You can govern yourself. You can govern with others. You can learn about political planks and political platforms, how to do governance, and about political organization. It's about active citizenship, civics, a more perfect union, and we the people. It's about participation. So, the focus of these many posts is on democracy, justice, citizenship, governance, co-operation, and democracy.
First Notes On Organization
We know that organization increases our power enormously. We know that our organization informs and educates us well.
Our Laws
Governance With RCS: The Law Means Our Law and includes Habeas Corpus
We know that you are holding one of us prisoner.
We are the ones who make, support, and protect our laws. We agree that they support justice among us. When we fail to make, support, protect, and agree on our law, there may be no law, no justice, and no us. It is up to us.
Our Constitution can direct us to the way we choose, support, protect, and agree on our laws to our benefit. Our constitution has a democratic intent. Where there is lack of participation democracy fails. Its up to us. I am writing to my fellow U.S. citizens here. However, other readers may benefit.
Among the ideas we seem to have forgotten may include the following: We make laws which we agree to support. Those laws can be changed. Our laws are by us, for us, and of us. All of us. We have designed laws which give us ways of protecting them and us. When there is no we and no this doesn't work very well.
Many of the most important of our laws have roots extending deep into our beginnings, our origins. Some can be traced to before the Roman republic. I believe some go back much farther. They have been lost to many from time to time, but enough of us have kept them in heart and mind so that they still exist in the hearts and minds of what I hope is enough of us. Some have been kept in writing in our Constitution.
I continue with some of the long kept ideas. Its okay to question the nature of our laws and we must continue to interpret them together. Its our right and our duty to change a bad law or to throw it out completely. Its good to think that our Constitution is our baby and to remember not to throw out the baby with its wash water. Its also good to remember that letting a law just die is not only sad, but also dangerous to us.
Like all of our laws our Constitutional laws may be changed, we have agreed that they may be changed. However, Constitutional laws have been made to last for much more than just generations. There is more than one of the Amendments we have made have proven and are proving not so lasting. Some have them to be our holy and sacred word. That may be true. but they are our words and our laws and we may change them. But it is also true that some of our forefathers have done a very great deal to preserve them. They thought that they had very good reasons to do so, I do to. Our Constitution is often called a social contract among us. We are parties to it. How many of us can break our promise to support it before it is broken. How can it be reconstituted when it is.
Many in the US and others as well consider the Constitution of the the United Stares of America to be the best ever written. I hope that we won't let it just die. It may be written, but its life is in our hearts and minds. When it is changed many may find the changes unacceptable and that the changed constitution is not the one they pledged to support. So, a majority vote to change it may far from enough to change it an 80% to 20% might not be enough. We must make even very small changes very carefully am make sure that all of us understand them. Our Constitution is ours to interpret, maintain, support, maintain, enjoy, and to benefit from. We need to all keep learning to do that good job. As we fail in that we fail to be us. Our Constitution and our understanding of it is at the heart of our common culture. It may well be the very heart of that culture. It may be of even more value than we now understand.
We put our Constitution into writing to let the men and women of the world know the basics of the law we follow and also what we are prepared to protect. We ought to read it with a very great deal understanding. We ought to to practice being aware of how we are all interpreting and understanding the words in which it is written.
Our right to be responsible for our Constitution was not easily gotten nor easily kept. When we are not alert, aware and vigilant, it slips away from us. We need be eternally vigilant to keep this prime right. Its a good thing that there are a lot of us because it takes a lot of us to do this job ours. Many believe that our common understanding of our Constitution is maintained by our national dialogue. I believe that is worth a thought, a good one.
We have long known that we must learn, relearn, and practice healthy and effective ways to support and protect our laws. We have also learned that we must help our youth to do the same. We act can help to keep the ongoing review of the effectiveness and Constitutionality of our laws simple, common, and honorable.
Thanks to citizens who came before us, our Constitution has been kept relatively short and sweet. Remember that our Bill of Rights is an integral part of the Constitution. It is sweet and very short. Your copy is so small that it can easily lost, but free copies are usually available. You can down load a copy or read it online.
