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PERRIN LOVETT

~ Deo Vindice

PERRIN LOVETT

Tag Archives: American

An Admission About “America”

09 Tuesday Jul 2019

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns

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American, Nancy Pelosi, truth, whites

Sometimes the enemy slips and admits something. Nancy Pelosi admits what America WAS:

“This is about keeping — you know … his hat — Make America White Again,” she said.

If one makes something a certain way AGAIN, it means that it was that way BEFORE. Of course, her forked tongue couched the admission in lies, claiming “it’s not what our founders had in mind.” OUR Founders. You know, she knows, the men in the diversity-free portrait on the back of the Two Dollar Bill.

And, indeed upon a time:

Screenshot 2019-07-09 at 10.27.20 AM

Happy National Anniversary, Americans!

04 Thursday Jul 2019

Posted by perrinlovett in News and Notes

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2019, American, Fourth of July, Independence Day

America for and of the Americans. Think about it. If this day concerns “the United States,” then what’s so special about this day? Why not celebrate on March 3rd (1789)? Why then, that year? Why not 1861? Or 1913? 1965? If you don’t understand those questions, or if you can’t tell the difference between America and the US, then this just isn’t your day.

If it is, then Hail Independence and Long Live Freedom!

Words Matter

12 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

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American, culture, dictionary, liars, truth, words

Bookmark this site: The 1828 Webster’s Dictionary, Online.

VD and OB brought this to our attention. Thank you. Look up any word you like, especially those that have been recently redefined to fit the narrative of our enemies.

American

AMER’ICAN, adjective Pertaining to America.

AMER’ICAN, noun A native of America; originally applied to the aboriginals, or copper-colored races, found here by the Europeans; but now applied to the descendants of Europeans born in America.

The name American must always exalt the pride of patriotism. – Washington

 

It was a nation of a people, not of a nebulous “proposition.” This dictionary definition fits precisely with those of the Declaration, the Constitution, early Republican law, and with the general, common understanding of the term at the time of the Revolution and the Founding. Why change it now?

This will Most Certainly Help the National Waistline

24 Friday Aug 2018

Posted by perrinlovett in News and Notes

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American, fat, health, Olive Garden

Olive Garden offers a limited $300 annual pass to the pasta trough.

Olive Garden is bringing back its Never Ending Pasta Pass this year for the fifth time. The offer now comes with an annual option that enables you to get all the spaghetti and meatballs, salads, and breadsticks you can handle for 365 days a year, for a mere $300, MarketWatch reports.

Nom, nom, nom. Yo, G! BMI’s up, IQ’s down!

Young black and white pigs feeding at the trough.

While slop supplies last.

Political Lies vs. Reality

10 Sunday Jan 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Uncategorized

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American, banksters, Britain, crime, economy, Europe, freedom, Germany, government, gun control, ISIS, Libya, lies, Merkel, Obama, politicians, Second Amendment, terrorism, The People, The West, War

Shortly after announcing his illegal and unilateral plan to attack the Second Amendment Hussein Obama took to CNN for a “town hall” meeting on gun violence. These meetings used to happen at actual town halls. There citizens came to voice their opinions. Discussion proceeded on issues of civic importance. People gathered to either solve problems or do good things. Now these events, especially if they involve a prominent politician, are scripted theatrical productions designed to sway the television obsessed masses.

So it was on CNN the other night. Obama, with the arrogant air of a second-rate college professor, presumes everyone agrees with his communist views. He thinks all will rejoice in his policies. The event was carefully coordinated to project the sentiment. A few well placed plants gave the superficial illusion of dissent and debate. Still, the President controlled the show.

I have previously dismissed Hussein Obama’s plan of action for what it is, freedom control not gun control. Now I will dismiss another of his (“town hall”) lies about gun control. Barry “disputed the notion that most criminals got guns illegally or through personal connections, making background checks — a major focus on his policy initiative on guns — of little utility.” CNN.

The vast majority, almost the totality, of over the counter gun purchases are made by decent people for lawful purposes. Hussein Obama knows this. He knows too that criminals and terrorists will keep circumventing checks and regulations just as they do laws against murder and mayhem. Then again, he’s not trying to stop violence by criminals. Rather, he wants to stop those decent people with their lawful intentions. His plan is to insidiously peck away at freedom.

Thus he lies about criminals using legally obtained weapons to carry out crimes. As if in poetic answer, at nearly the same time the liar preached to his choir, one of Hussein Obama’s  Muslim ISIS buddies shot a Philadelphia police officer with a stolen police firearm. This is the truth. Criminals act, from end to end, as criminals. No legal gun purchases, no legal actions.

