Edifying experience

Tonight I had the humbling privilege to narrate a piece of music at our high school's fall concert.
The piece was 'A Jefferson Portrait'* - by Elliot Del Borgo. We practiced for at least a month or more. It was challenging to try to count and listen to the band and watch for the director's cues. It was a fun challenge to read dramatically for fluency and expression, and yet be careful not to be over dramatic so as to respect the dignity of the words.

It was a moving experience for me because I love Jefferson's words so much and they are so important and valuable to us, even more so facing such an important election. Several teachers and parents who were there complimented me and of course that felt good. One parent even said that I should consider working in radio- so I had to try not to let myself get a big head.

But the most meaningful part was when a disabled Vietnam veteran thanked me because he felt like we had a government that had become "destructive of these ends," and needed to be altered or abolished. I knew that he blamed our government for the Agent Orange which had destroyed his life and pursuit of happiness. You can blame both Democrats and Republicans for that war (Johnson first, then Nixon). He went on to say that he feared another revolution was on it's way if things didn't change dramatically in the next few months. I didn't ask if he supported McCain or Obama ("leave a tender moment alone" Billy Joel always used to say). I thanked him for his service to our country and agreed with him that Jefferson's writing meant as much or more to us today as 230 years ago.

Just as pastors have to give credit to God for words form the Bible, I know that it was these words and these ideas that have the power, not my reading or our bands performance (although they did a supurbe job). I know it's October, not July but I hope that people will remember and meditate on the meaning of Jefferson's words before they vote on Tuesday- whether they are liberal, conservative, moderate, or undecided.

*In case you follow the link and listen to 'A Jefferson Portrait,' you should know that this is not a recoding of our performance tonight- just a sample from some music company that I found on the web to halp me practice.

"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.

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, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies;...

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

I declare, yet another Independence Day

Every Fourth of July all we ever hear about is Thomas Jefferson this and Thomas Jefferson that. Oh, sometimes you’ll hear a little bit about John Adams and Ben Franklin, but it’s as if the other 56 guys who signed the Declaration of Independence didn’t exist. I hear you shouting out the names of George Washington and John Hancock, but Washington was off fighting some war, too busy to even show up for the vote on the resolution to declare independence. And Hancock may not have become president of the second Continental Congress if the previous president, Peyton Randolph from Virginia hadn’t gotten sick and died (at the ripe old age of 54).

John Adam’s cousin Samuel Adams has become better known in recent years because of the premiere beers which bare his name. But in actuality while he was an excellent politician, in his time he was an unsuccessful brewer, and a poor businessman. It’s actually pretty ironic that he became such a rabble rouser for the cause of independence and “no taxation without representation” even leading the Boston Tea Party. You see, his first job was as a tax collector.

Hardly anyone remembers Pennsylvania’s John Dickinson. Probably because he didn’t sign the Declaration and in fact tried several times to stifle debate over the resolution. In fact, much to Ben Franklin’s chagrin, he split the Pennsylvania delegation on the issue. His object had always been reconciliation, not independence or revolution. He loved his country and had always been proud of his country, love her or leave her. Of course, his country was Great Brittan. Ah, a regular Benedict Arnold you say? Not at all, he served in the militia as both a private and as a brigadier general. He moved to Delaware and in 1777, while Delaware's wealthiest farmer and largest slaveholder, he free all his slaves.

So Dickinson turned out to be a decent person after all. He was so decent, that in 1781 he became the President of Delaware (under the Articles of Confederation, governors were called “president”). This was complicated by the fact that he became President of Pennsylvania in 1782 without resigning from the Delaware presidency. State presidents weren’t directly elected by the people, but appointed by the state legislatures. Needless to say, Delaware was really irked.

Josiah Bartlett was the first to sign the Declaration, after John Hancock. Bartlett served on the Supreme Court of New Hampshire. He was elected the first (and presumably only) president of independent New Hampshire, and then its first governor, under the U.S. Constitution.

Another New Hamphirean was William Whipple. He lead the successful battles of Stillwater and Saratoga against General “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne. Nothing to sneeze at, but I still get a kick out of the name “General Whipple.” I imagine him ordering his troops not to squeeze the Charmin.