Like all else our Constitution needs to be interpreted. Our Supreme Court judges are are doing that continually. We can do the same. The principles are important, but not too difficult. However, sometimes their application offers difficulties. Our national dialogue can help us understand how it has usually been interpreted and how it is being interpreted now. To keep ourselves safe and strong we all need to keep the principles in mind. Recently we have not been doing so, nor have we been teaching our children the use of them. We could restart the process of having those principles in mind by getting the concept of democracy stirring in mind.
For those who want to learn more there is much that on can do to get and understanding of meanings and usages in mind. Just reading the other post on this blog can help as can other blogs discussing democracy and/or our Constitution can help a lot.
For many of us, talking about Constitution or democracy with a friend or family member can be productive step.They probably know less than we do. You might find out some interesting a couple of people what they think democracy is for. You could make finding a website dealing with a democracy that you like and telling us about it; the same the Constitution. You can probably find a lot of nonsense too. A search for active democracy can be interesting, so can a search for active citizenship. Beginning to read or to reread the Constitution can be revealing. I like our Declaration of Independence.
Our Constitution expresses our ways of governing ourselves, but may seem to lack details. Important parts if it are about our rights and responsibilities in governing out communal selves. As you read you can consider who has oversight of the doings of government. If you read it again you may begin to see the messages of democracy and self governance. It is much about out our participation in keeping to the path to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness open and clear for all of us in government of the people, by the people, and for the people. The Bill of Rights of out Constitution spells out The rights we have agreed to protect.
We can all get help to understand how the meanings of our Constitution have been interpreted and understood by wise men. Some of best sources of sound help can be found in the writings among the statesmen to be found among our Representatives and Senators and also among our better Supreme Court justices. It seems to me to be best to learn from than one source.
There are lies and nonsense online but also a lot of great information. High School history and civics books can be a help. College political science texts and histories of US government can be another useful source. There are excellent and horrible popular works to choose from. Actual US documents such as the Declaration of Independence are a marvel.
As we learn we find there is no law against using our own good sense and our own understanding. We can use our understanding of words such as:justice, lawful, co-operation, participation, democracy, and governance as well as the reality they point toward.
Habeas Corpus:
The great majority of us can agree that taking a person prisoner for the fun of it or for the profit in it is wrong and outside out of our law. Should I become that prisoner, I believe I would feel it definitively wrong. We can probably agree that there must be a very good reason for making one a prisoner.
Long ago a way was worked out to deal with the case of one of us being taken and held and of doing so without bloodshed. We have adapted that way into our Constitution. That way has seemed useful and just to many for centuries. That way may be called honoring a writ of habeas corpus. Habeas Corpus has been an important part of our Constitution from beginning of that Constitution. As we have not been doing our duty as citizens, the "writ" has been seriously weakened. I might have done my duty had I been bit more organized.
We have the right to learn the meaning and use of what we may call are right of Habeas Corpus. We can even make changes to our Constitution. We also have the duty to each other to do so well.
Many have understood habeas Corpus something like the following: Bob, our fellow citizen, has been taken and held. We confront the takers and holders and say, "We know that you have Bob; in accord with our law you must put him before us and in our hearing accuse him of so badly abusing our law that you have the right to hold him prisoner. Then before us, other accepted peers, and a accepted judge, you must prove to us, without a doubt, that you have taken Bob legally and in accord with our laws. If you cannot so prove you must release him immediately. If you continue to hold him, you go beyond our laws and we may now ring all our righteous force upon you to cause you to release him. We trust all others within our law to aid us."
Today the counter part of the ancient Writ of Habeas Corpus is our most basic defense against tyranny. The meaning of habeas corpus is more important than the word. Understanding that meaning makes us stronger as does our familiarity with Common Law and our Constitution. By learning to quickly recognize encroachment of tyrannical tendencies as a a danger to you and I the better we can protect ourselves and our law. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance. Its good that we are many.
It's time for me to end this post. It has become longer than many of my posts. Try using the "comments" section below to say hello to me an perhaps comment on the contents of this piece.
As a way of practicing some citizenship ask your Representative what has happened to out Habeas Corpus rights. With your zip code you can get his name and online address. You can as questions to the representative of your Representative how you can find something out Habeas Corpus or how to get a grant for your daughter's college education.