1151709_630x354

If Obama had a constituent… 6abc.com.

Lies versus reality.

Obama, a likely Muslim and immigrant himself, is determined to flood America with more people of his own persuasion. The entire West is in danger of being overrun by terrorist invaders – welcomed by our lying scum “leaders.” They pretend the invaders are helpless refugees fleeing oppression while the great and noble powers actively fight ISIS and other groups in places like Iraq, Syria and Libya.

The truth of that matter is that the U.S. and the West created ISIS. Colonel Gaddafi warned the West of the rise of ISIS in Libya and it’s threat to Europe.  Libya was then destroyed by Britain, France and the United States, allowing the terrorists to flourish. The overthrow of Gaddafi benefitted British arms dealers and British and American bankers to the tune of hundreds of billions of (stolen) dollars. They gained riches while the people of Paris, San Bernardino and Philadelphia gained death and violence – just as Gaddafi predicted.

Lies versus reality.

The American stock markets just posted their worst opening week in history.  Most global markets are in dire straits. The official lie is that things are fine and the economy is recovered and strong. Jim Cramer tells his CNBC audience not to worry. It’s time to buy, buy, buy. They said the exact same thing just before the bottom fell out in 2008.

Now even the likes of George Soros warn its 2008 again. He is part of the ongoing problem and should know. The reality is that there has been no substantial recovery from the last recession and now we are due for another. In the interim the Banksters have been kept afloat by hideous government spending sprees, public debt, and outright theft. The middle classes have seen no benefit.

What we have gained is more leeching immigrants, more state-sponsored terrorists, and more jobs for those groups (and only for them).

Lies versus reality.

Through all of this our “leaders” have turned against us – from Hussein Obama to Merkel. Merkel’s Germany is being plagued on a Biblical scale by violent “refugees.”

During new years celebrations in Germany scores of native women were assaulted and molested by immigrant invaders. Merkel’s police did nothing. When the oppressed women later protested, Merkel sent the Polizi in force to disperse the protestors.

Merkel’s days are numbered as are most of Europe’s treasonous leader’s. Europeans are sick and tired of being victimized by Islamic savages and by their own governments. The results may not be pretty.

Lies versus reality.

Stop supporting these degenerate monsters. Ignore their election year rhetoric. See them for what they are – thieves, enablers, destroyers, murderers. It’s their convenient lies versus our harsh reality.

The Guns of Obama

29 Sunday Nov 2015

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns

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abortion, American, Barack Obama, Cervantes, Charlie Daniels, Colorado, crazy, crime, Don Quixote, evil, freedom, government, gun control, guns, murder, Planned Parenthood, politicians, Republicans, Second Amendment, self-defense, self-preservation, terrorism, The People, The West, tyranny

A song:

Now they’re tryin to take my guns away;
And that would be just fine.
If you take em away from the criminals first,
I’ll gladly give ya mine.

Charlie Daniels, A Few More Rednecks, 1989

An analogy:

A house is burning down. The occupants are concerned for their safety, their lives. Their leader, the owner of the house, is oblivious to the conflagration. Suddenly, as the flames reach new heights of intensity, he stops and decries a picture which hangs crooked upon the wall. He doesn’t fix it. He just lectures the terrified people about the picture – while the house burns. This story can’t end well.

As for Daniels’s lyrics, even if government were included among the criminals, I would still require serious consideration before going along with his premise. However, his melodious intent is clear. First things first. Deal with the problems – the trouble-makers – before bothering the civil and the decent.

The analogized burning house is America. She is besieged by a host of problems – abortion, terrorism, debt, government tyranny – which may well reduce her to smouldering ruins. The fool fixated on the small issue while ignoring the rest is dear leader Obama.

In his twisted thinking, because the economy has not already collapsed, there is no trouble brewing. Just because angry primitives haven’t killed every American yet doesn’t mean we could not do without a few more, or many more, of them amongst us. No thought needs be given to a million babies brutally murdered every year by a government-funded industry of blood.

The problem he sees, his crooked picture on the wall, is us. We, the people, and our arms are his concern. The fact of the purely anecdotal nature of the crookedness is no deterrent. An isolated incident here and there is all the evidence the lackadaisical dictator needs.