Speaking of grocers, they plaid a vital role in the revolutionary war. Roger Sherman started out as a humble cobbler from Connecticut. But eventually his business wasn’t limited to selling shoes, he was appointed commissary for Connecticut troops, which meant he provided groceries to military personnel. He served on the committee to write the Declaration, along with John Adams, Phillip Livingston of New York, Franklin, and of course Jefferson.

There may not have been a Declaration of Independence without Jefferson, but Congress may never have declared independence if it hadn’t been for another Virginian, Richard Henry Lee. It was Lee who actually offered the Resolutions for Independence to the committee of the whole in 1776. John Adams had tried repeatedly, but he was obnoxious and disliked, did you know that? History is stranger than mythology sometimes because this man, to whom the United States owes its birth, wound up being the great uncle of a certain Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general who nearly brought about its demise.

Finally there was Judge James Wilson from Pennsylvania. You’ll remember that John Dickinson opposed declaring independence; well Wilson was the swing vote. Despite Ben Franklin’s best efforts, Wilson rode the fence so long, he got splinters. Pennsylvania was divided on the issue of separation, and Wilson refused to vote against the will of his constituents. He had spoken eloquently for independence so long as he never had to vote on it. He didn’t want to be famous. He wanted a quiet, simple life. He didn’t want to stand out as a radical. He claimed he had to consult with his constituents. He managed to stall for three weeks. Dickinson urged him to vote in the people’s best interest, which was to reconcile with Mother England.

In the end, he sided with the majority in Congress and so faded into obscurity. Sometimes swing votes are the most important.

You have become your mother, country

Indedependence Day should be more than just a day
Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper — Schleswig Leader, Thursday, July 5, 2007 – Page 3

I like to write a special column for the Fourth of July because it is one of my favorite holidays. Unfortunately I missed my chance to write one before the Fourth and because of the way it lands in the middle of the week, few of you will read this one on the Fourth, most of you will get your paper on July fifth. But that’s okay.

Really, it could be a whole season. Virginia Delegate Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution calling for independence from Britain on June 7. The Congress passed another resolution calling for independence on July 2 already. The Declaration was really just a formality, after all a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that you should declare the causes which impel you to separation from your mother country.

John Hancock, as president of Congress was the only delegate to really sign it by the Fourth. Most of them didn’t sign it until August 2. Thomas McKean of Delaware didn’t get around to it until 1781. The first newspaper to print the Declaration was the Pennsylvania Evening Post on July 6, 1776. On July 8th the Declaration had its first public reading in Philadelphia's Independence Square.

This column has really been getting too long. I get to writing and just get carried away. Before I know it, I’m up to 8 or 900 words and poor Michelle at the newspaper office can only fit one recipe at the bottom of the page. I really need to keep it down between 500 to maybe 750 tops. When Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration, it was 1,817 words; Congress made 68 changes, killing 480 words- far be it from the patriots to criticize King George for the practice of slavery.

So I’m a day late. Hallmark doesn’t have any “belated Independence Day” cards that I’ve found, so I just have to count on your good natures to forgive me.

It’s the thought that counts, doesn’t it? How do you send a birthday card to a country?

Why do I love this crazy, uncouth, 231 year old amalgamation of people and cultures from all over the globe, ideas, hopes, dreams? I think it’s because it at least used to be founded on principles drawn from the philosophies of the Age of Enlightenment that promised fairness and honor.

That core second paragraph says it all;

“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, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”

In other words, it ought to be obvious that no one is better than anyone else because of where they come from. Every human being on Earth is entitled to certain God-given rights. Since it’s human nature to trample on each other’s rights, we establish a system of laws in order to balance all of our competing interests and make sure that the playing field is evened out for everyone.

What do you do when you loved ones just aren’t themselves? Let’s say someone in your family is acting different, maybe due to mental illness, or someone’s diet has them headed for complications of diabetes or high blood pressure? How about when a friend is in a destructive relationship, or has started abusing drugs or alcohol? Do you hold an intervention? Do you try to talk with them, lovingly yet honestly? Do you confront them? Do you abandon them? The least you can do, which sometimes ends up being the most powerful, is to pray for them.

So here we are, 231 years after dissolving our bonds with England, I wonder if we aren’t more like the old British Empire than we care to admit. Does everybody have to turn into their parents? When I read through the long list of offences that make up the bulk of the Declaration (that most of us never bother to look at) I wonder how many people around the world could accuse us of.

