Being disadvantaged is quite obviously a real disadvantage

America likes to pride itself as being an egalitarian society, of which if it really was, than there would not nearly be the wide chasm of disparities that we see in regards to income, education, wealth, crime, neighborhoods, and just about anything of real merit within this country.  What exacerbates the problem of ever achieving true equality of income and opportunity within America is the fact that how a given child starts off in their life, makes a profound material difference in that outcome of their life.  That is to say, those that are born within families that do not own a home, that are single-income, have someone blood related that is currently or has been incarcerated, live within neighborhoods that are classified as low-income and crime infested, and go to schools, that aren't worthy of even being classified as a school of education, do not, in many cases, fare well in life in regards to positive or meaningful achievements.

Certain pundits are fond of stating that America is the land of opportunity, and that those that pull themselves up by their bootstraps are the very ones that go from the outhouse to the penthouse.  Sure, there are always going to be situations in which good people are able to somehow overcome incredible disadvantages; but, alas, in a significantly high percentage of those cases, those people that were able to overcome such, were able to do so by having within their structure the good force of a great soul within their milieu, that provided them with the stability, encouragement and the wherewithal to stride forward and to become something of consequence, despite being surrounded by a turbulent sea of trouble.

The bottom line is that those that are born disadvantaged are in a seemingly hopeless situation, for when a child's potential is effectively snuffed out before they have even entered a school of learning -- their potential to be someone of merit, is severely damaged.  Further to the point, all those children that are living in disadvantaged circumstances, rely to a very large degree, on those institutions that are independent of their immediate environment, such as schools, social clubs, and medical care; so that, if those schools, for instance, are far below par in educating those students, then each year, those children will as a consequence fall further and further behind their peers in other communities, so that the end result is that these children will be unprepared for anything other than substandard lives of reduced opportunity and listless hope.

Those that are born in impoverished circumstances, of which, everything that surrounds and is part of them, is of very little worth, are, within a very short matter of time, at risk of becoming part and parcel of the very same, sinkhole.  In truth, every child born into disadvantage circumstances is at risk, from their very first breath, and the only possible way to materially improve their circumstances of success, besides their own good efforts as well as the value of having good people actively involved with them, is for institutions such as governments and charities to actively make it their point, to do all that is possible to see that these children are given a fair chance to succeed, which means equal access to all institutions and programs that are of quality and of merit, without limitation or restriction.

True apportionment representation

The United States Congress and the members of it, is determined by the rules of the Constitution, in conjunction with judicial decisions applicable to such, of which the current interpretation basically comes down to the apportionment of the representatives of that Congress, being the census count of all citizens and non-citizens, as well as all armed forces personnel and federal civilian employees that are currently stationed outside the United States, but are able to be allocated to a specific home State.  Some people believe that by counting non-citizens into the population of a given State, that those States that have an abundance of non-citizens, which are by definition, denied the enfranchisement of the vote, does not make a whole lot of sense; for after all, why should they be favored with representation?  Further to the point and probably of even more relevance, there are those that are citizens of the United States, but have had their voting rights, disenfranchised, for whatever reason, which are also counted for the apportionment of Congressional seats, even though they are unable to vote. 

All of the above, basically comes down to a rather big divide, which is that currently, anyone that lives within a given State, is counted for purposes of the apportionment of Congressional seats, citizens and non-citizens alike; with no differentiation between those that are enfranchised to vote or disenfranchised.  Not too surprisingly, those States, that have an abundance of non-citizens within their State borders, such as California, in particular, get more seats in the House of Congress, as opposed to a State, such as Pennsylvania, which gets less; because more of the residents of Pennsylvania, actually are citizens, as compared to the great abundance of non-citizen immigrants in California.  On the other hand, a strong argument could be made, that the apportionment of Congressional seats, should not be done by the population within a State of citizens and non-citizens, including disenfranchised voters, but rather would more fairly be done by counting only those that are enfranchised to vote, since these are the very people that actually select their Congressional representative at the polling booth.

If, the amount of representatives in each respective State, was actually done by the amount of those registered to vote within those States, as compared to the national population of citizens and non-citizens throughout the United States, and then apportioned, mathematically to each one of those States -- what would happen in all likelihood, is that the States in general, would be much more motivated to see that their citizens within their respective States, were registered to vote, and further that those that have been disenfranchised from voting, would probably find that their State would be far more accommodating towards permitting them to re-qualify to vote.

Of course, some critics of this plan, might rightly complain that such would disenfranchise the value and impact of all those that are under the voting age of eighteen; though this would be true, it could somewhat be mitigated by each State tabulating their enfranchised voters every two years, which matches the Congressional elections which are always biennial, thereupon providing an updated enfranchised voting roll for each one of those States.  After all, the apportionment of the Congressional representatives of each State should reflect, the proportional amount per State, of those that are enfranchised to vote, for these are the very people that are the arbiters of who represents the people, and the people should be only those that are enfranchised to vote, no more and no less.

The complete failure of America's criminal justice program

America is the industry leader in so many notable categories, that such a country as this, which believes that it is the greatest nation in the world, should feel deep shame that such a high percentage of its citizens are either incarcerated or on some sort of parole or probation or monitoring.  In fact, as bbc.co.uk reports the United States prison population rate of 724 per 100,000 citizens, is substantially higher than any other western nation, nearly five times higher than England/Wales which is at a rate of just 148 per 100,000.  It would be one thing if all this incarceration and imprisonment, combined with our criminal justice system was the very basis for some sort of peaceful paradise, producing a land without civil discord and equal justice for all, but America is a country that still has crime rates that are substantially higher in virtually any crime category of meaning vs. other western nations despite its high incarceration rates.  This is demonstrative proof that the criminal justice system in America is not only broken, but is fundamentally and deeply flawed.