In Colorado a deranged, bearded, babbling wild man killed three people at a Planned Parenthood killing clinic. No estimate is provided as to how many unborn (and perhaps birthed) children have met a grizzly fate there. No mention of the failed mental health system and its relationship (or lack thereof) with demented, cabin-dwelling nut jobs. ISIS? Who’s that? The problem Obama sees is guns, guns in our hands. All of us. Even that majority of us who do not drift the countryside shooting as we mutter. Especially us, for the armed and the sane are a constant threat to the trivially obsessed and the criminally governing.

After the shooting Obama declared, “enough is enough.”

Reacting to the shooting, Obama made an impassioned call for tighter controls on military-style weapons.

“This is not normal. We can’t let it become normal,” a frustrated Obama said.

“If we truly care about this … then we have to do something about the easy accessibility of weapons of war on our streets to people who have no business wielding them.”

He and I would be in agreement if by “people who have no business” he meant the mentally ill and the potentially dangerous. He doesn’t. He means me … and you. Agree we do not.

Cartoon-Gun-Control-for-Dummies-600

Google.

The killing in Colorado was terrible. All of it, not just the loss of lives and the injuries. That the shooter’s illness went untreated amidst the world of modern medicine and resources was terrible. That a place of such evil exists to give him demented focus is terrible. The President’s political exploitation is terrible.

A million dead babies a year is not hyperbole; it is a tragic fact. More tragic is that most abortions are committed for sake of convenience. All the while, a million American families wish they had a baby to adopt.

Obama and his party enjoy a cozy relationship with the industry. The loyal opposition, the gutless Republicans, do nothing. The people largely live on unconcerned.

In such circumstances it is often the crazy who alone will act. Being crazy their attempts usually miss the mark, they are self-defeating. Miguel de Cervantes’s titular Don Quixote was a madman, albeit heroic. His understanding of his wooden monsters was askew but, nevertheless, he attacked with righteous zeal. His loyal Sancho looked on. Few others took any notice of his quest or any reason (real or fanciful) behind it. So it is in America.

All the West is under invasion by jihadis. Their crimes Obama glosses over. He tells us it is only American to give them aid and comfort, to bring them home. Suicide has never been a lauded American trait.

Ever a politician and a contradiction Obama tells us, on the one hand, we must suffer more and more unvetted “refugees.” Just because. Self-presevation against their terrorist elements does not stem the flow. However, when a lunatic invades Obama’s sanctuary, jumps the Whitehouse fence, Obama permits his legion of guards and attack dogs to protect him. Live as he says, not as he lives.

For the liberal left the root of any problem is our guns. Crime, our guns. Terrorism, our guns. Our guns, our guns. The useless “conservatives” only maintain nominal opposition as it provides them an excuse to hold power. Otherwise, as with most things, they really don’t care.

Don-Quixote-Windmill

Google.

The good news for the free is the fact of the guns themselves. Of old rifles and shotguns were the province of white men in the country. Now everyone is armed. Blacks, whites, women, men, city folks, bumpkins – everyone sees the value of prepared defense. For all the clamour of the hand-wringing left, even the law has settled behind the people. And, there are just too many of us now. They, unless they would risk a real war, have lost this one. For now, at least, we have beaten this windbag’s windmill.

Natural Origins of Self-Defense

21 Thursday Mar 2013

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns

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10 Commandments, 11th Commandment, aggressor, American, Aristotle, banksters, Bible, Catechism, Catholic Church, Cato, Christ, Christians, Chuck Baldwin, Cicero, civil government, Codex Justinianus, Confucius, Constitution, criminal, David Kopel, Declaration of Human Rights, Declaration of Independence, duty, Eastern, Exodus, God, government, Hitler, Hobbes, Jesus, John, John Locke, justice, King George III, law, leviathan, Liberty, man, Matthew, Michael Grant, money-lenders, murder, Natural Law, Nicomachean Ethics, NRA, On Duties, oppression, Paul, Peter, Plato, political science, political theory, Pope John Paul II, Proverbs, religion, rights, Roman Empire, Roman Law, Roman Republic, Romans, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Second Amendment, self-defense, society, Summa Theologica, sword, The People, The Republic, Timothy, tyranny, U.N., victim, vigilante, weapons, Western

This is the first in a new series, an expansion of my both my Natural Law column and Second Amendment and related columns.  Here, I briefly examine the ancient and eternal theories behind the basic rights which gave rise to the doctrine enshrined in the Second Amendment.

Legal practitioners and law and political science scholars, along with the general public, many politicians, and the media, often make the common mistake of looking only to the text of the Constitution (State or federal) or recent court cases in order to gain perspective into the meaning and/or application of the Second Amendment (and related State protections).  While government protection of our rights is vital (the only reason for government), rights do not come from government.

