A sustainable U.S. Constitution rewrite needed

Human intelligence appears to be incapable of believing it needs a rewrite for our nation, ideals, and citizens to survive and thrive.   ChatGPT offers some wisdom.  

Creating a sustainable replacement for the U.S. Constitution would require addressing both the document’s structure and principles to better reflect interconnectedness, environmental stewardship, and a broader sense of global responsibility. Here are some core elements a sustainable replacement might include:

1. Interdependence as a Foundational Principle: A new constitution would emphasize the interconnectedness of all life, explicitly recognizing that human actions impact the natural world, other species, and future generations. It would acknowledge that “independence” is a myth and embed the idea that well-being and prosperity are linked to collective and environmental health.

2. Rights for Nature: Similar to frameworks adopted in countries like Ecuador and New Zealand, a sustainable constitution would grant rights to ecosystems and natural entities, recognizing the intrinsic value of forests, rivers, and other ecosystems beyond their utility to humans. These rights would empower communities and courts to defend the environment against degradation and exploitation.

3. Holistic Human Rights: While retaining rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, a new constitution would expand these to include rights to health, clean water, food, housing, education, and a sustainable environment. It would affirm that these rights are universal and intergenerational, setting a mandate to ensure they are upheld for both current and future citizens.

4. Global and Environmental Accountability: A reimagined constitution would recognize global responsibilities, requiring policies and practices to be consistent with international climate, health, and environmental agreements. It would prioritize collaboration and coordination on issues that cross national boundaries, like pandemics, climate change, and ecosystem preservation.

5. Decision-Making Based on Science and Ethics: Rather than deferring to economic priorities alone, governance would be driven by science and ethical considerations, balancing short-term needs with long-term impacts. A “Council of Future Generations” or a similar body could be established to review policies through the lens of intergenerational equity, ensuring that decisions made today do not compromise the needs of tomorrow.

6. Direct Democracy and Participatory Governance: Empowering citizens to have a more direct role in decision-making would increase transparency and accountability. Mechanisms like citizen assemblies, participatory budgeting, and referenda could be enshrined to ensure that diverse voices are heard, especially in decisions impacting the environment and public health.

7. Adaptive, Living Document: Unlike the current Constitution, a sustainable constitution could be designed as a living document, reviewed regularly with mechanisms for iterative improvements. Periodic evaluations, potentially every decade, could allow for constitutional adjustments to address evolving challenges and incorporate emerging scientific knowledge and cultural shifts.

8. Redefined Economic Structures: A sustainable constitution would address economic sustainability directly, embedding principles that value ecological health, fair labor practices, and equitable distribution of resources. It might limit corporate power, emphasizing stakeholder (rather than shareholder) responsibility, and require corporations to act in ways that align with the public and environmental good.

9. Peace and Conflict Resolution: Instead of focusing on national defense alone, the constitution would prioritize peace-building and conflict prevention, dedicating resources to address root causes of conflict, such as resource scarcity, inequality, and ecological degradation.

10. Education for Sustainability: The constitution would enshrine education that fosters understanding of ecological systems, interdependence, and civic responsibility. This would ensure that future generations are equipped to make informed, sustainable choices that contribute to the well-being of all.

A sustainable replacement for the U.S. Constitution would need broad societal buy-in and would require an acknowledgment that existing governance structures have limits when it comes to addressing intergenerational and global challenges. It could be a foundational shift toward a society that values long-term stability, ecological health, and the well-being of all interconnected life.

“White men’s justice” or “Indian justice”? ChatGPT

 “White men’s justice” or “Indian justice” often reflect two different philosophical and cultural approaches to justice. Here’s a broad overview of these concepts based on traditional understandings:

White Men’s Justice (Western Justice System):

• Individualism: Western justice systems often prioritize individual rights and responsibilities, emphasizing a person’s actions and their direct consequences.

• Punitive Measures: There is usually a strong focus on punishment and retribution for wrongdoing, aiming to deter future offenses through penalties.

• Legal Formality: The Western justice system relies on written laws, standardized procedures, and formal institutions (e.g., courts and prisons) to maintain order and administer justice.

• Objective Judgment: Decisions are ideally based on objective, established laws and evidence, with a judge or jury determining guilt or innocence.

Indian Justice (Native American/Indigenous Justice Systems):

• Collectivism and Interdependence: Indigenous justice often emphasizes the interconnectedness of people within the community and sees wrongdoing as a breach in community harmony, affecting everyone.