Secret prisons, secret “courts,” torture, spying on our own citizens, reversing desegregation, a regressive tax structure, staggering trade deficits, and lest we forget, using false intelligence to justify unilateral and preemptive invasions of countries that don’t have weapons of mass destruction and occupying them for years.

With Jefferson, “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.”

But he provided the solution; “when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

So that the REAL way to celebrate the Fourth of July is not with fireworks in the summer, but by taking some time to caucus in January and casting your ballot on the first Tuesday in November.

Okay, now I'm pushing 900 words again. Ah, but Jefferson didn't have a blog- I can post this in it's entirety, and cut out a good 300 words or so before I turn it in for printing.

Happy Birthday America, now knock this shit off, you're not acting like yourself. Act your age, not your President's IQ. Thank you.

What the Fourth is For

*See Cartoon Footnote (scroll down below column)

What the Fourth is For

For the Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper and Schleswig Leader, Thurs. June 29, 2006

(Note: anyone remotely familiar with any of our most important documents will notice my shameless paraphrasing, the thing is, too many people don't seem to be very familiar with them, otherwise why would we have stupid attempts to desecrate them like the recent flag-burning amendment in the Senate?)

Sometimes as life goes on, you need to cut off your political connections to a group, and take your place in the world as God and nature intended. When that happens, it’s only fair that you explain why. That’s what the Continental Congress did 230 years ago this week.

Thomas Jefferson wrote that everyone is created equal, and have God given rights, including the right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Everyone agrees that the pursuit of happiness is pretty vague and that that one can be interpreted differently by almost everyone.

Life ought to be self explanatory, but of course two centuries later, there are issues of “quality of life,” end-of-life, of course abortion and don’t forget capital punishment.

“Pursuit of happiness” has to be the one that is the most subjective. What if my pursuit impedes yours? What if yours violates my religion?

Government exists to protect our rights, and it’s a trade-off, they exist because we allow them to. We forfeit some of our rights and privileges in order to, preserve and protect others. When the government stops protecting our rights, “it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government,” and fortunately for us, we don’t have to fight a war for Independence every time we need to do this. Instead, every two years we elect new Congressmen, every four years we replace the President, and every six years we decide on new Senators.

We hope that they’ll look out for our safety and happiness. Unfortunately all experience “hath shewn,” that voters will put up with an awful lot before they finally get fed up and tend to prefer the devil we know over the devil we don’t know.

For the sake of unity, justice, domestic tranquility, common defense, everyone’s best interests, and to guarantee freedom for us and for future generations, made this a nation of laws, not of men.

Here are just a few of our rights and freedoms:

1. Separation of church and state, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble and to complain to the government when they’re wrong and demand that they make things right.

There is no officially established “Church of America,” but they can’t punish you for believing or worshiping as you wish.

Free speech, means having to put up with a lot of other people’s claptrap. You may not always like what I say here, but that won’t stop me from listening to the Dixie Chicks. (I like Toby Kieth too, if it helps.)

2. “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

“A well regulated militia”- that sounds a lot like the National Guard, doesn’t it? “Well regulated” Hmmm? Sounds like maybe the founding fathers didn’t think that every white supremacist needed their own semi-automatic grenade launcher after all, at least not without a background check first. But that’s just my interpretation. See there, I exercised my freedom of speech in the press and I bet someone didn’t like it- just let me pursue my happiness without endangering my life, will ya?

3.You have the right not to have to have soldiers take over your home.

4. You have a right to not have your home or your stuff searched or confiscated without probable cause, or better yet a warrant.

5. You have a right to a trial in an actual court- not a military tribunal (unless you’re a member of the military, then you’d face a court’s marshal). You have the right to remain silent- that is you don’t have to testify if whatever you say can be used to incriminate you (You can “plead the fifth”). They can’t take away your life, liberty, or property, without due process of law and they can’t temporarily commandeer your stuff without paying you what it’s worth.

6. You have a right to a speedy trial, and a jury of your peers. You have a right to be told what you were arrested for. You have a right to confront the person who accused you of whatever crime you’re charged with. You have right to a defense lawyer who has to try to find witnesses who can help you.

7. If someone sues you for more than $20, you have a right to a jury, not just a judge, even though it’s civil court, rather than criminal court.