My examination here is theoretic in nature and, thus, seeks out existential sources which provide both definition and supporting argumentative and empirical evidence which are fixed throughout history and across all geographic areas.  Of course, as my ultimate view is towards the American experience, I will pay closer attention to sources from Western civilization.

The Bible is replete with approval of self-defense.  “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”  1 Timothy 5:8.  This would seem to encompass the responsibility to keep one’s family safe to the extent possible.  “If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him, but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.”  Exodus 22:2-3.  This provision is the basis for the common-law doctrine against burglary, originally extended to night-time attacks.  The matter of daylight adds an interesting perspective.  Again, this passage addresses a thief, not a would-be murderer of rapist.  It is divine commentary on the value of human life over mere possessions when an opportunity exists to examine the intent of a criminal.  While it is not a prohibition against using force to deter a thief, the provision indicates the Lord’s wish that force not exceed the attendant circumstantial need.

Paul continues this theme of limited aggression in Romans 12:19: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.'”  Again, God does not seem opposed to immediate use of force to deter violence but, once danger has passed, he commands that we leave judgment to him.  This is backed by the Old Testament: “Do not say, ‘I will repay evil’; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.”  Proverbs 20:22.  Again, for Christians, after the fact of a crime, the matter is God’s to handle.  This is the basis for a general prohibition against vigilante justice.

In Romans 13, often mis-cited as a justification for any and all government action being divine, Paul extolls the virtues of political agencies instituted in God’s Name.  When such an entity exists, then it has God’s authority to pursue prosecution of criminal matters.  I refuse to accept that this concept applies to all governments – I doubt God approved of Hitler’s action, for instance.  Rev. Chuck Baldwin, http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/, has extensively commented on this subject – http://www.romans13truth.com/.

Jesus Christ, himself, tacitly endorsed armed defense: “And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.”  Luke 22:36.  I say “tacitly” because of the caveats Jesus placed on the use of force, essentially limiting it to only urgent circumstances.  Christ urged us to “turn the other cheek” when possible.  Matthew 5:39.  He also admonished Peter to sheath his sword while repairing the injure Peter had inflicted with his sword.  John 18:11.  Jesus, while defending the 10 Commandments, issued an 11th: “love one another.”  John 13:34.  The Son’s words places strict constraints on the Father’s allowance of the use of force.  It does not foreclose the concept.

JESUS-620_1587358a

(The ultimate Defender.  Google.)

Jesus only once resorted to the use of force, personally.  When He discovered the money-changers (the banksters of their time) abusing the Holiness of the Temple, Jesus violently drove them away.  John 2:15.  This underscores the possibility of defense as an immediate solution, without resort to formal authority or the eventual actions of the Lord.  The Church has formally detailed both the right to such defense as well as the moral duty of such action in need.  “Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm.”  Catechism of the Catholic Church (“CCC”): 2265 (emphasis added)(see also CCC: 1909).

The Church also commands dignity be afforded to the human body, generally: “This dignity entails the demand that he should treat with respect his own body, but also the body of every other person, especially the suffering”  CCC: 1004.  While this backs the general prohibition against unlawfully harming others, it also reminds the Believer to respect even his enemy and attempt to limit his forcible response to criminal activity as far as possible to minimize harm.

“… [I]n the case of legitimate defence, in which the right to protect one’s own life and the duty not to harm someone else’s life are difficult to reconcile in practice. Certainly, the intrinsic value of life and the duty to love oneself no less than others are the basis of a true right to self-defence. The demanding commandment of love of neighbour, set forth in the Old Testament and confirmed by Jesus, itself presupposes love of oneself as the basis of comparison: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (Mk 12:31). Consequently, no one can renounce the right to self-defence out of lack of love for life or for self.”  Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Evangeliun Vitae (The Gospel of Life), 1995.

The eminent scholar, David Kopel, has documented the general agreement among Eastern Religions along these ideas.  In his review of Confucianism, Taoism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism, Kopel explodes common myths that these religions do not allow for proper use of self-defense.  David B. Kopel. “Self-Defense in Asian Religions” Liberty Law Review 2 (2007): 79, 80-81 (http://works.bepress.com/david_kopel/20).

Kopel’s expose is excellent.  He also touches on the Eastern version of Baldwin’s critique of Romans 13: “Although Confucianism, like most other religions, has been used by tyrants to claim that revolution is immoral, Confucius himself ordered a revolution against an oppressive regime.”  Id, at 163.  Only the “religion” of the State would decree that the government is above the Natural Law.