• Restorative Measures: Indigenous justice focuses more on restoring balance and healing relationships rather than punishment. This might involve reconciliation, making amends, or restitution.

• Oral and Flexible Traditions: Indigenous approaches often use oral traditions and community-led processes rather than strict formal institutions. This flexibility allows the community to adapt justice to each situation’s unique context.

• Focus on Healing: Justice is often aimed at healing not only the victim and offender but also the entire community, seeing justice as a path to restore harmony and respect rather than simply enforcing laws.

These approaches highlight differences in worldview: Western justice systems tend to be more punitive and formal, while Indigenous justice systems lean toward restoration and community well-being. These distinctions can be generalized but vary widely within different groups and practices.

The masses! Cannot be trusted with the truth.

 ‘Masses are always breeding grounds of psychic epidemics.’ – Carl Jung

“[The masses] have never thirsted after truth. They demand illusions, and cannot do without them. They constantly give what is unreal precedence over what is real; they are almost as strongly influenced by what is untrue as by what is true. They have an evident tendency not to distinguish between the two.”  Sigmund Freud  (1856 to 1939) founding father of psychoanalysis.

"Any formal attack on ignorance is bound to fail because the masses are always ready to defend their most precious possession -- their ignorance.  -- Hendrik van Loon  (1882-1944) Dutch-American historian and journalist

“The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduce them. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim. An individual in a crowd is a grain of sand amid other grains of sand, which the wind stirs up at will.” Gustave Le Bon   The Crowd: A Study Of The Popular Mind.  1895.  A leading French polymath whose areas of interest included anthropology, psychology, sociology, medicine, invention, and physics. Died in 1931. 

"It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority.  Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people."  -- Giordano Bruno   [Iordanus Brunus Nolanus] (1548-1600) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician, poet, astrologer.   Source: The Shadows of Ideas, Paris, 1582

"When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic." - Dresden James

The responsibility for wars falls solely upon the shoulders of these same masses of people, for they have all the necessary means to avert war in their own hands. In part by their apathy, in part by their passivity, and in part actively, these same masses of people make possible the catastrophes under which they themselves suffer more than anyone else. To stress this guilt on the part of the masses of people, to hold them solely responsible, means to take them seriously. On the other hand, to commiserate masses of people as victims, means to treat them as small, helpless children. The former is the attitude held by genuine freedom fighters; the latter that attitude held by power-thirsty politicians." : Wilhelm Reich, The Mass Psychology of Fascism

“The abolition of war is no longer an ethical question to be pondered solely by learned philosophers and ecclesiastics, but a hard core one for the decision of the masses whose survival is the issue. Many will tell you with mockery and ridicule that the abolition of war can only be a dream -  that it is the vague imagining of a visionary.  But we must go on or we will go under… We must have new thoughts, new ideas, new concepts.  We must break out of the straight jacket of the past.  We must have sufficient imagination and courage to translate the universal wish for peace - which is rapidly becoming a necessity - into actuality.”  General Douglas MacArthur July 5, 1961

"The nation is sick; trouble is in the land, confusion all around... But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century. Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee, the cry is always the same: 'We want to be free.'" -- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.   (1929-1968), US civil rights leader. 3 April 1968

“There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that if you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, that their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class that rests upon it.”   –  William Jennings Bryan, “Cross of Gold” speech at the 1896 Democratic  National Convention in Chicago

"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country."  -- Edward Bernays   (1891-1995) "Father" of modern public relations (PR) and director of the U.S. Committee on Public Information during World War I, on government propaganda  Source: writing in "Propaganda" from "Food & Water Journal'' (1928)

“There are many ways to handle public opinion, in which the ideology of capitalism has been grounded and brought to the level of myths. It is combination of false truths that are being repeated a million times, over the generations, and therefore become indisputable for many. They were designed to represent capitalism as credible and enlist the support and confidence of the masses. These myths are distributed and promoted via media tools, educational institutions, family traditions, church memberships, etc. Here are the most common of these myths.”  Lubov Lulko, Ten Myths About Capitalism

The Law of the Few. History is made by the few, whilst the masses toil at work. For example, the second major revolution in Sapiens’ history – the Agricultural Revolution (around 12,000 years ago) – enabled increased food production and massive population growth, but it forced that average farmer into monotonous hard labour. The fruits of the Agricultural Revolution were enjoyed by a few pampered elites, but who were freed up to make history. For Harari, the Agricultural Revolution was history’s biggest fraud. Yuval Noah Harari 2014

‘Resistance to the organized mass can be effected only by the man who is as well organized in his individuality as the mass itself.’ – Carl Jung

