The Law Itself!! Part Tre

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The Law itself!...Part Deux

Ok, kids, we're back.  I believe we were on Article 6, right?

Ok, this one starts making me mad.  The Constitution?  It's the law of the land, judges shall adhere to this, govern us with this, and shall not go against the grain.  If it's not working out for you?  See Article 5.  That's what I see here.  We can change it as we go.  The Constitution has been Amended to suit our needs 27 times now.  I think I see a pattern here.

On to Article 7, before I get upset.

Now here's one I can get on board with.  Ratification.  At least in this definition, and what it entails.  We wanted to ratify the Constitution before we let it rule us.  Send it out to the people, and let the people decide. We probably pretty much skipped the "Let them fully understand what they're reading and what they're getting into by doing so" part, but hey, this way, we have NO one to blame but ourselves if we didn't really put the effort into getting it first, right?  This is the way things concerning our government were meant to be...and should ALWAYS be people!!  At no time should we let so many people who represent our state change our Constitution or elect our presidents for us.  This essentially breeds possible corruption.  Get rid of the Electoral college...it's not needed.  Funny how that's the only thing we have a "college" for as far as elections go.  We are allowed to personally elect everyone else...but our head?  We have people for that.  Uh uh.  Give it back to America and it's people. We don't need no steenkeen' college to tell us what's happening.

All I have to say about ratification is, if they sent it out to us to ratify on the original?  Should have been done for every...single....Amendment as well.

Now, before I move on to our last 17 Amendments...let's visit the Bill of Rights, shall we?  (For those of you who don't know it, the Bill of Rights consists of the first very quick Amendments, 10 in all, needed to pacify the people and fast, so they'd accept the Constitution.)

Right #1 - Freedom of:  Religion, Speech, Blogs (the Press), and the right to complain about the Government without worrying about the Government getting pissed off and spanking us.

Freedom of this stuff?  Right on.  Encore.  Wunnerful.  No problemmo Muchacho.  Let's talk about that last one though, huh?  What about the situation when we let our government keep too many secrets, let it get crazy with power, or just roll over too much?  Think about that one.  We'll get back to that one too.

Right #2 - The right to bear arms

Ok people.  Here we go.  This Amendment served only one purpose in its day.  Make sure the Government doesn't get too big for it's britches.  Doesn't have a damn thing to do with your personal arsenal, or your right to have a gun in your possession.  Don't get me started on this, I will go on all day.  It served its purpose in 1791, it needs to be shucked in favor of new law.  Gun-happy conservatives will have you sure that this means you can keep enough guns to make your own army at home, we gotta nip this gun-happiness in the bud before it gets any worse for us.  Another one we need to get back to.

Right #3 - No Letting the Government stash soldiers in your home in order to make sure we don't rebel.

See Right #2.  Like Right #3, #2 should have never been seen as controversial, and should never have been ruled by a supreme court.  It's outdated, as is right #2.

Right #4 - No waltzing into someone's home just because they believe they should have that right.

This is one gonna be huge someday, and sooner than you might imagine.  I really and truly need to get back to this one.  By the way...right to privacy, or expectation of privacy, here's one I bet you didn't know.  Let's say you're super paranoid...and you cover all your windows with thick black garbage bags...but you don't get one...little...2 inch in diameter hole covered...and the police come along, and they happen to look in this hole, and it shows something they believe to be illegal...drugs, guns, anything...they can come into your home without a warrant, did you know that?  We'll come back to this...

Right #5 - Thou shalt not be required to tattle on yourself, and you shall not be tried 2x for the same thing.  What's more, you shall be informed of your rights before you're interrogated by an enforcer of the law.

This one bothers me in oh so many ways.  Another one I could go on all day about.  By the way, that last part was decided in Arizona v. Miranda (Arizona 1996), and wasn't part of the original Amendment.  But we can change things as we go, remember?  And I don't know about you, but law enforcement officials start interrogating me the minute they come into view.  Those rights should be shouted out before I even get within earshot.

Right #6 - The Right of the Accused to enjoy (I love the use of this word here...and the fact that I've yet to enjoy this, whether I enjoyed it or not) a speedy trial by an impartial jury (decided impartial, not by me, but by the lawyers, who are the next best thing to Judges).

Not only is this the most Bullshitty right, it's also just plain old wrong.  First, no one in this day and age has "enjoyed" a speedy trial, nor has there ever been an impartial jury, nor has the jury ever understood one bit of what's going on in a courtroom.  See, here's the problem.  You're called to jury duty.  You show up, and 5 minutes later you're being told to go home, because you don't fit the bill, as far as one or the other lawyers is concerned.  Or worse yet, you're kept because you DO fit the bill.  I would be very afraid of this.  As far as we know people, the lawyers are keeping me because my IQ barely broke 50, and I'll roll over when the lead juror says "GUILTY"...how do I know??  I don't.  Impartial jury of my peers?  I don't THINK so.  This to me means we send out 12 random letters.  12 people show and are the jury.  THAT'S an impartial jury. Not that it matters what we say anyway.  The judge can overrule, it's called "Judgement notwithstanding the Verdict"...look it up.  We will oh so get back to this one.