Commenting on Exudus 2, above, Saint Thomas Aquinas said, “it is much more lawful to defend one’s life than one’s house. Therefore neither is a man guilty of murder if he kills another in defense of his own life.”  Aquinas, Summa Theologica.

“If a man, in self-defense, uses more than necessary violence, it will be unlawful: whereas if he repel force with moderation his defense will be lawful, because according to the jurists, ‘it is lawful to repel force by force, provided one does not exceed the limits of a blameless defense.’ Nor is it necessary for salvation that a man omit the act of moderate self-defense in order to avoid killing the other man, since one is bound to take more care of one’s life than of another’s.”  Id.

Plato noted that when one acts in true self-defense, taken as a natural right, one may actually do the criminal perpetrator (in addition to the victim and society) a service: if the criminal survives, he may reflect on his wrongdoing positively.  Plato, The Republic, The Problem of Justice.  Plato’s great student, Aristotle, agreed.  Aristotle noted that a true case of self-defense is not necessarily a voluntary action.  Thus, any suffering from the act of defense may be attributed to the aggressor and not the defender.  Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics.

The possession of weapons and their defensive usage, though regulated, was allowed in both the Roman Republic and the Empire. “We grant to all persons the unrestricted power to defend themselves, so that it is proper to subject anyone, whether a private person or a solider … to immediate punishment in accordance with the authority granted to all [up to, and including, death, if warranted].”  Codex Justinianus 3.27.1.  The Romans regarded the right to use weaponry in defense as implicit to the right itself.

The mighty Cicero opined: “There exists a law, not written down anywhere, but inborn in our hearts; a law which comes to us not by training or custom or reading but by derivation and absorption and adoption from nature itself; a law which has come to us not from theory but from practice, not by instruction but by natural intuition. I refer to the law which lays it down that, if our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right.” Cicero, “In Defence of Titus Annus Milo,” Selected Speeches of Cicero, Michael Grant translation, 1969.  Again, the esteemed David Kopel gives excellent analysis to this ancient Natural Law position in The Sword and the Tome, America’s 1st Freedom, NRA, 2009.

Cicero’s titanic predecessor, the black-robed Cato, made an interesting analogy along the lines of Jesus’s act of retribution noted above (as noted by Cicero himself): Cato was asked by an ambitious Roman, “What is the most profitable about property?”  Cato answered, “To raise cattle with great success.”   The young man then asked, “What is the second most profitable?”  Cato answered, “Raising cattle with moderate success.”  The inquirer pressed again, “The third most profitable?”  “Raising cattle with little success.”  Finally, the young man cut to his presupposed profession, “How about money-lending?”  Cato answered (somewhat in advance of Jesus), “How about murder?”  Cicero, On Duties.

I by no means equate money-lending or banking with murder but it appears the subject was considered by multiple ancient sources.  It seems the evil of the banksters in as eternal as natural law.  Defense against the predation of this wicked class may be something to consider.

Later political theorists expounded the virtue and necessity of self-defense.  John Locke described self-defense as the first among Natural Rights.  Locke, Second Essay on Civil Government.  Hobbes concurred in this assertion, regardless of the state of any society.  Hobbes, Leviathan, 1651.  Even the craven and generally useless United Nations begrudgingly attempted to acknowledge this fundamental truth: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation.  Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”  Universal Declaration of Human Rights, U.N. General Assembly, Article 12, December 10, 1948.

In the earliest American tradition, we find acknowledgment of the Natural Law (before the adoption of the Second Amendment).  The Declaration of Independence (1776) begins: “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” (Emphasis added).  The Declaration then enumerates the crimes of King George, among them many of which might be defended against under the doctrine explained herein.

sword

(In case of emergency only.  Google.)

Again, self-defense is a God-given, eternal right.  It is also a duty, one to be exercised only in dire need and with a grave sense of responsibility.  As with all matters of Natural Law, man-made legislation must attempt as closely as humanly possible to approximate the divine purposes of the Law.  In the next installment of this series, I intend to examine more ancient legislation regarding weapons and self-defense, specifically Roman Law.