For whatever reason, America believes that the most appropriate way to deal with inappropriate behavior, inconvenient behavior, undesirable behavior, and actions that have been deemed to be criminal, is to incarcerate its own population at a very high rate.  This doesn't work, and is never going to work, because if this was working, we would see that by the virtue of how many that currently are locked up, and in consideration that America has locked up so many of its population for so long, that therefore the balance of this country, if incarceration was actually performing a good and valued duty, would be free of crime and conflict, which it is not. 

All of the above, means that the criminal justice system in the United States, is quite clearly, not a system that has much of anything to do with fair justice and penitence, but everything to do instead with deliberately discriminating against certain segments of society; typically those that are ill educated, impoverished, and non-white, and believing that by taking these people off of the streets, so that they are no longer visible, that therefore the societal problem that creates all of these criminals, would thereupon be resolved, but it most definitely has not been.

To change America's criminal justice system overnight, is well-nigh impossible, however, real changes could be made, if America had the courage and desire to actually do so.  The first change that should be implemented posthaste, is to eliminate once and for all, all mandatory minimum sentences in the stroke of a judicial decision, that stipulates that this is a violation of the Eight Amendment, because such is both cruel and unusual, for the supposition that each person somehow should be categorized within an unbending box, of not taking into account fully all pertinent and actionable information, and thereby predetermining that all categorized as such, are always subject to a specified minimum amount of incarceration.  The second change that could readily be implemented immediately, is the recognition that the vast majority of criminals are not violent and are not a clear and present danger to their community, and that therefore should be released via some form of electronic monitoring or similar, that allows them the opportunity to thereby continue with their employment, or schooling, and/or family duties, without undue and unnecessary mandatory interruption.

Enough time has been spent living in the amoral world of "law and order" as exercised in the United States of America.  This has not work, so that, those that believe that somehow future history will be diametrically different from the past, are condemned to see it repeated, ad nauseam; and such continued failure of its justice system in a country of the vast resources and wealth of America, is demonstrative proof that America is no beacon of liberty, but instead would be more fairly represented by having in its hands the whip of the slave master.

The only union that really matters

Human beings are social creatures, living within societies that encourage our interplay one with another, in all that we are and do.  Our relationships are part and parcel of what makes life worth living, and are valued, for the satisfaction and importance that they bring to our lives.  Yet, at the same time, that we value our relationships, the downside of those same relationships, is found in the destructiveness of relationships gone sour, in which such negativity hurts all parties involved and is not conducive towards bring forth good health and harmony.  This does not mean, that we should not seek out relationships, and certainly does not mean that we should not care about resolving and binding back together broken relationships, but rather that this is an object lesson in learning that when our desires are thwarted, or when we don't feel appreciated, that such has ramifications, that can easily lead towards damaged and weakened lives.

Who amongst us, does not yearn for a friend that is always our friend, no matter the circumstances, no matter the words spoken, no matter the conditions, and no matter our status, in which that friend is wholly there, and does not permit or allow anything to break the bonds of that friendship, come what may? That type of friend, is the ideal friend, who knows us for what we really are, and does not judge us, or hold grudges against us, but understands us in a way of accepting us as we are in that moment, and knows that we are never as bad as we might appear, or perhaps not as good as it might seem.

Our most valued relationships are always going to be with those that understand us at a level in which snap judgments are never rendered, and further are the type of people that support us as a friend, especially in those situations in which we have lost our way; for they are still able to see us as we are in essence, and in a way that reads us correctly, and does not ever err. 

All of this is what we deeply desire in our relationships, especially in consideration that seldom are we able to fully reciprocate in kind; yet, somehow, this friend, does not devalue our friendship for our faults and errors, but values us all the same.  A friend and a relationship such as that, is invaluable, and obviously quite difficult to find and to have; yet, all of us, without exception, are innately born with that friendship, available to us, if only we would avail ourselves of it.

While we should value our friendships and our relationships with our fellow sojourners here on earth, it has to be recognized, that the most important friendship and the most important relationship that we can ever make is with our Maker, and none else.  For it is only with our Creator, that every aspect of a great and lasting relationship, without end, can be achieved; for God alone, is the epitome of perfection, and God alone, has every positive characteristic that we deeply desire to be united with.  

Therefore, take the time and have the resolve to find that which will end all searches, as well as that which will end all sorrows, for until we re-unite with God, wholly, we will not find the lasting peace and perfection that we have always longed and yearned for.

Too early to be colorblind

There are plenty of people, that pride themselves on being colorblind and hence of being totally fair and nondiscriminatory with others, and therefore concluding that they are, in fact, good and fair-minded people.  The problem with that type of thought process is never about remembering and living to Dr. Martin Luther King's belief and dream that we will have a country "…where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."  But, rather the issue is that we must and need to acknowledge that not only are we individuals with different characteristics as well as different backgrounds, but our differences, and especially our relevant historical differences, are absolutely germane to the reality of this country, as it is, and therefore our eyes need to be wide open.

That is to say, being colorblind, especially when that colorblindness comes forth from the historically favored race of America, as well as all those that are privileged to the extent, that they need not concern themselves with seeing color, or creed, or much of anything, is that all of this is rather self-serving; even when such a belief is held entirely sincerely.  What really matters is that all those that are truly concerned about their brother's welfare, must see color, as well as seeing all those other relevant things and attributes that are applicable about their brothers and sisters. 

The color of a person's skin matters, as does their religion, as does their background, as does their neighborhood, as does so many other different things and attributes, because these things are not only relevant from a historical basis, as in, some people were enslaved because of the color of their skin, but because each of these things are still quite relevant today.  This thus means that this country and its institutions have an absolute obligation to ameliorate and to correct the conditions that have left those that were formerly enslaved in this country and are still discriminated against, as well as so many others that have been unfairly oppressed, because it is the right and the correct thing to do.