“That ‘the mind is mightier than the sword.’  It can literally believe ANYTHING!  LITERALLY ANYTHING!  And then willingly kill or die (or let the masses suffer) to defend what it believes.  And then choose not to do what it knows NEEDS to be done!   Consider the human, economic, and environmental costs related to obesity, smoking, war, genocide, ecocide, not feeding the hungry, not housing the homeless, not healing the sick…as a short list of examples (I have a file of others if you want them).  I have found admiration for those who do what needs to be done (and have a  special file for such ‘heroes’ to turn to when I start ‘feeling uncomfortable’ or losing my courage to tell people what they really need to know…instead of what makes them feel comfortable.  And I know righteousness rarely works.”  Cw  The 2nd thing I learned after 2001. 

Truths be told! But not in elections. Why? 80 reasons below

 The fight against truth decay is not new.  It goes back thousands of years.  And now accelerating.

If the truth set’s you free, what do untruths do?  Below are dozens of quotes to enlighten us on the power of self-evident truths and not the personal or political truths humans have invented.  What are some self-evident truths?

Aristotle offered an important one.  "The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold."  Those who debated, engineered, then approved the creation of the U.S. Constitution prove this profound truth.  

Aristotle’s idea clearly expressed the fact that even a small mistake or error in the beginning can lead to much larger consequences down the road. When we start with an incorrect assumption or premise, further reasoning and decision-making will be flawed. If things are built on that faulty foundation, the errors will accumulate and multiply if not corrected. The issue of slavery was. But not the very delusional foundation that states and the people within them can be independent of one another.  This delusion has increasingly perpetrated incorrect conclusions, ineffective actions, and increasing dysfunctional systems and structures at nearly every national and global level. 

Aristotle emphasized the importance of starting with a strong foundation of truth and accuracy in our thinking and reasoning to avoid the compounding effects of errors and ensure that our actions and decisions are based on sound principles and reasoning.  Sound fundamental principles like the self-evident truths clearly stated within the Declaration of Independence assumed under “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God”.  

"To love truth for truth's sake is the principal part of human perfection in this world, and the seed-plot of all other virtues."  -- John Locke  (1632-1704) English philosopher and political theorist. Considered the ideological progenitor of the American Revolution and who, by far, was the most often non-biblical writer quoted by the Founding Fathers of the USA.

"There is no crime more infamous than the violation of truth. It is apparent that men can be social beings no longer than they believe each other. When speech is employed only as the vehicle of falsehood, every man must disunite himself from others, inhabit his own cave and seek prey only for himself."  -- Dr. Samuel Johnson   (1709-1784) English author, poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer

“[The masses] have never thirsted after truth. They demand illusions, and cannot do without them. They constantly give what is unreal precedence over what is real; they are almost as strongly influenced by what is untrue as by what is true. They have an evident tendency not to distinguish between the two.”  Sigmund Freud  (1856 to 1939) founding father of psychoanalysis.

“The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduce them. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim. An individual in a crowd is a grain of sand amid other grains of sand, which the wind stirs up at will.” Gustave Le Bon   The Crowd: A Study Of The Popular Mind.  1895.  A leading French polymath whose areas of interest included anthropology, psychology, sociology, medicine, invention, and physics. Died in 1931. 

“Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society.”  – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Prudence [1841]

"It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings. ... Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things, which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it. Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. ... Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" -- Patrick Henry  (1736-1799) US Founding Father  Source: "The War Inevitable" speech to the Virginia Convention, March 23, 1775

"Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend." Hypatia of Alexandria, lived circa 400 CE in Alexandria, Egypt

"There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting." -- Buddha

“Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion” Edward Abby

“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” James Reeves

“A lie doesn’t become truth, wrong doesn’t become right, and evil doesn’t become good just because it’s accepted by a majority.” Booker T. Washington

"We Americans are the ultimate innocents. We are forever desperate to believe that this time the government is telling us the truth." - Sydney Schanberg

“Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a truth.' “ Khalil Gibran - The Prophet

"Truth: the deadliest weapon ever discovered by humanity. Capable of destroying entire perceptual sets, cultures, and realities. Outlawed by all governments everywhere. Possession is normally punishable by death." - John Gilmore (1935- ) Author

“You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.” Robert A. Heinlein, Revolt in 2100/Methuselah's Children

"Be aware of this truth that the people on this earth could be joyous, if only they would live rationally and if they would contribute mutually to each others' welfare." Kurt Vonnegut

"Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people."- Spencer Johnson

"The majority is never right. Never, I tell you! That's one of these lies in society that no free and intelligent man can ever help rebelling against. Who are the people that make up the biggest proportion of the population -- the intelligent ones or the fools? I think we can agree it's the fools, no matter where you go in this world, it's the fools that form the overwhelming majority."  -- Henrik Ibsen   (1828-1906) Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet

"It is easier to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth than to find one intrepid enough, in the face of opposition to stand up for it":  A. Hodge

"Truth never tranquilizes. The defining property of truth is its ability to disturb.  Jesus only told half the story.   The truth 'will' set you free.  But, first it's going to piss you off."  -- Solomon Short a fictional character of David Gerrold. 

"You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common, they don't alter their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views" - Doctor Who

"There are in fact four very significant stumbling blocks in the way of grasping the truth, which hinder every man however learned, and scarcely allow anyone to win a clear title to wisdom, namely, the example of weak and unworthy authority, longstanding custom, the feeling of the ignorant crowd, and the hiding of our own ignorance while making a display of our apparent knowledge."  -- Roger Bacon   (1220-1292)  Source: Opus Majus, 1266-67

"Nothing is as terrible to see as ignorance in action."   -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German writer, statesman   Source: engraved on a plaque at the Naval War College

“Integrity is an accurate reflection in word and deed of whatever one's highest conscience dictates as right. Wisdom is whatever one's highest conscience dictates as truth.”  – Leonard E. Read

“Though all the winds of the doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously, by licensing and prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?”  – John Milton, Areopagatica [1644]

"The search for the truth is the noblest occupation of man; its publication is a duty." - Anne Louise Germaine de Stael (1766-1817) French author

"The history of our race, and each individual's experience, are sown thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill and that a lie told well is immortal": Mark Twain (1835 - 1910), Advice to Youth

"There is no man so friendless but what he can find a friend sincere enough to tell him disagreeable truths."  Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton, 19th century English novelist, poet, and politician. (He believed that no matter how alone or friendless a person may feel, there is always someone who cares enough about them to tell them the truth, even if it is something they do not want to hear. A sincere friend will not hesitate to point out someone's flaws or mistakes, even if it is uncomfortable or awkward to do so. In essence, he emphasized the importance of having genuine and honest relationships with people who are willing to tell the truth, no matter how difficult it may be. It also suggests that true friendship is not about always agreeing with each other, but rather about supporting and helping each other to become better people.)

"Truth is not determined by majority vote": Doug Gwyn

“A responsibility of every American citizen to each other is to preserve and protect our freedom by recognizing what truth is and is not.”  Rex Tillerson. Former Secretary of State, at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, VA May 2018

"Truth: the most deadly weapon ever discovered by humanity.  Capable of destroying entire perceptual sets, cultures, and realities.  Outlawed by all governments everywhere.  Possession is normally punishable by death."  -- John Gilmore  (1935-2016) American true crime writer, author of Hollywood memoirs, and novelist

“If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us.” - Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark 

“The WORLD is not sufficiently aware of the influence that sophistry exerts over it. When the rule of the stronger was overthrown, sophistry transferred the empire to the more subtle, and it would be hard to say which of these two tyrants has been the more disastrous for mankind.  Men have an immoderate love of pleasure, influence, prestige, power—in a word, wealth. And, at the same time, they are driven by a powerful impulse to obtain these things for themselves at the expense of others. But these others, who constitute the public, are impelled no less powerfully to keep what they have acquired, provided that they can and that they know how. Plunder, which plays such an important role in the affairs of the world, has but two instruments: force and fraud, and two impediments courage and knowledge.”  — Frederic Bastiat, Economic Sophisms [1845]

"This is, in theory, still a free country, but our politically correct, censorious times are such that many of us tremble to give vent to perfectly acceptable views for fear of condemnation. Freedom of speech is thereby imperiled, big questions go un-debated, and great lies become accepted, unequivocally as great truths." -- Simon Heffer Source: Daily Mail, 7 June 2000

"I would rather starve and rot and keep the privilege of speaking the truth as I see it, than of holding all the offices that capital has to give from the presidency down."  -- Henry Brooks Adams   (1838-1918) Pulitzer prize-winning historian (1919), great-grandson of John Adams, grandson of John Quincy Adams, and son of US Secretary of State, Charles Adams.  Source: The Degradation of the Democratic Dogma, 1919