Natural Law

15 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns

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Alexis de Tocqueville, American, Anglo-American, Artcles of Confederation, Atistotle, Benjamin Franklin, Bill of Rights, Blackstone, California, Catholic Church, Christian, Christians, Cicero, civil disobedience, Constitution, Creator, David Miller, Declaration of Independence, Dr. Martin Luther King, due process, Dwight Eisenhower, Edmund Randolf, freedom, George Washington, Georgia, God, Gospel of John, government, graft, greedy banksters, Hobbs, Jesus, justice, Juvenal, King George, law, law school, Leo Strauss, libertarians, Locke, Natural Law, Natural Rights, oppression, Patrick Henry, Plato, Pope Leo XIII, rights, Robinson Crusoe, Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas, schemes, secession, Socrates, Solon, sovereignty, Summa Theologica, theft, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Treastis on Law, tyranny, Voltaire, Walden

Ninety-Nine percent of lawyers in the United States graduate from law school and practice their profession without much if any consideration of the ultimate underpinnings of the laws, regulations, and processes with which they work.  I mean something deeper and more eternal that a mere constitution or the tradition of Anglo-American law.  This lack of knowledge is not necessarily their fault.  Law schools rarely teach or even mention said underpinnings.  Legislatures, executive officers, and courts now operate without the slightest acknowledgment of that from whence they derive their just authority.  Most citizens seemed confused about the nature and base concepts of law, rights, and justice generally.  This is all forgivable to a fault (especially for the lay audience).  Let me tell you briefly about where “law” comes from.

Long ago, policy makers and attorneys such as Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, and Patrick Henry did understand and acknowledge the source of their governmental efforts and the results thereof.  This deeper sense of purpose was never limited to American statesmen.  Pre-Americans and even pre-Christians such as William Blackstone, Cicero, Aristotle, and Solon also were aware of the greater power behind their actions.

That power and influence is called “Natural Law,” sometimes referred to as “Natural Rights” and similar names.  These are fundamental concepts which are imbued into each human spirit by their Creator.  Made-man law is or is supposed to be an expression of the natural law.  David Miller, et al., eds, The Blackwell Encyclopedia of political Thought (Oxford 1987).  Some argue that the individual rights associated with natural law must be or may be curtailed to a degree in a complex society.  Miller, et al, supra.  I, like many libertarians, disagree with this notion insofar as one person’s rights do not become an infringement on the rights of another.

So, where did natural law come from?  To answer that question let us journey back in time – way back, to the beginning of time, if fact.  Natural law along with all principles of science, measure, and understanding were created by God, the Almighty, as a product of His grand universal creation.

The concepts of natural law are, thus, as eternal and fixed as the laws or rules of physics or mathematics.  Regarding those rules of “hard” science, humans are on a continuing mission to explore, understand, master, and apply the same.  So it is with natural law.  Being imperfect and tainted by original sin, it is unlikely that we shall ever have complete mastery of any of these ideas.  Therein lies another agony resulting from the original disobedience and the ensuing free will dominated “knowledge” with which mortals outside the garden must grapple.  As natural law relates to human behavior and society – “soft” sciences, academically speaking, it is much more difficult to grasp, let alone use than some other universal truths.  Four plus four equals eight and gravity almost always attracts separate bodies together.  Whether people should have a king or a board of selectmen is a wholly different and subjective problem.

As a note, one need not be a Christian or a believer in any specific faith in order to respect natural law.  For those so inclined, just consider it another facet or force of the universe we happen to inhabit.  As alluded to above, many, many philosophers and legal scholars and practitioners observed natural law millenia before the founding of the United States and centuries before Christ.

In describing the “visible world” the Catechism of the Catholic Church (“CCC”) (No. 341) describes man’s progressive discovery of the laws of nature as he observes the interaction and beauty of the universe.  “The natural law is written and engraved in the soul of each and every man, because it is human reason ordaining him to do good and forbidding him to sin…”  Pope Leo XIII, Libertas, 597; CCC, 1954.

God originally, long after the expulsion from paradise, gave us ten simple Commandments by which to live – they are a direct and further exemplification of natural law.  Jesus gave us the most simple explanation possible of natural law with his Law of the Gospel, “new commandment:” “love one another.”  John 13:34; CCC, 1970.  People, it seems, are unwilling or simply unable to follow clear, simple admonishment.  The history of the past twenty centuries bears this out.

As a result of our collective incompetence, we are now subject to laws, regulations, and rules both innumerable and incomprehensible (and mostly unnecessary).  However, at their core, if these human statutes are valid, they are based on some interpretation of natural law.