Therefore, to be colorblind in a society in which those that have been historically oppressed and are today, still oppressed in so many ways, is a blatant "cop out" of what this society owes to those very people.  The whole point of acts such as the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, as well as Affirmative Action laws is the recognition by this national government, that is has historically been unfair to so many of its people, and further that this national government has not lived up to its Declaration of Independence, nor to its Constitutional law, and therefore has a dedicated obligation to do so, and thereby to make a meaningful positive impact for those that have been and are now still being oppressed.

Those that do not wish to keep score of society's winners and society's losers are the very same people that most desire to be colorblind.  In America, statistics upon statistics are recorded in every conceivable category of meaning, and when such a time as those statistics show clearly and unequivocally that all peoples in this great nation are being provided with fair opportunity; proven by the fact that color, creed, sex, or inborn status, no longer are the prevailing determinates of success, then it can be said that this country has succeeded to its principles. And only then it can be said, that America truly is colorblind, for now the people see clearly, for formerly having been blind.

Reasonable searches in the era of the police body camera

Although it is true that not every police officer has a body camera, more and more police officers do, of which, having a body camera works for the protection and integrity of all parties involved in regards to interactions with those police officers.  Because police officers have a lot of authority to stop and frisk individuals in public places, as well as to stop individuals while driving on public roads, or to investigate people, even at their place of residency; it is of great concern  that police officers when it comes to probable cause, or a reasonable suspicion, or exigent circumstances, that those same officers should first be required by law to indicate why they are about to do what they are about to do as disclosed to that body camera, as opposed to fulfilling such requirements, after the fact.

That is to say, body cameras, allow police officers to demonstrate and to record in action their specific intent, when pulling somebody over for a traffic violation, for instance, or when stopping a citizen in the public streets for a search, or when requesting entry into a given residence of a citizen, and so on and so forth.    So that, with a body camera, it is quite clear to begin with, for what reason or reasons, the given citizen has been pulled over, or stopped, or questioned, and that subject to that specific reason or reasons, the police officer should, per the 4th Amendment of our Constitution, be limited to searching or conducting questions that only are relevant to the pertinent issue(s) at hand, and therefore, nothing beyond such.  So that, the effect, is that with a body camera, police officers would no longer be able to conduct their own "fishing expeditions" when it comes to suspects, and thereupon no longer be able to fill our police reports in such a manner that the alleged original suspicions of the officer, just happens to coordinate well with the evidence so acquired.

Further to the point, since all of these interactions between police officers and suspects is done upon probable cause or the suspicion of specific criminal activity, with the possible exception of truly exigent circumstances, a report card of each police officer shall be duly recorded, in which a reasonable score for a given police officer working from their experience as an officer of the law, of being in good conformance with the meaning of probable cause, would be a hit rate at a minimum of seventy-five percent of the time.  In other words, a given police officer, suspecting criminal activity, would first air their suspicions to the body camera, and so when in aggregate they are correct seventy-five percent of the time or greater in their specific criminal suspicions, this would be considered to be performing their job in a correct and competent manner.  All those, on the other hand, scoring at less than seventy-five percent, would be considered to be conducting their searches in an arbitrary and unfair manner, of which, those given percentages would be absolutely relevant for all alleged suspects that are arrested from such and therefore subject to thereupon having that evidence suppressed or invalidated, by a court of law.

After all, most police officers are quite fond of stating that they are well experienced in recognizing the aura of criminal activity and therefore knowing probable cause; now, however, the truth of such will be borne out by the correlation of police suspicions as recorded by their body cameras matched up against those probable causes, thoroughly reviewed.

The true meaning of our Civil War

The union of the thirteen colonies was declared through its unanimous Declaration of Independence in 1776.  That Declaration of Independence stated these immortal words, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.…"  At the time that those words were written in conjunction with the sacred honor of those so signing this Declaration, slavery was a legal institution throughout America.  Yet, those in slavery were quite obviously denied their unalienable rights, of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Additionally, legitimate governments are instituted amongst mankind, deriving their just powers form the consent of those so governed; of which, any part of the people that are precluded from providing their voluntary consent to that government, and further are precluded from enjoying the fair fruits of their labor, and are precluded from the power of the vote, and of legitimate protest, as well as being precluded from all the reasonable means of self-sufficiency, have unfairly had wrested away from them, their freedom and their liberty.

This great Civil War fought between those that setup a counterfeit government, built upon the corrupt foundation, that some men had the inborn right to enslave some other men, was opposed by that national government, that recognized the self-evident truth that all men are created equal, and that therefore that government, of the people, by the people, and for the people had a hallowed obligation to defend, to uphold, and to propagate that very proposition for all the citizens of this nation, in order for that nation, to become the beacon of liberty, freedom, and fair opportunity for all.

The very purpose of the United States being and becoming the United States, was to see that each of the tenets of that Declaration of Independence, which was the raison d'être for that righteousness revolution became fulfilled in that government so created, by the consent and by the will of those so governed.  This country, which speaks so often of being a country blessed by God, needed that Civil War, in order to demonstrate in living principle that the United States of America, was a nation indeed, united under God, with the spiritual principles that God so represents, of justice, liberty, and fairness for all and unfairness, injustice, and enslavement for none.

Further to the most important point, there is little to be commended for the Northern side to have won the war, on behalf of all the peoples of this great nation, if in effect, this country does not live up to its Declaration of Independence.  That is to say, the devotion of all those that gave their last dying breath to that Union of States, as well as to all those that were integral parts of the bravery and resolve of the cause to re-unite the States, must therefore, in order for their blood and their ideals to not have been borne in vain, see that this United States becomes that beacon of light of what it was founded upon; which is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, brought forth to all peoples -- rightly seen as equally available,  in order to form a more perfect union of those people, for the betterment of those people, by those people, and for the world, at large.

Once you have it, you never willingly give it back

America, prides itself on being a country that purports to demonstrate in principle, how beneficial that its capitalistic system is, and further what an egalitarian society that we live in; as opposed to those other nations, in which those that are born into money, have it, generation after generation; and/or that those that are born into power, have that, generation after generation.