“Perhaps this is not a new thing!   "I know that most men -- not only those considered clever, but even those who are very clever and capable of understanding most difficult scientific, mathematical, or philosophic, problems — can seldom discern even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as obliges them to admit the falsity of conclusions they have formed, perhaps with much difficulty -- conclusions of which they are proud, which they have taught to others, and on which they have built their lives."   -- Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoi  (1828-1910) Russian writer    Source: What is Art? (1896)

"The political spirit is the great force in throwing the love of truth and accurate reasoning into a secondary place."   -- John Viscount Morley  (1838-1923), of Blackburn    Source: On Compromise, 1874

“It may not always be easy, convenient, or politically correct to stand for truth and right, but it is the right thing to do. Always.”   – M. Russell Ballard

"He who dares not offend cannot be honest": Thomas Paine 

"When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience, and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; culture-death is a clear possibility." - Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

Robert Reich - Have We Lost the Common Good? [ (4 min) Video]    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t8in5n4cps       In it video, political commentator, author, and former U.S. Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, points out that most Americans no longer believe that the major institutions of society—government, corporations, banks, charities, and universities—work for them. Only truths will rebuild trust in our systems.

“Americans need to recognize that, once their government commences warring, truth will be target number one.”  – James Bovard,   "Endless U.S. Government Lies on the Afghanistan War" [October 2018]

"The time has come for America to hear the truth about this tragic war. In international conflicts, the truth is hard to come by because most nations are deceived about themselves. Rationalizations and the incessant search for scapegoats are the psychological cataracts that blind us to our sins. But the day has passed for superficial patriotism. He who lives with untruth lives in spiritual slavery." - Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), US civil rights leader.

“Today’s politics is the art of forcing our love of truth - and logic - to the back of the bus. And putting your political parties priorities in first ten rows.” Cw

"I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you." -  Friedrich Nietzsche

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it." -  Flannery O'Connor (1925 - 1964)

"An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it": Mohandas Gandhi

"If you're right and you know it, speak your mind. Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth." Mahatma Gandhi

"It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself": Thomas Jefferson

"There is but one truth, one set of facts, one reality.  Honest people may differ in their perception or interpretation of it while ruthless, dishonorable people, media, or governments twist, conceal, deny or lie about it to further their own greed and corruption.” - Bob Davies

"One of the hardest things to teach a child is that the truth is more important than the consequences." - O. A. Battista - [Orlando Aloysius Battista] (1917-1995), Canadian-American chemist and author  

"Truth is not only violated by falsehood; it may be equally outraged by silence": Henri Frederic Amiel:   1880s

"Truth has to be repeated constantly, because Error also is being preached all the time, and not just by a few, but by the multitude.  In the Press and Encyclopaedias, in Schools and Universities, everywhere Error holds sway, feeling happy and comfortable in the knowledge of having Majority on its side."   Goethe German writer, artist, natural scientist and politician (1749–1832)

"It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority.  Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people."  -- Giordano Bruno   [Iordanus Brunus Nolanus] (1548-1600) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician, poet, astrologer.   Source: The Shadows of Ideas, Paris, 1582

"Honesty demands that we boldly pursue ideas tested by time, defended by reason, validated by experience, and confirmed by revelation. We will only find truth when we place our confidence in it and not in ourselves. We will only learn when we love truth enough to measure all ideas with a measuring rod outside of those things being measured and are willing to discard those ideas we find to be "intolerable," inferior, and useless." -- Everett Piper

President of Oklahoma Wesleyan University  Source: 'Bethlehem, Not Berkeley, Is the Birthplace of Free Speech,' The Christian Post, Apr 27, 2017

“Economics is haunted by more fallacies than any other study known to man. This is no accident. The inherent difficulties of the subject would be great enough in any case, but they are multiplied a thousandfold by a factor that is insignificant in, say, physics, mathematics or medicine — the special pleading of selfish interests”. – Henry Hazlitt, Economics In One Lesson [1946]

"The main thing is to have a soul that loves the truth and harbours it where he finds it. And another thing: truth requires constant repetition, because error is being preached about us all the time, and not only by isolated individuals but by the masses. In the newspapers and encyclopedias, in schools and universities, everywhere error rides high and basks in the consciousness of having the majority on its side."   ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German writer and statesman

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."  -- Albert Einstein  (1879-1955) Physicist and Professor, Nobel Prize 1921

 

"All truth is true even if no one believes it, and all falsehood is false even if everyone believes it. Truth is true and that's just the end of it."  Os Guinness

“The first and last thing required of genius is the love of truth.”  – Goethe. German writer, artist, natural scientist and politician (1749–1832)