8. They can’t make your bail or fines too outrageous, and any penalties should not be cruel or unusual.

9. The point of the Constitution is to protect rights, not limit them

10. Whatever power that the Constitution doesn’t give to the federal government that the state government doesn’t prohibit, belong either to the state government or to the people themselves.

There are 27 more amendments besides the Bill of Rights. People struggle and sacrifice for these, they fought and died for them. What a shame if anyone would be asked to die for anything less.
____________________________________________

*Cartoon Footnote:

NEW YORK Rep. Steve King, a Republican from Iowa, apologized to Helen Thomas on Wednesday for disparaging comments he made about the veteran White House correspondent.

Last Saturday, Rep. King, while discussing the death of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi at the state Republican convention, said, "What occurred to me that morning is something that I imagine a lot of you have thought about and he's probably figured it out by now. There probably are not 72 virgins in the hell he's at and if there are, they probably all look like Helen Thomas."

The remark drew wide laughter and applause.

A spokeswoman for the two-term congressman said King has apologized to Thomas, 85, now writing a column for Hearst newspapers.

King is running for re-election this fall.

Joyce Schulte, King's Democratic opponent in November, said
"Mean-spirited remarks are beneath the dignity of any self respecting congressperson, and remarks about another person's appearance are even lower. I hesitate to even use Helen Thomas' name in the same document with so vile a wretch as al-Zarqawi. But I want her and the world to know that Iowans are not insensitive buffoons who make fun at someone else's expense."

Dedicated to Freedom and Equality

Just this past Monday we all enjoyed the red white and blue, the picnics and parades, the patriotic music and of course fireworks.

One of the best things about the 4th is that you get to here the Gettysburg Address recited. I must have read these words hundreds of times, yet they never fail to make tears well up in my eyes and my throat clench up.

Nov. 19, 1863, the incredibly unpopular and decidedly divisive Abraham Lincoln traveled to a town in Pennsylvania to participate in the dedication ceremony of a new cemetery.
This is what Lincoln said:

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Liberty is another word for freedom, it means having the right to make choices, to make decisions that effect your life. The Declaration of Independence stated that ALL men were created equal. Of course, to Congress at the time, that probably meant male, white, registered as church members, who owned their own land.

The point that Lincoln was trying to make was that black, African-Americans, including slaves were equal too and entitled to the same liberties as the rest of us. I contend that every human being is endowed by our creator with the same certain inalienable rights, not just men, not just Americans, but all of us were meant to be free.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.

Remember, at Lincoln’s time the U.S. was less than a 100 years old, the rest of the world was keeping their eye on us- we were an experiment in democracy and since we’d fallen into civil war, it looked like the experiment was about to fail. Just think about how people today watched the elections in Lebanon, Iraq, and most recently in Iran.

We have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who died here that the nation might live. This we may, in all propriety do. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have hallowed it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

To say something is Holy, consecrated, or sacred simply means to set it aside for God’s use, to dedicate it for His special purposes, if you will.

It didn’t matter if the President of the United States or all the important dignitaries you could drag out conducted any kind of a ceremony at all. What made that place special was the blood of all the servicemen that was spilled there. Their deaths and sacrifice made that plot of ground forever important and unique. Lincoln pointed out that the people who didn’t die there had something else that they needed to be doing:

It is rather for us the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion-

We too, should constantly be re-dedicating ourselves to what those veterans were dedicated to. This is why it’s so important to support our troops, even when, like me, you don’t support the politicians and their misguided policies.

Sure, there’s been wars we shouldn’t have gotten into. Maybe some of them were motivated by interests that weren’t as well examined or scrutinized as they should have been.

Since America IS her people, and people are fundamentally flawed and sinful, America has made, does make, and is bound to make mistakes. But as long as American soldiers served to protect freedom and fought to establish and maintain justice, no American soldier ever died in vain.

Lincoln urges us from 1863 to be dedicated to preserving liberty and promoting equality. When we fail to, then it’s like letting them die in vain.

Each of us can do this in our own way. For some, it is by serving in the armed forces, for others it is by standing up and speaking out. We do it by exercising our liberties and by treating each other fairly and justly, as equal human beings, worthy of dignity and compassion. We do it by volunteering and participating in our communities.

Perhaps the simplest, easiest and most important way each of us does it, is when we vote.

that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

Once someone asked the age-old philosophical question, “why are we here?” And someone else answered, with both sarcasm and wisdom; “God put us here for each other.”