In point of fact, America today is clearly a country of the very rich, by the very rich, and for the very rich, and the situation is getting worse, year by year.  In fact, as reported by Bloomberg.com, "…the top 0.1% of taxpayers—about 170,000 families in a country of 330 million people—control 20% of American wealth."  This fact doesn't not necessarily signify the corruption of our capitalistic system, but it sure the heck seems to indicate that there is something fundamentally wrong with the way that capitalism and our tax system are exercised in this country; for somehow, the concentration of that wealth at the very top, keeps getting concentrated more and more, year by year, all at the expense of the good people of this great nation, as a whole.

In point of fact, the very basis of wealth concentration in America comes down to firstly being able to obtain or to earn or to inherit the money, and the second part of the equation is being able to hold onto that wealth, generation after generation, which means never having to suffer the ill effects of confiscatory taxation or similar of that wealth. 

What most citizens of this country seemingly fail to recognize, is that wealth concentration is always a two-step process, of which the first is the obtainment of that money, and the second is the retention of that money as well as typically the continual growth of that money, for money makes money, literally; for the growth of lots of money once obtained, often comes down to the investing of it, and has little or nothing to do with the laboring for it.

The bottom line is that those that are wealthy, are in many cases, obsessed with maintaining that wealth that has been established, so that, in acknowledgement that money and especially lots of money has influence, are well prone to utilize that money to buy tax favoritism, political favoritism, business favoritism, and just about any favoritism that can be bought.  All of this is done for the expressed purpose to not give up and to not give ground of the fortunes so created, which is why the most valuable estates are able to circumvent onerous taxation, and which is why foundations are created so that laws can therefore be enacted specifically to favor powerful interests in which those interests that are the true beneficiaries of such are often well hidden through those foundations.

Those that are super wealthy, are more than willing to spend some of their wealth, in order to maintain and to keep such wealth, and do so time and time again; which is why America, despite its founding principles from its inception, being anathema to dynastic wealth, is now a country that protects and augments dynastic wealth, to the destruction of its middle class, and the continual suppression of its embarrassingly large lower class.

The superrich will not give up what it already has, which is that wealth, and when the government of this great nation accedes and actively augments the superrich's wealth and their ability to keep it, generation after generation, then the superrich will just keep seizing a bigger and bigger piece of the wealth of America for themselves.

There is no deist God

People have all sorts of different beliefs in God, of which, quite obviously not all of these beliefs can conceivably be correct.  There are some that believe, for instance, that God has died, which reflects their ignorance and their inability to fathom what immortality actually represents.  Further, there are those that believe that God did create this world, and thereupon left it to be on its own, that is, a deistic God, which to a certain degree makes sense, for from there one can then more logically conclude because God takes no active role in this world, that this is why this world is in such a mess, and helps to explain why bad things happen to good people. 

In point of fact, God is not deistic, and never was; for God is our Creator, and as our Creator, God cares about all that He has created.  Further to the point, it is God that sends saviors and gurus amongst us, in order to aid us in coming to the awareness of truth, justice, love, and the meaning of life.  Yet, many people point again and again to all the pain and suffering in this world, as proof positive that either God does not really exist, or that God doesn't care, or that God started the creation and basically walked away from such.  While, this might seem to be a conundrum, it really is not, for either we have all been blessed with free will, or we are all puppets in the hands of the Master Puppeteer. 

The truth is that it is free will, that creates all that is wrong in this world, yet, at the same time, it is that free will, that brings forth all the positives that we do have and experience in this world, for free will, is free to choose whichever path it so desires to be on.  So too, it is from that free will, that great souls incarnate amongst us, for God ever hears our cries, and answers those cries by bringing into our midst, those that will lead us to the promise land, if only we would first listen and then be faithful to that Voice.

Far too many people, wrongly believe that if God exists, that God would thereby obey their commands and their petitions to God; but how is it that those that are in this world, are wiser than He that is the Fountain of Wisdom?  After all, those that do not know the whole Truth, and are unable to fathom what is really going on, are consequently not in the position to actually know what is best for them; nevertheless, we read in Luke 16: 7, "The Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would tell this sycamore tree, ‘Be uprooted, and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you."  So then, it is our lack of faith that precludes the miracles that we claim to really want as well as to really desire, of which, those that are truly attuned and at one with God, are thereby able to accomplish such, seamlessly.

God is here in every aspect of this world, and in every corpuscle of our being.  God cares for each one of us, and knows us better than we even know ourselves.  Our obligation therefore is to search diligently for God, and when we find God and adhere to God's law, everything will change, for formerly we were blind, but now we will see.

Why the whole truth matters

The greatest search that anyone can aspire to, is that search for the whole truth of our existence, and therefore of who and what we really are.  Those that will not put forth the effort for that search may indeed still have noble and worthy lives, but they have apparently done so, without clearly discerning the most important truth.  Additionally, there are others, because they know not the whole truth, and apparently have no interest or inclination to know such, that suffer in lives in which the knowing of that whole truth, would have made a positive impact upon their perspective and therefore their decisions.  Not only is the knowing of the whole truth, vital to each one of us, but the fact that a significant swath of mankind does not know that whole truth, and further that so many don't seem inclined to want to examine such, is the most significant reason why this world is so often a world of sorrow and suffering.  Additionally, there are privileged others who know not and care not for the whole truth, because they are happy and satisfied with life as it is for them, but they will find to their dismay, eventually and belatedly that such self-satisfaction will have its price to pay.