Or you could ask how to find out for sure if you are covered by the Write, or just where you can find out more about it. If can report on your experience here. I suggest that you do fin out who your Representative is.
Thank you for reading!
rcs
Habeas Corpus: From 17th Century England to Today
Abdication is Not Delegation
Governance With RCS: You have delegated the responsibility of educating your children to your local school board. You are responsible for the workings of your school board. That school board employs the teachers educating your children
Have you any questions? In case not, here are a few.
+ What does "abdication" mean?
+ How do you make sure that your school board is properly equipping your instructors and schools?
+ What do you consider proper?
+ How is your school board allocating your money?
+ How are the men and women on that board having teachers treat your children?
+ How are they treating those teachers?
+ What kind of school district auditing program are you running?
+ Who reviews your audits?
+ Who is watching that hen house?
+ What level of transparency does your school board practice?
+ Who attends to school district accountability?
+ How is your board handling pensions? Lots of money there.
+ How do you get your information about your local school board?
+ Who informs you about school board doings.
+ Do the men and women of your board tend to use rubber stamps given them by others?
You can post your answers in the "comments" widow just below the bottom of this post.
by Richard Sheehan
Governace and Economics & NEW SOCIALISM
Governance With RCS: We don't know about the old socialism. What are we supposed to do with new socialism.
New Socialism. After 60 years of repression we have new socialism. Its old,but its new. It has been all around our world, but has been repressed in the United States. We have some new doings and some old doings to learn about. One Old curious set of doings is Worker Co-operatives. It is possible to interpret and to analyze an economic system, even micro-economic systems. Socialism has been alive and well even in the U.S.
RCS
Be a Participating democrat. Notice the little ""d""
Governance With RCS: To Be A Participatory democrat
It is fair and useful to....
Show up.
Speak up
Frame the discussion.
Name the problem.
Team up.
Find a partner.
Why Have We Given Up Our Right to Govern?
Governance With RCS: Do we no longer desire to govern ourselves?
Do we feel incapable?
Do we no longer know how?
What is it?
Don't we want a republic?
Are we no longer interested in democracy?
Why have we put our military in the hands of others?
Why do we no longer have a citizen army or military of any kind?
Why did we give up our war powers?
Why do we no longer teach our children or youth civics and governance?
Why have we surrendered our very word to others?
What does citizenship mean to us now?
Who are "we?"
Where is our education for governance?
(Are ability to govern ourselves was our ability to take care of ourselves.)
If we just give up most of our children won't even be useful as slaves. How will they be able to take care of themselves. Does it not seem that we are living in denial. Are we unwilling to see reality? How do we go about maintaining a we?
Have you co-operated locally?
Do you have any questions?
Do you have any answers?
RCS
Oligarcic Empire?
Who governs? When you do not, who does? Check deeply into the meaning of democracy
An Active Citizen
You can restart, or start, your life as a active citizen by taking one, or more, of the following steps. More, may be better.
Consider:
1. what an active citizen can do to help his/her school district, town, city, state. You might start at you local library.
2. keeping politically humble, curious, and modest.
3. making an opportunity to attend a couple of meetings of civic organizations.
4. Joining a political party. It is Ok to change parties.
5. registering to vote. It can be more interesting to register as a party member.
6. Getting a better understanding of issues, policies, planks or a specific Bill.
7. Contacting the office of a specific office holder and asking what his or her position is on your issue of interest.
8. calling the U.S. Capitol switchboard and telling them your zip code. They will transfer you to the office of your representative. Tell your Representative's representative what is on your mind; ask your question or say what it is you want.
9. writing to the office of your Senator. Check out how to spell his name online. Address Your letter to him at United States Senate, Washington DC 20510.
10. Writing to your Congressman/Representative by name at United States House of Representatives, Washington DC 20515.
11. Sitting quietly for awhile and letting what you have learned work itself around a bit in your mind. You may be beginning to cook a bit politically.
12. Remembering that no one has to be a full time politician all the time.
13. Finding a friend who seems politically knowledgeable or civically interested, and talk civics or issues of governance and like that.
14. watching/attending meetings of your city council or of your local school board.
