Tag: … with Liberty and Justice for ALL

Because There Is a Need

…

DD84A748-15CB-41FF-A6E6-FB8EACD79919

…

This is what we get when we’re forced to vote against someone, instead of for them. When we vote against someone else, we are forced to take on all the baggage carried by the ‘lesser of two evils’… and decisions are made that are opposed to the Will of The People, because their positions stand opposed to the will of the candidate.

…

When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I focus on is making sure others have something to eat. Then… it’s usually caffeine. IF everything goes to plan, after the kids… after the critters… if everything is in order, then I can find time for myself.

Sure, it might help if I wake up at 0430 every morning, but I’m a night person. In a busy household, that’s usually the best time to find some PEACE… when everyone else is asleep.

Priorities. ‘What is it that I’m trying to accomplish? What is the goal I’m trying to reach?’ There may only be 24 hours in a single day, but there are many more days to come after this one; and most goals worth attaining require multiple days… multiple years… to complete. It’s all about maximizing your time, as well as biding it.

…

26B0FD34-D0D4-493A-B2C6-1F87E83377F9

…

We are ALL created EQUAL. That is the foundation upon which our society was built. That is the goal the Framers had in mind when they set about constructing a Just form of Governance.

It was a DESTINATION to be reached. The outcome of this endeavor.

What is done to ONE of us is done to us ALL.

Because that is how we ensure it cannot happen to ME. It’s the most selfish and most honorable act anyone can engage in. When we defend the Rights of OTHERS… we defend those Rights for OURSELVES.

…

3B85329D-4EE7-45F0-B5F1-53C5971B429C
Arizona rally for the Equal Rights Amendment, 2018.

…

Our history informs us. It gives our current situation CONTEXT. It frames the moment that surrounds us and gives us a glimpse of how things might be.

Our  history inspires us… because of the injustice that endures, our HEROES have been found. Out of the ashes have risen our Nation’s finest hours. In acts of COURAGE, undertaken as an act of defiance. Our history is defined by struggle. Toward what do we struggle… toward what do we strive. If we cannot NAME IT, then how can we expect to SOLVE IT? 

HALF of the citizens of this Nation do not have EQUAL STANDING under our Constitution. In Civil Rights. In Reproductive Rights. In Property Rights. In EQUAL PAY. Women are treated as second-class citizens, subject to the dictates of whomever holds office at the time…

If it can happen to ONE of us, then it can happen to us ALL.

…

662D1188-03F2-4C93-8A09-3720C1EB48D4FCA59D4F-AC73-47D9-8CBD-B3DCAB5100FE

…

In September, 2010, when Justice Scalia shared his views on discrimination on the basis of sex, he said:

“Certainly the Constitution doesn’t require discrimination on the basis of sex, the only question is whether it prohibits it.

It doesn’t.

…

It demonstrated clearly what the opinion of the United States Supreme Court is on the issue of Equality:

Equality doesn’t exist.

Legal precedent. Dating all the way back to THE DOCUMENT itself. 

“No one ever voted for that.”

…

There is NO LAW restricting any of my Reproductive Rights. It should be the SAME for everyone… EQUALLY. If we allow the government to dictate to us when we can exercise our basic human rights, someday they will have legal precedent to tell us when we cannot.

…

cropped-image-35.jpeg

…

On account of sex… regardless of what that may be.

Only EQUAL. MEANS. EQUAL.

-JC

In Memoriam

Every solider, in every branch of the United States Armed Forces who has fought and died, did so defending ONE THING…


The Constitution of the United States of America. 

It was not to defend a POLITICAL PARTY. 
It was not to defend a PHILOSOPHICAL IDEOLOGY. 

They died believing in this Cause. 

They fought to preserve this arena of ideas and ingenuity. To secure this space for the ascent of sound ideals. In their final moments, their fight was justified… they bore witness to the full intensity of DARKNESS, yet they continued to STAND.  

The Cause for which they stood was WORTHY of nothing less. 

The Cause for which we stand TODAY, is still worthy of the same. 

… 

Enshrined within a Temple made of stone, protected from the raging elements. Within the HEART of our Capital. Written on a faded piece of parchment… there are WORDS. As powerful now as they were 200 years ago. 

IDEAS. Forged in the crucible of OPEN DEBATE. Their mere creation, an act of WAR. These are our shared ideals, and so it was written… 

We are ALL Created EQUAL. 

There is nothing more threatening to the rule of a tyrannical leader than the FREE and OPEN exchange of IDEAS. There is nothing more disturbing to an oppressor of the TRUTH than the question, ‘WHY?’ 

We stand UNITED in Common Cause… why do we see things in such differing ways? Why are we willing to trade FACT for FICTION… emphatically denying that which HALF of us sees as reality? 

… 

Who stands to PROFIT off of our division… who’s lives are more secure when the vision of THE PEOPLE stands in disarray? 

… 

The LIES and VENOM in our political discourse disappear when viewed in this context. Why would anyone advocate for taking up ARMS to fight a POLITICAL FIGHT? Why would anyone believe the words of a POLITICIAN in the first place. 

The SAME politicians who tell people to take up ARMS in defense of a Political Ideology, BEG you for your DONATIONS with the very SAME BREATH… 

… and the minuet that position becomes unprofitable, their beliefs will CHANGE. 

… 

What AMPLIFIES the false narrative… 
What EMPOWERS the leader who deals in LIES? 