As mankind has gotten more clever and knowledgeable about the nature of this material world, so many of these people, have thereupon traded their inclination for spiritual insight for their mastery of material things, believing that the more that they know of this world, the more that they can become godlike in their attributes.  So that, because so many believe only in what they can see and thereby measure by mankind's eyes and instruments, the more that they believe that all that there ever is and all that will ever be, is material in nature, and therefore a belief in a Higher Power is a version of mythology and of no concern, though to maintain this belief, often means to ignore the elephant within the room, for those that think that way, will often dismiss any and all evidence that sheds logical doubt upon that belief.

In point of fact, all those that insist upon vacating the whole truth, are the reason why the construct of peace, love, harmony, truth, justice, and fairness will never gain universal traction.   Mankind must learn to come to realize that the actuation behind mankind is and always has been eternal, and until such a time as mankind recognizes the wisdom of that Eternal, then mankind will continue to suffer as it does, so often, in so many aspects of this world.

The whole truth consists in the knowing that all of us, without exception, has been created equally by the omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent God; that has provided to each one of us, the freedom to discover whatever that it is, that we so desire, recognizing that in that discovery, thoughts become actions, and actions become deeds, in which all of those deeds that are inimical to truth, justice, and harmony bring forth disharmony, of which amends must be made to correct such, for that which is disharmonious cannot merge back into that which is harmony, actualized.

To know the whole truth is the very basis to get back to that which we are -- which is that each one of us is a part of the Greater Whole; and therefore the suffering, pain, hate, and frustration, that we invariably experience here on earth, are the ever present thorns, to wake us up and to prick our consciousness so as to thereupon make it our point to get right and thereby successfully journey Home.

True repentance

Most everyone that believes in an afterlife, consisting of a Heaven and a hell, would vastly prefer to go to Heaven.  For some of those people, they somewhat conveniently believe that if they take, for instance, Christ as their savior, that this will save them, and therefore that they will be redeemed in Christ's blood and thereby go to Heaven.  We might call such a belief, such as this, if we are charitable, Christianity light, but whatever that it is called, it fails to acknowledge that to get to Heaven, actually requires much more than some sort of nebulous and soft belief, but rather, such requires real commitment and real sacrifice.

In point of fact, we read in Holy Scripture, "Be careful. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him" (Luke 17: 3).  This scriptural passage, indicates that those that perform actions that are morally wrong, need to be informed of their error, and that further, that they need to disavow their previous behavior and to thereby turn away from that wrong path, and to take and thereby to embrace the right path.  Having done that, they should therefore be forgiven and thereupon be embraced as a fellow believer.

However, it must be stated, that true repentance is never going to be about just promising to forsake one's errors and sins, and thereupon promising to perform acts of good and righteousness for others; but rather, the proof is in the activities so performed after the commitment to repentance has been made.  So that, the mind must first be made right, and then the actions so enacted must be in conformance with those thoughts, actuated.

Obviously, even those that sincerely wish to repent are not going to be able to somehow instantly become perfect in all of their conduct, but what should and must occur, is that the mindset stays attuned to what is the appropriate behavior and true; in conscious acknowledgement that one has forsaken their former ways in order to embrace the superior way, through their diligent and determined efforts. 

It must be remembered, that there are not any shortcuts to Heaven, for Heaven is something that involves dedicated effort and accomplishments, for to achieve Heaven, first necessitates the honest acknowledgment of our errors, which thereupon leads us to the renouncing of such as being not acceptable to our persona, and thereby the final step is the demonstrated proof, that we have put off the old, and thereupon have embraced the new, by doing right and by being good in all of our endeavors.

Those that claim that they are going to Heaven, because they believe, are mistaken in their viewpoint, that something as ambiguous as belief, is going to actually be good enough to do such.  Instead, one should concern themselves far less about belief, or faith, for that matter, and resolve to admit to and to own up to one's errors, and thereupon to recognize that now knowing better, that one needs to fully repent of all that one has done which is evil and morally wrong, and instead resolve to do all of the good that one can do, for as long as one can do such, for as many people as one can influence upon, to the best of one's ability, and Heaven will thereupon be the fair reward.

Unintended pregnancies and reasonable solutions to such

Birth control, unintended pregnancies, and abortions, are a combined subject matter that some people have fanatical viewpoints upon, in which some of these people believe absolutely that one's body is one's own, and therefore that women should be entitled to have abortions on demand.  On the other hand, there are those other people that believe that life begins at conception, and that the aborting of a fetus is therefore a form of infanticide.  These two positions are so far apart, that there doesn't appear to be much middle ground.  However, there actually exists a middle ground that for the most part, though it may not please everyone, does a commendable job of reducing a significant portion of the controversy.

That is to say, it makes logical sense to surmise that most women that actually get or desire to get an abortion, fervently wish that they had not gotten pregnant to begin with.  This thus means, that besides all the educational materials about how to prevent unintended pregnancies as well as the multitude of options that are available for females to preclude or to be in control of such; that it is important to have additional reliable options that are available for women, that are readily obtainable, convenient, accurate and of low cost, for those that have already had sex, but consciously recognize that they do not wish or to chance becoming pregnant.

Fortunately, there are two good options, of which one is the inserting of a copper intrauterine device (IUD) and the other being one of the many emergency contraceptive pills that are available, in which both of these options, are effective, even up to five days, after unprotected sex.  However, as might be expected, there are costs involved with each of these options, as well as logistics so involved.  That said, each of these options is highly reliable, so that, those women that wish to maintain full control of their body, have those avenues available.

This would so indicate, that birth control advocates should make it a point, in conjunction with social and/or governmental agencies, to see that copper IUD devices as well as emergency contraceptive pills are readily available, convenient, and of a low cost for all those that wish to avail themselves of such.  So too, it is absolutely vital that those that are most susceptible to suffering from an unintended pregnancy, be cognizant that there are very good options, after unprotected sex, that are available for them, in a convenient manner and of little or no cost.

The best way to effectively address this important issue, would be quite similar to other health issues of vital concern to this nation, which addresses such in a comprehensive and thorough manner, so that the upshot is that women of all backgrounds are well informed of their options in this matter, and consequently are able to avail themselves of those viable options because they are well knowledgeable of them, thereby reducing unintended pregnancies, which then reduces abortions.

