

YOU are going to look into your mirror. 
YOU are going to look around you at the people you know. 
YOU are going to decide how much of a difference you are going to make.
YOU are going to decide how much of an impact you are going to have on your own Life, your Community, your County, your State, your Nation, and your World. 

YOU. 
The one you see when you look in that mirror. 

YOU are We the People.

The Authority of the United States of America does not rest with the folks in Washington; it does not rest in the POTUS; it does not rest in any of her many branches and twigs and leaves. 

The Authority of the United States of America belongs to her people, the cellular level of the bigger organism.

YOU.

Intimidated yet?

Nah.

All of what we've been thinking about who wields the Authority in this nation is pretty much hogwash.

Me, I don't expect to see any big huge changes, not in what time is left to me here.

YOU, however,  you our young folk, might just find inside of yourselves the 'whatever it takes' to make things get back to the way they're supposed to be.

I can't make it happen. 

The best I can hope for is that maybe one or two of you will have enough common sense to read your own freaking Constitution, think about what it's saying, and realize that YOU ARE THE AUTHORITY OF THIS NATION. 

Yep. And then proceed to exercise that Authority the way you're supposed to.

How?

By understanding that while you all by your lonesome are not the only Authority in this nation, since every Citizen shares that, you can be a darned important part of the whole.

How?

By looking in the mirror.

Huh?

Well?

Are you or are you not committed enough to making things better to step up to the plate and get things rolling in the right direction?

Me? I'm no politician.

Well hallelujah for that! 

We don't want any more politicians. 

It's not anything anybody has ever been supposed to make a career out of. It's something you take time out of your life to do for a while, because you care, because you want to make a difference, and then you get back to your life.

If you aren't 'public figure' material, look around you for someone who is. Then get them voted into whatever office they might be interested in.

Yes.

I said VOTE.

From the microscopic beginnings, the Authority of the people of the United States continues through every step of the way. Those cells are what makes up the whole thing, you know.

Did you know that your County Sheriff, the person YOU your own self voted for (or not) is the ultimate Authority within your County? Well yeah, if you've read recent posts, you know that.

You know WHY said Sheriff has that Authority? Because that person is representing the collective will of YOU and everyone else in the County. THAT's where the Authority comes from. It comes from US, the citizens of the United States of America. That's how come a County Sheriff can kick the President of the United States out of the County, and jail him/her if they refuse to go. Because the Sheriff isn't acting on his/her own Authority but on the Authority of the people who elected him/her.

NOBODY in this nation has any more Authority than anybody else, unless they're acting in accordance with the collective will of the citizens, Authority which has been accorded them BY the will of said citizens. And the Authority so accorded by the citizens can be revoked, you know. By the ones who accorded it in the first place.

That bit of information isn't bandied about much, is it?

If somebody is in a position of Authority, it is because we said so. That makes it our responsibility to maybe take a bit of interest in who and what we have a say-so about.

I tell ya.

We get so wrapped up in trying to look through that telescope at who's in Washington that we totally don't pay much attention to the stuff that actually matters to us on a daily basis.

That 'daily basis' is a whole lot more vital to our health and well-being than whatever we're trying to see by looking through the wrong end of that telescope. 

I tell you this and I tell you true.

Start taking care of things nearby and get that spiral thing going. What happens on a local level, on every local level of this nation, matters a hell of a lot more than anything else right now.

Why?

Because it is from out of the Center of Authority, the Authority wielded by the People of the United States of America, that the Future is going to unfold. 

It is going to be our own local folks paying attention to our own local elections, and choosing folks who are ready, willing, and able to do the job they're elected to do - by the will of their own local folk - that will bring out the leadership we're all looking for.

No, it's not going to happen overnight. It's going to take a damn long time, and a whole lot longer than it actually needs to take because we don't realize that we can do it.

'A revolution would be quicker' - and yes I've heard those actual words come out of someone's mouth.

'We need to re-write the Constitution' - that's another one.

'The States ought to secede' - heard that one too.

They're all baloney.

A revolution wouldn't speed anything up any, believe me.

The Constitution is fine just the way it is, which people would figure out if they ever took the time to read it.

States Rights are outlined in the Constitution; when it comes right down to it the States have a lot more say-so than we're led to believe. Not as much of a say-so as We the People, but neither are they the helpless pawns of the Feds like some people seem to think.

Looking through the wrong end of the telescope again here.

Start where you're the most comfortable. That's the way it's supposed to be in the first place so what the heck. 

Pay attention to what you see under that microscope. If there's a problem out there at the other end of that telescope, chances are you'll find the virus or bacteria or germ or whatever's causing it right there in the petri dish of your mirror, your home, your community, your county, your state.

We honestly don't have much recourse at the moment for fixing what ails our nation. That's flat out too big for us to even wrap our heads around.

BUT.