“They deem him their worst enemy, who tells them the truth” - Plato, The Republic, c. 380 BC

"It's not a matter of what is true that counts but a matter of what is perceived to be true." -  Henry Kissinger

"To die for an idea; it is unquestionably noble. But how much nobler it would be if men died for ideas that were true." -   H L Mencken, 1919 

"The history of our race, and each individual's experience, are sown thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill and that a lie told well is immortal": Mark Twain (1835 - 1910), Advice to Youth

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened." -  Winston S. Churchill

"Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world...would do this, it would change the earth." -  William Faulkner

"A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it." -  Oscar Wilde

"The first war crime committed in any war of aggression by the aggressors is against the truth" -  Michael Parenti    

"The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear."  -  Herbert Sebastien Agar  

"A society committed to the search for truth must give protection to, and set a high value upon, the independent and original mind, however angular, however rasping, however, socially unpleasant it may be; for it is upon such minds in large measure, that the effective search for truth depends."  -- Caryl Parker Haskins  (1908-2001) Scientist, author, inventor, philanthropist, governmental advisor and pioneering entomologist in the study of ant biology    Source: New York Times, 9 December 1963

"When telling someone the truth, make them laugh or they will kill you" ~ Oscar Wilde

"The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear."  -  Herbert Sebastien Agar  

"Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them." -- Justice Joseph Story : (1779-1845) US Supreme Court Justice 1833

"I shall not bear ill will toward anyone. - I shall not submit to injustice from anyone. - I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering." -  Mahatma Gandhi

“I am for truth, no matter who tells it.” -Malcolm X

“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul

"In a free society, we are supposed to know the truth," "In a society where truth becomes treason, we are in big trouble." Rep. Ron Paul (R) of Texas

“The men that American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest the most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.” -- H L  Mencken (attributed: source unknown)

“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them”  Ida B. Wells

“We make ourselves real by telling the truth. Man can hardly forget that he needs to know the truth, for the instinct to know is too strong in us to be destroyed. But he can forget how badly he also needs to tell the truth. We cannot know truth unless we ourselves are conformed to it. We must be true inside, true to ourselves, before we can know a truth that is outside us. But we make ourselves true by manifesting the truth as we see it”.  – Thomas Merton, From No Man Is an Island [1955]

"The real searcher after truth will not receive the old because it is old, or reject the new because it is new. He will not believe men because they are dead or contradict them because they are alive.

With him an utterance is worth the truth, the reason it contains, without the slightest regard to the author.   He may have been a king or serf -- a philosopher or servant, — but the utterance neither gains nor loses in truth or reason.  Its value is absolutely independent of the fame or station  of the man who gave it to the world."  -- Robert G. Ingersoll    (1833-1899) American lawyer, Civil War veteran, political leader, orator of United States during the Golden Age of Free Thought, nicknamed "The Great Agnostic"

“The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the State.”  – Joseph Goebbels

I stand for the truth.  Will stand for it?  If not, then what do you stand for? 

Americans have the dysfunctional government we deserve and was predicted from the start.

 "But I go on this great republican principle, that the people will have virtue and intelligence to select men of virtue and wisdom. Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks -- no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea. If there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them."  -- James Madison   (1751-1836), Father of the Constitution for the USA, 4th US President.   Source: Virginia Ratifying Convention, 1788

Washington Post Editorial Board regarding Declaration of Independence.

 

Washington Post Editorial Board Opinion:  Print edition 10-21-24

"America has a big birthday coming. Kamala Harris should talk plans.  The celebration is a chance to renew our nation’s commitment to the promise of its founding.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/20/semiquincentennial-america-birthday-harris-independence/

On July Fourth, 2026, America will celebrate its semiquincentennial. This ungainly word means 250 years of striving toward the majestic truths invoked in our founding: that a government must derive its “just powers from the consent of the governed,” and secure to all its people their inalienable rights to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

If our nation has often failed to live up to these ideals, it has also advanced them far beyond what anyone could have dreamed possible when most of the world was still mired in monarchism. Our coming birthday is a chance to celebrate how far we’ve come and, of course, to renew our nation’s commitment to the promise of its founding.

This is a message we should be hearing more from our candidates for president. It would be a welcome relief from negative campaigning, and it presents an opportunity to unite the country around a common purpose, in preparation for the hard work that faces whoever wins: putting the country’s fiscal house in order, laying the basis for a growing economy and providing opportunity for those who lack it.