In an era in which a woman's right to her own body and her own choice, is under assault in so many States, it is important to recognize that there is a silver lining, which is that women most definitely have good choices that will preclude the need for an abortion, by preventing an undesired pregnancy in the first place, and therefore more vigorous resources and logistics should be devoted to doing that very thing.

The disenfranchisement of the enfranchisement of the black man after the 15 Amendment

The 15th Amendment to the Constitution stipulates that "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude," of which this 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870, and therefore the upshot of this Amendment, was that black males, previously enslaved or not, now had the legal right to vote in democratic elections, and the immediate aftereffect of this legislation was that in some of the Southern States, blacks were duly elected to legislative and other offices.  However, regrettably, there was never going to be a time when the elite and powerful of the South, were going to countenance being ruled or policed by the black man, fairly elected or not, and in short order, those voting rights as Constitutionally provided to the black man, became, through hook or by crook, violence, and intimidation, effectively null and void.

This thus meant, for the South, in which States such as Mississippi, as reported by the jacksonfreepress.com, had approximately 55 percent of their population previously enslaved, and hence blacks thereupon became the majority race in Mississippi; as well as reported by Bowdoin.edu, in which the census of 1870, showed that 44.2% of the lower South, were blacks, that the black vote, now being effectively negated, meant that because the Constitution stipulated that its elected Congress, be proportionally represented by the aggregation of the total population of the United States, and then in proportion to the enumerated population of each individual State, within a construct in which no longer was the counting of slaves apportioned as three-fifths of a person, but that instead all blacks would therefore be counted each as a whole person; and therefore this signified the increase of the corresponding amount of representatives in the South, of which those representatives so elected to the House of Representatives, would not reflect the diversity of the South, but would solely reflect the white ruling class of the South, and by this, keep those that had formerly been enslaved to suffer the ill effects of not only State and regional power placed against them, but Federal power as well, or if not that, Federal power that had become eviscerated in regards to civil rights.

So then, despite Constitutional Amendments that were meant to give blacks a seat at the table, which they did indeed have for a very brief period of time during the reconstruction era, materially helped by the power and authority of Federal troops so situated in the South; what happened though, within a very short order, was that the power structure reverted to the Southern white elite, and blacks were subsequently in many respects reduced to slavery by another name.  So that in practice, States such as Mississippi which had but four seats in Congress in 1852, had by 1904, eight seats in Congress, in which each of those seats were occupied by white men.  So then, it can be said, though having lost the Civil War, the South, through the bastardization of the 15th Amendment and other Constitutional law, actually got stronger in its national legislative power, as well as more entrenched in its old ways in each of its respective Southern States.

Money, money, and more money

We live in a monetary credit community, in which billions of dollars are created, year by year, so as to help prime the gears of the wheels in order to keep the American economy humming and growing.  Those that run American's central banking consortium, the Federal Reserve, talk a very good game and try to give the impression to the susceptible public that the economic minutiae that they study and process, makes everything that they do, appear to be of sound basis and common sense. 

The bottom line is that when dollars are created, those dollars should most appropriately be utilized in constructive ways that help the American public and the economy, in whole.  At least, that should be the general theory, but the reality of the situation is that when monetary credit increases at a greater rate than what should be occurring or is necessary, then those monetary assets are ultimately going to be mal-invested, of which the primary source of such mal-investment is not to take that money and invest it into the infrastructure of America, which may not show any immediate return of that money in the sense of a traditional return on investment, or at least not directly; but rather to take the easy and greedy road, of simply investing those excess funds into the mania of the stock market casino, recognizing that speculating in that way, is very much a confidence game, of a belief, that the prices of stocks, ever rise, until they do not.

Again, monetary capital is required for businesses and economies to grow, but there is a world of difference between money being utilized to purchase goods, materials, infrastructure, labor, or research and development, that are productive for that business or country, as compared to money being "invested" into a corporation, via stock trading, in which, all that has really occurred is that one stockholder has traded shares for money, only to take that money and trade it once again for stock, in which the object of the exercise, is for the price of those underlying stocks to inexorably go up, even though fundamentally the business of that corporation represents less and less real relevance to the price of the underlying stock.

All of this money that should be utilized constructively to make this nation more vibrant and stronger, as well as to keep the people fully employed at a fair wage, is often misdirected into purely speculative measures, in which, that speculation is basically done on the spurious reasoning, that if the equities so being invested in are traded in a manner in which they always go up, than those speculators are ever getting richer.  To a certain degree this theory works, until such a time arrives, as it invariably does, when the confidence game of the stock market casino, loses its confidence, and those easy speculators, take the easy way out, by selling and no longer reciprocating such sales with buying, leading to the inevitable result from such easy speculation, which is the crash, and the higher those stock prices are and the longer such excess speculation has gone on, the bigger is that crash.

While it is true that in this modern era, countries can just manufacture money -- that money ultimately is worth only what is being materially manufactured, produced, and utilized; so that excess money that is mal-invested is the equivalency of money that is just being burned.

Overcoming the fear of death

Nearly everyone, and especially mothers, rightly celebrate the birth of a newborn as a seminal event of much importance and love.  On the other hand, death while sometimes welcomed and celebrated, is more often seen, especially in western societies, as quite tragic, because of the elimination of that person from this world, and therefore a typical source of much sorrow and regret. The thing is that for those that celebrate birth as a joyous moment, yet, that also believe that death is a tragedy, are representing an obvious inconsistency in their mindset, for because every birth in this world, means the inevitability of the death of that person, then the very birthing of a newborn should more properly be seen as a future tragedy and therefore such happiness for the former should also be tinged with sadness for the latter.