“The natural law is immutable, permanent throughout history.  The rules that express it remain substantially valid.  It is a necessary foundation for the erection of moral rules and civil law.” CCC, 1979 (entirety).  The question for us, is how to interpret and apply these immutable principles as we create civil law.  Rest assured that nothing we do will ever be perfect.  The best we can strive for is an approximation.  Harken though and remember that this whole body of law is contained in our souls; we only need to tap into it when necessary.  This never-ending task has been the study of great men throughout history.

In Natural Right and History, Leo Strauss explored the origins and ideas of natural law.  He noted  Plato’s theory that freedom from and doubt of human law is the “indispensable” beginning of the search for natural law.  Strauss, Natural Right and History, pg. 84, U. Chicago Press, 1953.  This means “thinking outside the box” about law, rather than civil disobedience – although that may come later.  Strauss goes on to differentiate between the “classical” view of the law as espoused by Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Saint Thomas Aquinas and the “modern” (17th century and on) views held by Locke, Hobbs, and more contemporary thinkers.

Some of these differences are obviously products of their time and the accumulation and interpretation of previous work.  Others are matters of opinion, albeit well-reasoned opinion.  St. Thomas’s observations along with those of other Christian theologians are influenced by Biblical and Church teachings; however, this concept would not be wholly lost on ancient Greek or Roman philosophers.  In their time, those ancients usually attributed the law to nature itself, with perhaps a whimsical nod to Olympus.  As Juvenal quipped: “The wrath of the gods may be great, but it certainly is slow.”  Satirae, XIII, 100.

I will go no further, directly, with Strauss’s differentiation.  This is the interpretation of Perrin Lovett and is mostly concentrated towards a modern, American view of the law and how it applies to our societal relations.

Before we get back to our America we still need a bit more history.  An exhaustive examination of natural law was one of the central themes of St. Thomas Aquinas’s great Treatise on Law, part of his larger Summa Theologica.  Expanding upon Plato and Aristotle’s “outside the box” approach, Thomas concludes, with reference assistance of Saint Augustine that law “which is not just seems to be no law at all.  Hence a law has as much force as it has justice.”  St. Thomas, Treatise on Law, R.J. Henle, S.J., editor, pg. 287, U. Notre Dame Press, 1993.  St. Thomas goes on to say that a civil or earthly law with conflicts with natural law is a perversion rather than a law.  Thus, did Walden and others, claim a basis for civil disobedience to repugnant laws.

Saint Thomas notes that natural law may be divined directly from principle (i.e. a law against murder would be based on God’s commandment not to kill or the principle that each human has a right to live).  The other more subjective method is through examination of generalities.  Enter, here,  the fuzziness of the human brain.  A natural law-compliant statute which prohibits murder may also prescribe punishment for murder; what the punishment should be and how it is applied is a matter of determination based on assessment of the factors of the case, with natural law as a field guide.  See: St. Thomas, Treatise, supra, pg 288.

Seemingly, most of the core laws of our nation and our states derive (or did derive)from Biblical or other ancient sources.  Most are straightforward in definition.  Murder is prohibited in Georgia the same as it is in California (and just about every jurisdiction worldwide).  The procedure governing a murder case and punishment following a conviction are also dictated by law.  In keeping with natural law, a criminal defendant should be accorded all protections of Due Process, else his conviction, if any, is tainted with perversion.  In name and theory at least, American laws and courts have erected elaborate barriers to protect an accused citizen from state malfeasance.  Consideration of possible punishments, as well as any type of considerable sub-crime (manslaughter, for example) have been designed (again in theory) to assess the factors and circumstances of each particular case.

Often voices arise in a society, particularly regarding emotionally charged cases, crying for “justice” at all costs.  These voices essentially call for lynchings based on such novel theories as: “Everyone knows so and so is guilty!” and “Some people just need killing!”  On our quest for natural law, we must put aside emotion and observe the larger picture.  That picture encompasses the possibility that even a seemingly guilty criminal may still be innocent; our procedures of justice are the mechanisms for definitive (though imperfect [humans again]) adjudication.  “It is better that ten guilty persons escape, than that one innocent suffer.”  Sir. William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 1783 (this sentiment has been echoed by Benjamin Franklin and Voltaire to name a few).

Blackstone commented that nothing is more essential to the “common good” than the protection of individual liberties.  Blackstone, Commentaries, supra.  This reasoning was shared by Thomas Jefferson and John Locke, etc.

Jefferson, of course penned the Declaration of Independence.  In its first paragraph our great severing/founding document based the authority of the American people on the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.”  The second paragraph is (was) well known: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…”  (italicized emphasis added).  Those rights are the natural rights enjoyed by every human, which need not be necessarily acknowledged by any document and can never be legitimately infringed upon by any government.  The rest of the Declaration was dedicated to addressing King George’s abuse of those rights and the implementation of the natural law recourse – secession.