Donald Trump released a video in May 2023, promising a “spectacular birthday party … the best of all time.” He proposed daily activities starting a year before July 4, 2026, centered on what he called a “Great American State Fair.” But he has seldom if at all returned to this upbeat notion, campaigning instead on darker themes such as the threats from migrants and the “enemy from within.” Vice President Kamala Harris has an opportunity to sharpen the contrast with her opponent by leaning into celebrating America’s history and potential.

A thought: She should start planning her own alternative vision for the 250th birthday party now, and lay out plans for her 330 million potential guests. She should promise to work with Congress toward the biggest, best — and most truly inclusive — patriotic extravaganza our nation has ever seen. She could make this a down payment on her promise to be “a president who unites us around our highest aspirations.”

Efforts are already underway to plan the semiquincentennial, but they got off to a slow start, mirroring much of the country’s political dysfunction. The federal commission appointed to oversee the proceedings, writes the Atlantic, “swiftly descended into a morass of charges and countercharges over process, favoritism, hiring, gender discrimination, and budget decisions.”

Things now seem to be moving forward under new leadership, and Ms. Harris needn’t promise to start over from scratch. But she should explain how she will put her own spin on the celebrations, including, if necessary, asking Congress for more money. She should also try to persuade skeptics on her side of the political spectrum that the United States is indeed something worth celebrating. “The problem is, many Americans don’t know what they’d be celebrating” the Atlantic writer notes later in the essay. “On the left, rejecting traditional patriotism has become de rigueur: by kneeling for the national anthem, dismissing the Founders as enslavers, and expressing unease at the prospect of flying an American flag.”

Ms. Harris is well-positioned to make this pitch, because as the child of immigrants and a woman of color, she represents in her very candidacy the progress the country has seen. But if she cannot persuade the naysayers, she should show the courage to ignore a vocal minority that would rather use the moment to dwell on this country’s flaws than to celebrate our even more numerous virtues.

This would be more than an exercise in shallow nationalism. The United States is a remarkable achievement, and it could become more remarkable still. The celebration would also be popular: Two-thirds of citizens say they are “very” or “extremely” proud to be Americans, and some of the rest might be won over by a country that’s demonstrably proud of itself. Moreover, achieving a government that does more to advance human rights abroad and care for its citizens at home depends on cultivating a strong sense of patriotism. If you want Americans to make sacrifices to help one another, and the world, then you must first convince them that America is worth sacrificing for.

It would be nice, in theory, to suggest the same for Mr. Trump. The problem is that his alternative vision does not fit this (or any) moment. It would in fact be incongruous for Mr. Trump to preside over the nation’s semiquincentennial as he campaigns around the idea of an imperiled America.

As this campaign comes to a close, an opportunity remains for at least one candidate to make an uplifting, unifying, 250th birthday party his, or her, cause.

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The Post’s View | About the Editorial Board

Editorials represent the views of The Post as an institution, as determined through discussion among members of the Editorial Board, based in the Opinions section and separate from the newsroom.

Members of the Editorial Board: Opinion Editor David Shipley, Deputy Opinion Editor Charles Lane and Deputy Opinion Editor Stephen Stromberg, as well as writers Mary Duenwald, David E. Hoffman, James Hohmann, Mili Mitra, Eduardo Porter, Keith B. Richburg and Molly Roberts.

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The next day I submitted my letter to the editor in response to this Washington Post editorial.  

10-21-24:  Dear Editor,  

The Declaration’s 250 Birthday July 4, 2026, is not just for the US.  Our nation was created 11 years after this aspirational ideal of human freedom was officially recognized by a few dozen men knowingly risking their lives and their fortunes to proclaim it globally.  Nearly a century later President Lincoln asserted it was ‘for all people, everywhere for all time.’  And called it our “Apple of Gold” and our Constitution its “Silver Frame”.  

The concept of “self-Evident” “Truths” that “WE” should all “hold” offers us the potential to cure the global truth decay that is now demolishing the trust needed for any democracy or autocracy to function without violence or destroying nature.   These truths are based on “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” (a phrase that could enlighten the least educated or the most polarized minds – but remains the most ignored yet valuable phrase of the declaration).  This wisdom simply suggests ‘taking care of nature, and each other - practicing ‘the golden rule” – which is the foundation of every religion.  This profound phrase prefaces the most fundamental short list of “unalienable Rights” that every human is born with - “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights approved at the UN in 1948 lists the others.