This thus means for those that believe solely in a material world, that each birth thereby necessitates a corresponding death and nothing beyond; have a belief that is both fatalistic as well as being rather bleak, for the construct so created, really represents a worldview that demonstrates in principle that life is wholly unfair and of no or little good purpose.  On the other hand, those that correctly surmise that birth and death are only tied to this material plane, and that in reality, each of us is an immortal being of spirit which actuates upon our physical lives, of which this earth in actuality represents a testing ground, then life on this plane, thereby seems to be both fair and of a good purpose.

Each of us, should want to make it our mission to know the whole truth, for those that have beliefs which are untrue, false, or mistaken are going to have a  much stronger inclination to fear things, such as death, that they need not overly fear, as well as to make decisions that are wrong; as opposed to all those that in knowing the truth of who and what they really are, are able to grasp the big picture and to correspondingly conduct themselves in such a manner so as to be a benefit to themselves as well as to mankind, in general.

The reason that fear is put into our being to begin with, is usually as a protection for us, so as to not unnecessarily harm or endanger ourselves, and from that perspective such is wise.  However, those that fear something that is inevitable, such as dying, need instead to understand what living is all about; and from that basis, they should correctly comprehend firstly that life and death are part of the cycle of life on earth, and further that since such is repeated again and again and again, that behind that cycle there must be a Master Source for all this.

Far too many people fear death, when what they should be far more cognizant of, is what they are doing proactively in their lives to make this world a better and more fulfilling place, for the body is ever mortal, but the spirit is transcendent and immortal; and those that have the attributes of God and have utilized such in this world and beyond become the very pillars of the palace of God, and those that have not attained or achieved such, must return again and again, till they are.

Learn how to boss your bad habits

People are creatures of habits, for a lot of reasons, of which, one of the most pertinent ones is that, habits in general, can make our lives more efficient, by allowing us to follow, for instance, a given pattern that is beneficial as well as being time effective for us.  However, habits can easily be divided into good habits, that is habits that are of benefit for us, and/or help us in our efficiency and effectiveness; as compared to habits that are bad habits, that clearly hinder us, and not only hurt our efficiency and effectiveness, but are harmful to our character.

One might think that anyone with a bad habit, such as substance abuse, a bad temper, eating disorders, and the like, would as a matter of course, simply get fed up with such, and would eliminate it forthrightly.  In point of fact, because of the nature of habits, simply eradicating a habit is something that is going to not only take concentration and willpower, but it often also needs self-examination, as to why it is that one does what they do, and therefore foundationally to understand what caused the undesired and unbeneficial habit to become part of our being.

While there is something to be said about people that use the strength of their willpower to not give into their habit, that is never going to be the best way to eliminate a bad habit, because willpower is something, that can ebb and flow, depending upon outside circumstances, our mindset, and our weaknesses on a given day, so that those that give up drink for a period of time through their sheer strength of mind, and nothing else, are quite susceptible to being caught unawares in the same maelstrom that they previously escaped from, should certain circumstances arise, leading them to get right back in to the temptation that has ensnared them again and again.

On the other hand, those that have the thoroughness of mind to get to the root of the problem, as to the nature of why they do what they do that is of a bad nature and of a bad habit, of which this is clearly harmful to them as well as being undesired; understand comprehensively that by doing so, that they can foundationally eliminate their bad habits and their bad inclinations from their life, by taking away the desire and the want to do that very thing.

Those that suffer from a bad habit, that they do not wish to own anymore, must make it their point to be the boss of that habit by consciously eliminating it as something that they no longer wish to have, and replace such with something else that is of higher merit and is beneficial to the person, instead.  While it is not easy to eradicate a bad habit, especially one of long standing; this can be accomplished, though, when that habit is thoroughly investigated and the roots of the desire for that habit have been pulled out of the ground that previously held it so firmly.  After all, it is our minds that forge the chains of those habits, and therefore it is our minds that can break us free, if only, we would have the wherewithal to draw the line in the sand, and to make our valiant stand.

When the government disobeys its own abiding principles

Any good country is supposed to be a country that lives in principle, by its faithful observance of its laws made from those good principles.  That is to say, this Union of States, recognizing the importance of having a strong and stable national government, took the initiative to have those representatives of those States meet together, so as to debate and to discuss and to come to a consensus so as to therefore create good governance, by the issuance and subsequent ratification of that Constitution.  Clearly, the United States has a well written Constitution, with important Amendments to that Constitution, of principles that are quite favorable for the creation as well as the sustainability of a country that is of the people, by the people, and for the people.  That is to say, governments are created by and for representatives of the people, as a compact between those people of that country, of which the government so instituted derives its just powers exclusively from the consent of those so governed.

So then, if that government would only follow truly the dictates of that Constitution, then that country would represent in actuality the abiding principles of that Constitution.  In point of fact, in many respects, this government and its interpretation of the laws so propagated, have demonstrated again and again, that the laws so made, are not stable or consistent, but are instead often as applied --arbitrary, contradictory, and just plain wrong.  This thus means that laws that should be consistent and equally applied to all equally, are the very opposite of such consistency, and are often biased, unfair, discriminatory, and even inimical to the Constitution, itself.

This signifies that a country that does not conform to its own abiding principles as per its Constitutional law, is a country that has clearly lost its moral compass, and such can therefore only create a construct of confusion, disappointment, hypocrisy, and dissent.  All those that cry for justice, must understand, that when a country does not adhere to its own Constitutional principles, then that country cannot now, nor will it ever be able to actually have justice in its land.

Consequently, a country that does not live up to its founding principles and has no interest in doing so, has devolved into a country in which the citizens of that nation are not going to respect the law as applied, for the law is not worthy of their respect, for when that government at the highest legislative, judicial, and executive levels, essentially treats the law as something that is ever changeable, depending upon the powers to be and the whip that they so use, than the law effectively is not stable or legitimate, and is of little merit.