We can start trying to knock out that ailment in ourselves, in our homes, in our communities, in our counties ... do you see where I'm going with this?

The Authority of the United States of America - bottom line - is me. 

It's you.

How are we going to wield it?

Who outranks a County Sheriff in his/her own County? NOBODY

Wyoming's been on top of this for a while now. Where are the rest of us?

https://disinter.wordpress.com/2007/02/18/wyoming-sheriffs-put-feds-in-their-place/

Wyoming sheriffs put feds in their place

February 18, 2007 by disinter

“If a sheriff doesn’t want the Feds in his county he has the constitutional right and power to keep them out, or ask them to leave, or retain them in custody.”

“I am reacting in response to the actions of federal employees who have attempted to deprive citizens of my county of their privacy, their liberty, and their property without regard to constitutional safeguards. I hope that more sheriffs all across America will join us in protecting their citizens from the illegal activities of the IRS, EPA, BATF, FBI, or any other federal agency that is operating outside the confines of constitutional law. Employees of the IRS and the EPA are no longer welcome in Bighorn County unless they intend to operate in conformance to constitutional law.”

The implications are huge:

But it gets even better. Since the judge stated that the sheriff “has law enforcement powers EXCEEDING that of any other state OR federal official,” the Wyoming sheriffs are flexing their muscles. They are demanding access to all BATF files. Why? So as to verify that the agency is not violating provisions of Wyoming law that prohibits the registration of firearms or the keeping of a registry of firearm owners. This would be wrong.

The sheriffs are also demanding that federal agencies immediately cease the seizure of private property and the impoundment of private bank accounts without regard to due process in Wyoming state courts.

This case is not just some amusing mountain melodrama. This is a BIG deal. This case is yet further evidence that the 10th Amendment is not yet totally dead, or in a complete decay in the United States. It is also significant in that it can, may, and hopefully will be interpreted to mean that “political subdivisions of a State are included within the meaning of the amendment, or that the powers exercised by a sheriff are an extension of those common law powers which the 10th Amendment explicitly reserves to the People, if they are not granted to the federal government or specifically prohibited to the States.”

***

http://www.cascity.com/howard/forum/index.php?topic=14622.0

This site has an interesting discussion on the topic. Here's my favorite post:

"Basically, the reason they're the top LEO is because they are the only LEO that are elected into office by the people."  November 17, 2012, 11:56:09 pm by 'mtcookson'

***

https://politicalvelcraft.org/2011/09/21/the-sheriff-has-more-power-in-his-county-than-the-president-of-the-united-states-u-s-constitution-u-s-supreme-court-quashes-obamas-claim-to-supremacy-clause/

This one kinda makes me smile.

"Does there remain any governmental Horatius who can stand in the gap; who can lead the Battle for America and restore the Constitution? There is. Lock and load, mount up and prepare for the return of the Sheriff."

We recognize this guy, Antonin Scalia. He's gone from us now but he's left us a Legacy: an abiding Faith in the Constitution of the United States of America and the commitment to both understand and enforce it. Yes, he shows up in the article linked to above.

" ... inside his county – the sheriff has more power than the governor of his state. Indeed, the sheriff has more power in his county than the President of the United States. In his county, he can overrule the President and kick his people out. ... "

I reckon I could go on about all this but, you know, the Constitution kind of already has it locked down.

It's called the Tenth Amendment.

"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."

It's called the Tenth Amendment

"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."

Now, much as we hate to admit it, most of us are indeed somewhat intimidated by the sheer size of our Federal Government, and even the power of our States.

We're a whole lot more comfortable dealing with our own local folk, the ones we see on a regular basis in the course of our daily lives, at the grocery store, at church maybe, at the post office, walking down the street, at a local ballgame.

And that's the way it's supposed to be.

Ultimately, we really do, each and all of us, have the power of our own protection in our own hands. 

We the People really do elect, within our own local counties, the people who can and should, and hopefully will, stand for us in the face of ANY threat. 

In our County, NOBODY can threaten us in any way, shape, or form without our own duly elected Sheriff having the Authority to tell them to take a hike or go to jail.

In response to a recent local 'incident' I posted the account. Here's what I had to say to a comment by a friend:

"They high-tailed it when/before the actual Authority of Sheridan County showed up. I'm thinking that the first words out of our mouths should any such thing occur in our presence ought to be, 'I want the Sheriff, right here, right now." And be bloody sure that our duly elected Sheriffs know from the get-go that we expect them to protect us from ANYONE who threatens us. End of rant."

We as citizens are supposed to have rights. If/when those rights are threatened or directly violated, as happened, our first (and maybe only) line of defense is our County Sheriff. So we'd best be almighty careful about who we choose.

Just sayin'.

We as a Nation are too huge for most of us to be able to wrap our heads around. It's incredibly comforting to know that, within the confines of our own home turf, we really do have someone to whom we ourselves have given the Authority to stand for us. 