Right #7 - In civil matters concerning more than 20 bucks, the judge can't overrule the jury's decision.

Another bullshit right.  Why is this even here?  It's not ratified anyway.  If this doesn't scream "Constitutional Revamp", no right does.

Right #8 - There shall be no unusual bails or fines, and no capital punishment.

Except when we think there should be.  Bullshit right number 3, this one is one of my favorites.  Doesn't this mean no 1,000,000 dollar bails?  100,000 dollar fines?  No Gas Chamber?  I think it does.  We will, of course, get back to this one...

Right #9 - The rights we haven't talked about ever here in our constitution shall be protected.

Huh???  Ok, Bullshit right #4.  What the hell people?  So if I just come up with the right to pick my nose in public, this right is defended by the Constitution?  OK, so maybe picking your nose is reaching a little.  This Amendment was fundamental in deciding the right to abortion, that sort of thing.  Yup, you got it, we'll be back.

Right #10 - The rights not delegated to the Government are then passed on to the states, then to its people.

Okaaaaaay.  This is the one I'd love to address and soon.  Basically, this is where I think someone was really brainstorming about the role of the government.  See, here's the thing.  The Government was ALWAYS supposed to be there to service us, not the other way around.  This Amendment didn't come from "We the People", I bet.  What's more, someone stuck this one in as a safeguard for the government.  What this says is, the Government is king, and the people get the last say-so, if we're lucky.  What "We the People" don't understand is, the government wouldn't be the government if it wasn't for the people.  Please see Article 3 immediately, and see also Article 7 where I slam the Electoral college.  We'll be back!!

All right.  Part III will, of course, cover the other 17 "CHANGES" to our Constitution...See ya!

The Law, Itself! - Part I

Hey America! What you're about to view is a blog that I've written, about America's Deadly Sins. This is the preamble to the worst of them, and I'll lay them out to you one letter at a time.

First, however, I'd like to start with my favorite subject, the Law; American Law, itself. As a student of law (I took pre-law in order to be a paralegal, which I later shucked for the better idea of becoming a politician, in the very near future), the law has become one of my favorite subjects (coughs...then sputters a little). I didn't want to overdo it however, since I believe, personally, that our law is lacking some essential nutrients that we need in our daily diets.

Let's start with our current grand-daddy, the paper of all papers - yes, I'd like to examine what we talk about pretty regularly, The Constitution of the United States.

Here we have a paper written in a small, poorly lit room, by a few guys who wanted to take the land they "discovered" (years before this, of course) away from some passive Indian fellas they met, because England was just too damned small, in 1790, some 235+ years ago...and you know? The king sucked, the way they run things over there...that sucked too. It should be said that, up to that time, America was broke, the money they had been printing was worthless, the army was being deserted, and the money they had borrowed up to this point from international sources was due to be paid...and we defaulted on our loans (sound familiar???). So they pounded down a few pints of ale, adjusted their wigs, and proceeded to score out for us the way things were, and the way they should be instead. Then, when they were finished, they handed the pen over to the most overbearing and self-conscience one of the bunch, John Hancock to sign it first.

By the way, the language you've read over and over again? We borrowed it mostly from England, the Iroquois Indians (I'm surprised these guys even gave us the time of day) and, my favorite, LATIN...the dead language of the ages. 

By the way, I've always wanted to know...how can a language be dead if it's being used? Never did understand that one...

So anyway, George, Ben and the boys got together, ordered pizza and brew, then slammed it out. Let's just essentially cover the basics, shall we?

First of all, let it be known, that the country we hated so much, England, was the main influence to our new paper.  Ideas like their judicial system became the backbone to the way the law would work.  Things said, like "Innocent until proven Guilty?"  A wonderful set of words; I'm still waiting to see that in operation, as yet.  If there were any truth to that being the way of things, house and citizen's arrest would be a lot bigger than they are.

Let's start with the preamble.  America?  This paragraph represents us at our best moment...our finest hour, our best day, and from what I understand, it won paragraph of the year.  In this writer's opinion, this is about the only thing that shouldn't ever change about the Constitution.  This is constitutional grace at its best.  Don't go changin'....As I might just bring up later though, this is when we chose to start bullshitting the U.S. Populace, and misrepresented things a wee.  In particular the phrase "All men are created equal", as they took their breaks, and asked their servant slaves to bring them a snack.

Not un-like the weather in my home state of Iowa, where we have a nice day one day, and a blizzard to follow it up, well, we move on to Article one.  This is the article that defines congress, representatives, how many each state needs to have, their qualifications, their limits of power and terms in office.  Article two addresses our President, his qualifications, his term, and his power.  Please note:  Nowhere in the constitution does it say this man or woman (the President) has to be wealthy, old, spoon-fed, well-schooled, or perfect.  The one thing I love is that it says that the president shall preserve, defend and protect the Constitution.  He/She takes an oath everytime he/she takes office, that he/she is not allowed to change what it says, the way I interpret it.  How well did we stick to that?