What motivated Donald J. Trump to install, in the bathroom of his Manhattan Penthouse Apartment, a TOILET plated in gold… 

The answer is one in the SAME. We all know what the problem is.💰 

… 

We give a PLEDGE. We swear an OATH. 
On our HONOR… with Liberty and Justice for ALL. 

IF we still believe in those WORDS, we must embrace what they SAY. 

The Enemies of Democracy call for violence in-support of their position. The Champions of Democracy already know… we’ve already won, all we have to do is STOP FIGHTING. We were born under the SAME FLAG… we fight for the SAME THING. 

The WAR… is OVER. We’ve seen this SHOW BEFORE, we’ve been educated by their mistakes. We’ve built monuments of marble and granite to remind us of those errors… who carries the COST of WAR. Who’s children will be called upon to bear the burdens of OUR GRUDGES? 

The only winning move is not to play. 

… 

What lessons would these fallen share with us if they could… what message would they send? 

It is for us… THE LIVING… to remember what comes from our DIVISION, and celebrate UNION and the inherent strength that comes from within. 

-JC 

Long live the CONSTITUTION of the UNITED STATES. 

Equal. Means. Equal.

Don’t let them fool you! Don’t get it twisted, this is just another example… another demonstration of a FACT that already exists.

F4F13244-CFB5-4F78-BA93-C69535CD1ABD

 

The New York State Legislature didn’t take away Governor Cuomo’s powers. He gave them away, the moment he violated the personal space of a campaign staffer… and then took personal offense when she forcefully rebuked his “gesture”. 

You can see it in his eyes… and in hers. 

 

F95F7751-3281-4EF8-A89A-039AFE95E41A

 

Let’s make sure we get something straight… I just wanna make myself clear…  

 

 … yes sir. we got it. 

 

If he had done that to a MAN, physically threatening someone like that is a violation of the law.

 

And yet he serves, at the expense of the People. 

 

It’s a lesson learned throughout the history of Our Republic. It’s not about the PERSON who resides at the TOP, it’s about THE PEOPLE they represent.

Gov. Cuomo, Leader McConnell, Donald Trump… ALL of them need to remember- this experiment was BORN before them, and it will LIVE ON long after they are gone. Our actions, our deeds… at the end of the day, that’s all we have left. That and the Constitution.

Whatever edifice we build for ourselves, as well as all the other ones that have yet to come and go, Our Constitution will remain regardless of who stands or who falls.

… 

We could attempt to legislate our way forward, trying to create some set of laws that would prevent our elected officials from acting in such a way, but we would never succeed. The House has passed, multiple times now, laws that would benefit the People, only to be STALLED on their way to the Senate. Unable to pass with a CLEAR MAJORITY… defeated due to the opinion of ONE MAN. 

“It is ESSENTIAL to such a government that it be derived from the great body of the society, not from an inconsiderable proportion, or a favored class of it; otherwise a handful of tyrannical nobles, exercising their oppressions by a delegation of their powers, might aspire to the rank of republicans, and claim for their government the honorable title of republic.”  –Federalist #39 

 
 

This is what the Founders spoke of, a select group of elected nobility. 

A long history of an ever-shrinking pool of worthy candidates, only those deemed worthy by the Party Elites.

Drain the SWAMP…? 

 

Drain the Swamp is not the answer. We need to Break the Dam, and let the rushing waters of Democracy breathe LIFE back into this brackish, backwater pool. More participation equals Better Governance. 

The solutions being presented do not rise to the level of the challenges we now face. If we continue to select our candidates using the SAME process, we will continue to see candidates that look THE SAME. Fighting yesterday’s battles. Holding on to tired ideologies and dogmas now shown to be in-error.

Through knowledge and understanding, we strive toward a more perfect Union.  To become better than what we were before… that is the point of the entire experiment! In order to disprove the critics, the naysayers, the people who believed Mankind was no more noble than the beasts. 

200 years ago many learned scholars believed that if the People were allowed to govern themselves, we would descend into MOB RULE. The experiment shows… Our Experiment in self-governance now proves, that conclusion is wrong. 

The Moral Compass of the MAJORITY points TRUE. 

 

The Majority of this Nation knows where Justice is found. We are ALL susceptible to falsehoods and fallacies, that is why ONE MAN should not rule over a FREE PEOPLE. 

We saw the horrors brought by a decentralized response to the pandemic on a National scale, now the people of New York will suffer the same as the Legislature has stripped the Governor’s pandemic powers… all because of the opinion of ONE MAN. 

… and his actions in this moment break NO LAWS.  

… 

 

11DDB503-EA3A-4D97-BDA4-4CE4ECE5DC19

“There’s no way under the sun that in 2021 that we are going to allow the filibuster to be used to deny voting rights. That just ain’t gonna happen. That would be catastrophic.” 
 
 

Yes Rep. Clyburn, it would be catastrophic if the filibuster was used to withhold rights from our citizens in the 21st Century… BUT, it wouldn’t be the first time it has happened…

07B43F10-2729-4CC8-A121-4CE98F02266E

… and if things don’t change, it won’t be the LAST. 

When we defend the rights of others, we defend those rights for ourselves. 

Their struggles become our struggles, and we share the burdens and the benefits… EQUALLY. 

And I will continue to bang this drum until I’ve either torn a hole in it or change ACTUALLY happens, because their struggle is at the heart of ALL of our problems… HALF of this Nation is NOT guaranteed Equal Justice Under Law. 

Everything STARTS with Equality. 

 

-JC