229 years later, (142 since the Gettysburg Address) this experiment in democracy still struggles, but it’s endured. So, let’s be dedicated to the motto on Iowa’s state flag, let’s prize our liberties and maintain our rights, otherwise what is there worth fighting for?

Advice on your 228th Birthday

by Poor Richard Saunders (A.K.A. Ben Franklin, guest of Mr. Ted Mallory)


Seeing as I am a good seventy years your elder, I’d like to pass on some advice. Not that I’m so wise, but frankly, I’ve noticed that you seem to be going through a bit of a mid-life crisis lately.

Before my 214 year-long sabbatical from writing I often advocated seven virtues:

1. An aversion to tyranny

A tyrant wields their power unjustly and arbitrarily. Tyrants seek absolute power. They assume they are above reproach and beyond scrutiny. Be vigilant against collective tyrants- for a tyrant may be a movement or a way of thinking just as easily as it may be a person.

Don’t let your leaders taste too much power for too long, lest they glut themselves upon it at the expense of your liberties. “Throw the bums out, I say. It may be perfectly responsible to vote against all incumbents on occasion, regardless of their party or what good they have done in office. In order to work right democracy needs balance. Balance is achieved by what scientists call “dynamic tension,” I call it change and struggle.

A hallmark of middle-age is becoming just like your parents. When you think you’ve lost your way, think back to how Britain treated you, and make sure you don’t behave that same way toward others.

2. A Free press

It could be your best defense against tyranny. Unfortunately reporters have become parasites. They don’t challenge politicians because they don’t want to be cut off.

Today’s media is a slave to money. In my day, journalism was a public service, today it’s big business. Rather than covering what’s important, they cover what sells.

3. A sense of humor

If you laugh about your faults before your adversaries even have a chance to point them out, you have disarmed them. When you take yourself too seriously you fall under the tyranny of your own self righteousness.

Of course, a spoonful of sugar also helps the medicine go down. People are much more likely to listen and learn, even be persuaded if they’re also given a laugh.

4. Humility

What makes you think you know everything there is to know and that you are always right about everything? “Pride goeth before the fall.” If I truly believe that “All men are created equal,” then I have no right to think that anyone is beneath me. Jesus himself chose to be the servant of all. Perhaps we’d do well to imitate him more closely.

5. A healthy balance of idealism and realism

Pray like it all depends on God, then work like it all depends on you. Practical people base their decisions on observation, evidence and what works. If you base your decisions on your passions, you’ll shipwreck your life. On the other hand, people without principles are like ships without anchors. Nature demands balance. What good is it to try to fly a kite without holding onto it by a string?

Richard Nixon was effective, but unprincipled. Jimmy Carter has noble character, but people perceive him as ineffective. Besides, one person’s ideas always seem to be at odds with someone else’s. If one believes in civil rights and social justice, another will believe in state’s rights and criminal justice. Both will accuse the other of being immoral.

As Scripture says, “be shrewd as serpents yet as innocent as doves.”

6. Compromise

People don’t remember that Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that slavery was immoral and should end. Southern Congressmen refused to pass the Declaration unless we removed that paragraph. John Adams was fit to be tied! I’d been against slavery for decades, but I had to convince Jefferson and Adams to let it go. Compromise is an ugly business and there are certainly times to stand your ground, but more good has been done by compromise than by bull-headed stubbornness.

7. Tolerance

Why has this become such a dirty word lately? There wouldn’t be a Fourth of July if we hadn’t compromised on slavery. The self-righteous New Englanders had to tolerate the self-righteous Southerners and vice versa. We all have the same Maker, alike objects of His care, equally designed for happiness, whether plantation-owning pompous-asses or Boston fish-wipes! If we are to get anywhere in this life we must agree to disagree and allow each other to peacefully coexist.

Only when you start with the assumption that everyman is your equal can you begin to talk about what ideas and policies are right and wrong, rather than which person or group is good and bad. Then maybe we’ll live up to our motto- “E Pluribus Unum,” one from many.

Let the Maker sort out the good from the bad, that’s not our place but His anyway. Trust that in due time He’ll intervene on behalf of just causes, just as He did for the cause of American Independence.

Happy Birthday, old girl!

Your friend and servant,

R Saunders