Yet with all our collective intelligence we still allow leaders to persist in ignoring this wisdom when making human laws.  If humanity is to escape the cascading chaos of the growing number of disruptive forces now fueling authoritarian movements in ‘democratic’ nations this celebration must go global.  Because, it is impossible to effectively address globally interdependent problems as independent nations.    Jen Easterly, Director of our nation’s newest federal agency, CISA, the Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency made this claim Oct. 29, 2021.  Former President Trump created CISA and appointed Ms. Easterly who still holds the position.  She asserted that “Everything is connected, everything is interdependent, so everything is vulnerable.... And that’s why this has to be a more than whole of government, a more than whole of nation [effort]. It really has to be a global effort....” 

https://www.c-span.org/video/?515706-1/protecting-critical-infrastructure Note, the word ‘Everything’ is an autological word that defines itself.  And includes the environment and every strand of DNA in our bodies.

In the previous century nearly 50 leaders in other nations referred to the Declaration when freeing their people from tyranny.  President John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address (1961) offered the Declaration’s wisdom then.  And President Carter’s 1980 bipartisan Presidential Commission on World Hunger summarized the same wisdom.  

With the evolution of war, weapons, pathogens, environmental destruction, truth decay, political polarization, and growing global tensions...civilization’s capacity to achieve heaven on earth and restore our Garden of Eden has never been greater.  Voters and Candidates need to wise up or our nation as we love it may not make it another 21 months.

Chuck Woolery,
Former Chair UNA Council of Organizations

Rockville, MD

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The WP editor told me on Halloween it would be printed on election day. His edits are below. I approved them without reading them (just so happy it would even be printed...;-))  Below is what was printed - along with two other Letters regarding the 250 anniversary of Declaration celebration planned for July 4th, 2026.   One on the importance of protecting the Mall from extreme weather events, and the other protecting our environment from litter and being trashed.

 ******************

Dear Editor,

The Declaration of Independence’s 250th birthday on July 4, 2026, will not simply be for the United States. Our Founding Fathers created this aspirational ideal of human freedom and risked their lives and fortunes to proclaim it across the globe. Nearly a century later, President Abraham Lincoln called the Declaration our “apple of gold” and our Constitution its “silver frame.”

The concept of self-evident truths that we should all hold contains the cure for the global truth decay that is demolishing trust in our democracy. These truths are based on “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,” one of the most ignored and valuable phrases in the Declaration. This profound phrase prefaces the most fundamental short list of “unalienable Rights” that every human is born with: “life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, approved by the United Nations in 1948, lists the others.

Yet, with all our collective intelligence, we still allow lawmakers to ignore this wisdom. If humanity is to escape the growing number of disruptive forces now fueling authoritarian movements, this celebration of the Declaration must go global. It is impossible to effectively address the world’s problems as an isolated nation.

Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said in 2021: “Everything is connected, everything is interdependent, so everything is vulnerable. … And that’s why this has to be a more than whole of government, a more than whole of nation [effort]. It really has to be a global effort.”

In the previous century, nearly 50 leaders in other nations referred to the Declaration of Independence when freeing their people from tyranny. President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address drew on the Declaration’s wisdom. And President Jimmy Carter’s 1980 bipartisan Presidential Commission on World Hunger summarized the same vision of a world united and liberated by these ideas.

With the evolution of war, weapons, pathogens, environmental destruction, truth decay, political polarization and growing global tensions, the need to restore civilization’s Garden of Eden has never been greater. Voters and candidates need to wise up, or this nation we love might not make it.

Chuck Woolery, Rockville

The writer is former chair of the United Nations Association Council of Organizations.

 

 

 

 

JFK 1961 inauguration in the context of the Declaration of Independence 1776

 

President John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address (1961)

On January 20, 1961, President John F. Kennedy delivered his inaugural address in which he announced that "we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty."

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/president-john-f-kennedys-inaugural-address

We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom--symbolizing an end as well as a beginning--signifying renewal as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forbears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago.

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.

We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

This much we pledge--and more.

To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do--for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.

To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom--and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.

To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required--not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge--to convert our good words into good deeds--in a new alliance for progress--to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty. But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas. And let every other power know that this Hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house.

To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support--to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective--to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak--and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.

Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.

We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.

But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course--both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final war.

So let us begin anew--remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.

Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms--and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations.

Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths and encourage the arts and commerce.

Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah--to "undo the heavy burdens . . . (and) let the oppressed go free."

And if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor, not a new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.

All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.

In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.

Now the trumpet summons us again--not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need--not as a call to battle, though embattled we are-- but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation"--a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.

Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility--I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it--and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.