15.Keeping your sense of humor and having some fun as you remember that political actions can have seriously important consequences.
Thanks for reading citizen!
by Richard Sheehan
for you
Active Citizen Two: A brand new political organization
A Brand New Political Organization.
Many in the U.S. are considering brand new political organizations for many reasons: a new national party, a coalition, an ad hoc effort to promote a special bill or effort, for social betterment, and on and on. They want organizations capable of working with large numbers of active citizens. They are expecting wider participation in self-governance. They want to do that which effectively furthers their aims right now.
There is much which needs to be done and many of us to do it. However, just now I will offer a list of hints which may prove helpful to an organizer.
The hints:
~ Be inclusive. Help anyone who wants to be a member, be a member.
~ Keep in mind that teaching one another is important. Outside help can be useful, but that which we do for ourselves is more important. Each a learner, each a teacher.
~ Clarify aims and goals. Restate them often. Better them when you can.
~ Arrange to have each member have opportunities to help in achieving those goals. How will that be done?
~ Arrange to take care of all business promptly. How will it be done. Arrange for the ongoing education of all members. That's education in the skills and understandings necessary to the organization and organizational aims.
~ Make each member an educator. You do not have to use any of these hints; but anyone of them can be very useful.
~ Demonstrate abundant and appropriate trust in each member.
~ The fewer secrets the better and "no secrets" is the best policy.
~ Let each member know that he or she is participating in the creation and nourishing of the organization, its philosophy, and its doings.
~ Lay out clear steps for accomplishing the important doable goals of your organization.
~ Remember you are not alone. You are part of an organization. laying out, demonstrating, making, and doing are group affairs and doings. Members want to be active. Let them be active.
~ It is best that a goal members undertake not only be important and doable, but also ought to be attractive, challenging, and a big deal.
~ Set out a goal or two to be completed today. That is you as in you all set out a goal. You all want your organization to be where the "doings" are.
~ Each member deserves a worthy job he or she can work right now. What a power house an organization can be! Your organization is a big powerful group.
~ Make clarifying the "grand vision" of your organization an ongoing activity. A grand vision for me might be the ongoing practice of active self-governance. or the ongoing practice of participatory democracy.
~ Ends, goals, objectives, aims can all be good. However, to be well done is important and the way it is done can be the most important.
~ Aim to govern yourselves by practicing active self-governance of the whole. Begin with "how to do" teach-ins.
May these hints/suggestions help you in your action plans.
We have a lot to learn and a lot to do. Its that there are a lot of us to help with that learning and doing.
As That Active Citizen
As a participant in a meeting it is fair and useful to:
~ Show up.
~ Speak up.
~ Name the problem.
~ Team up.
~ Find a partner.
~ Frame the discussion.
That is: be there; address the group; Clarify the topic; Identify those of like mind; make a friend; listen and learn; sum up what the meeting has been about.
It all starts with showing up and being there.
RCS
In Plain Site:
Our government can be ours. Most federal governments are evidently not ours. We have a vested interest in our governance. We can be an effective we. We have great potential. We can learn and practice governing in. There are meetings we can attend not too far from where we live. There are courses online, at high school districts night schools and community at community colleges. You can find the place which interests you. School board meetings, citizen groups for a nearby state park or forest, local or national paty meetings near you. You have a great deal to choose from to please yourself. Those who live in a repulican society have and a duty to participate in governance. It is possible to be socially responsible and to please yourself at the same time. Your possibilities are enormous. Begin to explore them.
Common Sense: Rule of, by, and for the Common Man?
What happened to the teaching of civics and government? Are parents doing the teaching? Is it really true that we are no longer willing to govern ourselves? Has democracy just become a waste of time. Do we really love becoming serfs and slaves? Why are we unwilling to take responsibility for our own governance? My whom do you expect to be governed.
What does government mean to you. If you don't do it yourself its them that does.
You can be ready, willing, and able to govern democratically if you decide to. There is some learning and enough help and cooperation if you look for it, but does it make sense? What are the likely results of abdication?
RCS
Why Can't a Third Partty Take Off?
A third party may be best at popularizing new planks and new platforms.
Third party members do gain office. However, their most important function may be to educate voters.
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Habeas Corpus