And, lest we or anyone else forget, it is indeed our own Authority which s/he represents. Whom we elect we can also un-elect if our will isn't represented.

Yep.

We're NOT REALLY as much at the mercy of 'the government' as we've been led to believe we are.

What an odd notion it is going to seem to us, when we finally come to understand more clearly, as a people, exactly what our elder generations wanted for us. 

We're going to have to figure it out for ourselves, and it will have to begin right here, in our own homes, our own communities, our own Counties.

But it is a beginning. As we at long last begin to feel and to exercise our own rights, our own responsibilities, our own prerogatives as We the People, you can bet it's liable to make some people a little nervous. So be it. What begins in our own homes, our own communities, our own Counties will not go unnoticed by our States. They too will begin to take a closer look at their own role. Eventually, God willing, the wisdom of our so-very-local choices will make itself a part of our bigger world.

You see, when we begin to understand that We the People actually DO have the power to elect our own local Sheriffs, imbuing them with the power of our collective will - and when said duly elected Sheriffs get it that their job is to protect us from ANYONE who might threaten us - we will have us the beginning of a mighty strong pool of people from whom to choose for the next rung up the ladder. A Sheriff who proves himself ready willing and able to do the job he's elected to do is going to be a natural choice to trust to carry that same commitment and determination into the State arena. From there, it would be on to Washington.

Wow.

Can you imagine a State/Federal government filled with those who actually know and respect what it means to represent US? Who have proven themselves in our own communities? Who will come back to us once their terms are done with, resuming their lives among us, the ones they've represented?

Yeah. That's the way it's supposed to be.

And we can make it happen, just we our own little selves in our own little homes, communities, Counties.

The Constitution re Supreme Court Appointments

Guess what, folks.

Even if we don't particularly like or appreciate any given part of our Constitution at a particular time or in a particular circumstance, it is still the Law of our Land and abide by it we must.

If I've been derelict in my duty as a citizen of this nation, so have a lot of us.

In the past couple of hours I've learned a lot about a man I honestly knew nothing about until he died.

Probably the most important thing I learned about this man is that he was as true to our Constitution and as savvy about its intent and purpose as anyone could be who wasn't there at the time it was written. What I've gotten out of my 'education' here is that no we do not have to personally agree with every last word of it but we are by golly required to abide by it anyway.

Whether or not you and/or I happen to think it would be in the best interest of our nation for our current President to nominate/appoint a Judge of the Supreme Court is irrelevant. Whether or not ANYBODY, including any currently seated Senator, agrees is moot. 

The President of the United States is the one who nominates the Judges of the Supreme Court and, with the consent of the Senate, appoints said Judges.

That being an unequivocal given, why in the world anyone would even bother to dispute the point is beyond me. It's right there, in the Constitution, if you care to look.

If a Senator, or whoever, has a problem with it, too bad. Lots of us might have a problem with it. That doesn't change the fact of the matter. The President nominates, the Senate consents (or not), and onward we go.

I don't know about you, but I find it distasteful, disrespectful, and downright tacky that 1) said current President would so immediately jump on the replacement issue, and 2) our politicians of the opposing party would react so immediately and emphatically. That, to me, is being flat out bad-mannered.

For someone like me, who didn't know or appreciate that this man, the one who died so suddenly, had been devoting his life to protecting and preserving my rights under the Constitution for all that time, it feels distinctly wrong somehow. Here I am, barely getting to know this guy, when it's too late to get to shake his hand and say thank you, and they're already fighting. 

It smacks of a bunch of nuts starting a fist-fight at a funeral. Tacky. Nasty. Totally disrespectful.

The kicker of it is that each and all of said fighting nuts is sworn to protect and uphold the very Constitution this man fought for - ALL the time, not just when it happens to suit their fancy.

Much as it hurts my soul and embarrasses me to say it, not a one of them is acting worthy of the oath they've given. 

Not a one of them ought to be allowed to attend the funeral of this man.

Me, I couldn't go to said funeral even if I was entitled to. 

But I can show a little respect. 
I can respect the man and what he stood for. 
I can grieve. 
I can be grateful. 
And I can pray that there are more like him, out there somewhere.

I never met Antonin Scalia and now it's too late. 

I'll never get to tell him thank you for protecting ME.

Yes, me.

And you.

I'm kind of ashamed at the behavior of the 'leaders' of our nation right about now.

If I could, I would apologize to the family of this man. If I feel such an unexpected sense of loss, what must they be feeling? His job must have cost him so much time with them ... what he was doing on behalf of me, and of you, that was a cost to his family. For that we owe them big time. It hurts me to think that they might think we're all as disrespectful as some.

Anyway, the Constitution he loved and respected is also loved and respected by a lot more of us than a person might expect, given the ones who are pretty blatant in their disrespect. The fact that he has played a part in keeping that legacy intact for us does matter. It matters to me and it had better matter to you.