Those were core values on display to the whole world in perhaps the most stunning social experiment in human history.  Natural law gave life to the Articles of Confederation, an entity devoted to mutual aid and protection for the betterment of all member states and their respective citizens.  Shortly thereafter, the Constitution came into being.  Again, some attempted to forge a stronger union with the steel of natural law.  Certain of nature’s rights were expressly set forth in the Bill of Rights.  This was a case of core values mingling with the fire of powerful government – a dangerous combination.  As the two plus centuries have made clear, one government is as capable as another is usurping power for its own ends while concurrently infringing on the rights of its people.

It is when we consider statutes and rules outside of the “core” of our natural human experience that real problems are confronted.  Imagine, if you will, a man alone on an island.  He is his own society and, if he wishes, his own government.  His natural rights are as intact in the middle of the uncharted Pacific as they would be in mid-town Manhattan.  He has, for instance, that right to live or for self-preservation.  Absent some new addition to his little society, a rule against murder would prove difficult to adhere to; murder is the unlawful, unreasonable, and voluntary killing of a human being by another human being.  Absent another person our Islander need not fear murder.  He might find himself facing suicide or starvation though and then his rights to his own person would become his chief concern.

This simple Robinson Crusoe example should translate form a desert isle to any more complex society.  However, some laws deal with issues not conducive to reason in any circumstance.  A bill or statute proposing farm aid to certain large corporations based on their stated financial needs, the aid to come from either taking directly from the rest of society or by decreasing the value of that society’s currency (if the currency be fiat in nature) is a completely different, non-core matter.  However, politics, financial tricks, and smoke and mirrors aside, such a dilemma may still be decided along natural lines.  Governments today generally do not have legitimate money to give away nor are they capable of productively earning such monies.  A giveaway scheme necessarily involves taking from someone else.  Is this not theft?  Is theft not forbidden by the Creator’s Law?  Heaven aside, the earthly consideration here is one of justice.

“All virtue is summed up in dealing justly.”  Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 325 B.C.  Justice would seem to forbid stealing from one group to pay off another, no matter how well-connected the recieving class might be.  You, the reader, must know that our government has long since abandoned this rational debate.  As a result we have those laws innumerable.  Sadly, this has been a long-standing problem.  “The more laws, the less justice.”  Cicero, De Officies, 44 B.C.

As mentioned earlier, the wisdom of the ancients was once of common knowledge and practice in our Western world.  George Washington wrote, “The administration of justice is the firmest pillar of Government.”  Geo. Washington, Letter to Edmond Randolph, 1789.  After his visit to America, Alexis Comte de Tocqueville stated: “When I refuse to obey an unjust law, I do not contest the right of the majority to command, but I simply appeal from the sovereignty of the people to the sovereignty of mankind.”  de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1835.

Common sense even protruded into the Twentieth Century.  One who knew best, Dwight Eisenhower said, “Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin.”  Eisenhower, radio address, 1957.  Universally speaking: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from the Birmingham, AL Jail, 1963.

Unfortunately for us, the voices of justice and reason have been growing steadily fewer and father between.  Today our American government bears almost no resemblance to that which was established long ago while memories of tyranny were still fresh.  Rather than engage in justice, let alone its quest, our politicians constantly engage in vote-buying schemes of unimaginable proportions.  Solon’s observation has never been truer: “Laws are like spider’s webs which, if anything small falls into them they ensnare it, but large things break through and escape.”  Quoted by Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, 3rd Cent. A.D.

For a final example, this analogy to a spider web is demonstrated time and again in the new Amerika.  When greedy bankers make horrible, criminal (but foreseeable) mistakes and risk the financial ruin of the world, they are bailed out and pass freely through our laws.  The poor, middle class, and average citizens are caught, seemingly forever, in a legal cesspool of debt and oppression.

treewater

(Natural law is as common as the beauty of Nature itself)

I will not end on a sour note.  Rather, I offer a humble solution.  If we are to be free as God’s children are supposed to be, we must cast off the burdensome trappings of our current governments.  For that process to begin our citizens must each commence their individual quests throughout their spirits for natural law and justice.  In particular, our lawyers and law students need to demand formal classical education, or else, they must take it upon themselves to learn what has been lost.  While all of you have great deal of research and reflection to do and I may follow-up with more reasoning and explanations, I hope this article starts the process.

Perrin Lovett

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