So, from what it says, then, anytime a President is in office, and approves a modification or an Amendment to the Constitution (or employs the "Executive Order"), he/she would be breaking their oath, I would think.  I also like that they aren't able to raise their compensation while in office...but on the other hand, why aren't they allowed to lower it?  That doesn't make any sense, does it?

Article 3 blah-de-blahs about our judicial system and how it works, pretty much all stuff we learned in Poli-sci a million years ago.  Funny thing though, you ask most people how our system works, and what the hierarchy is?  They couldn't rattle it off to save their lives.  Another thing I love about our Constitution and the law that it defines, is that most people do NOT understand a word of it, unless they're involved in the legal field in some way...and even then I wonder.  Trust me when I say that this will most certainly be the focal point of many future blogs, since I have studied the law myself.

Article four rattles on concerning the relationship of the fed to the states, and produces such standards as "the full faith and credit" act (Bet most of your family has no idea what that is), and the "priveleges and immunities" clause (and I GUARANTEE most of your family doesn't know what THAT is).

Now we come to Article 5, which allows the Constitution to be Amended.  In other words, you can change the Constitution.  What?  Wait.  Ok, no...huh?  Now just a minute.  The Constitution is to be protected...defended...and preserved...but if we wanna change what it says, that's OK.  If we don't like what the first guys had to say, it's no problem.  We can just smooth it or tweak it, as long as we have a majority vote.  I'm sorry, but this to me is anti-preservation.  Black and white, we just change what we don't agree with.  But in this fashion, we just do it with more subversion and finesse.  Nice.  I'm not going to get into this right now, because it would take more brain power than I wish to expend at this time.  We'll come back to it, I swear.

TO BE CONTINUED

Day #10 - Justice, American Style...or was it English Style to begin with? Who can say...

I would have to say, if I were to plant my finger solely on what's wrong with our system of justice, it'd have to be squarely pointed at ourselves.  We let the problem continue, we roll over when laws are passed, and we just open our wallets without flinching when fines are implemented or raised.  But since I don't really want to condense every blog I've done on this into this one, I'll plant that finger on the second most problematic:  Our outdated constitution, and our stupidity at clinging to it like it's the Holy Bible.  Worse yet, like other things that are held as scripture, we've interpreted it so much that most of it, when read by Joe Average, is so twisted we don't quite know what these things say anymore.  Because we leave it to our judges to interpret as they see fit (and as we go on) the original meanings are bent beyond recognition.  Like the Bible, it's true meaning is lost in translation...literally.

I'll throw out a couple of examples, then leave the rest in your hands.

My favorite is the the 2nd Amendment, the one concerning the right to keep and bear arms.  Because of this "right", we Americans are the most armed nation in the world.  "And this is a bad thing?" you ask?  I'd say so.  In 2009, just 5 years ago, there were estimated to be 310 MILLION guns owned by citizens in the U.S.  This figure does NOT include anyone in the military.  In 2010, there were over 8,000 murders committed in the U.S. with a firearm or pistol of some sort.  88% of Americans own at LEAST one firearm.  There were 56 gun related deaths in England.  Only 6% of their citizens own guns.  Hmmmmm....let's see...what's wrong with this picture.

This is all because some nut job, nearly 200 years ago said we have the right to keep and bear arms.  Do you think maybe this language should be applied to our time just a little differently??  Enough said.

Oh, and by the way, one more crack at the NRA...and yes, Letter N will cover this well:  Congress passed a bill granting law enforcement around the country to receive post Cold War military gear and weapons, to be used as they see fit.  WHAT??  Bet old Georgy boy never saw that one comin'.

As far as justice and the system we have in place, there are very obvious things wrong.  There shalt be no illegal searches and siezures, but it happens tens to hundreds of times a day these days (see www.copblock.org, or look up "police brutality" on Youtube).  Innocent until proven guilty...but we're going to put you in jail if we suspect you anyway, just in case you get a little frog-like, and jump.  You have the right to council...if you can afford it, which a good portion of us can't anymore.  So, in that case, you're going to be appointed with a lawyer by the justice system.  Chances are, since he's probably doing this for next to nothing, he's not going to be real experienced though, so good luck with that.  There will be no excessive punishment, no extremely high bails...But bail will be set at 1,000,000, and next month, you'll be sentenced to death with a lethal injection.  Getting the picture?

The Judicial branch of our government is full of holes America.  People are wrongly imprisoned, loopholes in our laws are plentiful, and we leave those laws (as well as the 200 year old paper that laid out the 10 Commandments of America) and the interpretation of it up to a murder of judges...I'm sure there's a different term, but murder just sounded right here, I'm not sure why.

For more on this, I have done up a right glorious series of blog posts named "The law....Itself, also in this blog.  It's a good read.  Look 'er up, willya?  Thanks.