A legitimate government of the people, must not be a power above and beyond the people, but must represent the people, and further to the point, that government must live within the abiding principles of their founding law, that is, their Constitution.  To the extent that this is done, the government of that country has legitimacy, and to the extent that this is not done, such a government as that, has lost its way, and is therefore a counterfeit government by virtue of its failure to adhere to and to abide to its Constitution and its people.

Equality and inequality

The seminal document that founded this great nation, states forthrightly “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,” and this Declaration of Independence, was signed by fifty-six of the most esteemed and influential men, from each of the thirteen colonies, and further that these same men pledged their lives, their fortunes, as well as their sacred honor upon the words so disseminated.

These words quite clearly meant that these men truly believed that each of us has therefore been equally created.  So then, it could be questioned and should be questioned, as to how it is that these honorable men and all those that have followed them, could in any way, form, or function, believe thereafter that a legitimate government by the people, for the people, and of the people could be a government that would ever sanction a construct in which some of those very same men, or subsequent generations of those men, would somehow have devolved into believing that we are created unequally.

This would then signify, that the only possible way that this country can remain true to its own Declaration of Independence is to have a country in which the laws, justice, and fairness is applied in such a manner that reflects that each one of us, has been created equally by God, and therefore all those that treat mankind as being something other than equal, are effectively traitors to that Declaration of Independence, and further have lost their place as moral agents of good.

So then, in every area in which the application of law, justice, and fairness does not truly reflect that equality, such laws are effectively nullified, and where there has been and continues to be systemic injustice and inequality, such needs in order to be made right, be rectified, forthrightly. 

This would so indicate that when any nation turns its back on the very cornerstone of the foundation of that nation, of which that cornerstone is morally correct, then such a nation as that is surely not blessed by God, for it is not in adherence with the moral law of God.  This would indicate that the United States very first obligation that supersedes all else, is to support and to propagate its appropriate mission, above all things.

It cannot be emphasized enough, that when mankind is intelligent enough and perceptive enough to recognize that our Creator has created all of His children equally, that it therefore follows that our sacred obligation is to see that this is upheld within the government so constituted amongst mankind.  While one can applaud words that are moral truths and that are pledged to, it is not enough to know those words, or have listened to those words, but those words in order to have any positive and lasting effect amongst mankind, must be lived up to. 

It is in the living and our application thereof, that we do show who and what we truly are, for those that speak of equality but live by the sword of inequality, are provocateurs of great ill winds, that sustained long enough will surely take down the edifice of all that is good and leave nothing but desolation and ruin, from its horrible destruction.

Violence begets violence

America is a violent society, and as the leading western nation in virtually any metric of merit, the violence in America makes it an outlier in comparison to virtually every other western nation.  One might think that for the country that claims to have been blessed by God, and to be the epitome of both freedom and opportunity that the United States would be embarrassed and disturbed of this inconvenient reality infringing upon the American dream, but based on the fact, that such violence does not appear to be subsiding, it must not be.

In point of fact, in order to successfully resolve such violence, some things must fundamentally change within America.  First, would be the recognition that equality matters in every conceivable way, of which this signifies that equality of opportunity, equality of education, equality of income, and equality of justice, are absolutely germane to the amount of violence in any nation.  That is to say, that the lack of equality, in which those suffering from that lack, intuitively recognize the unfairness of such, breeds frustration, and from that frustration all sorts of ills come forth, of which one of those ills so expressed, is violence in any of its myriad forms.  Secondly, families and communities that are violent in their behavior, and subsequently in their way of dealing with problems, frustrations, and setbacks are going to create more violence, because people in general, replicate in their own manner, the world as they see reflected in front of them.

Solutions to these problems necessitate thorough resolve, as opposed to what is currently occurring, in which well placed privileged people cry the loudest for law and order, and in return, receive more law and order especially upon those communities and people that are engaging in uncivil behavior, of which this does not fundamentally resolve systemic problems, no matter the copious amounts of people so arrested and incarcerated, because sanctioned state actions that are violent, discriminatory, and predatory in its own way, merely teaches the lesson that such is effective for the awesome power so displayed; and so then, the people within that community will respond utilizing their version of the same.

Additionally, those that grow up within conditions of a family, in which there is much strife and discord, along with strong domestic violence, are prone to suffer not only the ill effects of being violently abused by their family, but are going to take that suffering so received and with their additional grievances that life is unfair and unjust, become, rather logically and regrettably, violent themselves.  So that, it can be said, that violence begets violence.

The only successful way out of the continuum of more and more violence, is to mitigate and to ameliorate the conditions that breed such violence, and the sooner that this is addressed in societies as well as in the lives of all people, the sooner such will be markedly improved.  The violence in America is a true reflection that something is fundamentally unhinged in America, and what is unhinged is the fact that oppression, unfairness, and exploitation, are the fuel that stokes the fires of violence, and those caught in that maelstrom, act violently, mainly because this reflects the violence that permeates their own lives, and enthralls them.

Taxation and standing armies

The United States has the world's largest standing army, or military complex, which has its tentacles and its reach felt throughout the entire world.  While there may indeed be benefits for being the world's most powerful military, it must be recognized that not only is the world, filled with just over 7.5 billion people, as well as there being approximately 200 different nations in this world, but that also there are wholesale differences between many of those peoples as well as those nations, of which, most of those differences do not and does not directly impact the United States, proper.

That is to say, the viewpoint of other people as well as other nations does not agree in many respects, with the United States, but in the scheme of things, other nations and other peoples are fundamentally mainly concern about their own domestic issues as well as having a meaningful concern about their neighbors contiguous to their borders, so then, for the most part, this means that the United States, does not have a real necessity to concern themselves militarily with most other nations; yet it does.

It would be one thing, if the military complex of the United States, somehow didn't cost the American taxpayers a dime, but, in fact, that military complex has an immense budget, as reported by usgovernmentspending.com, of which for fiscal year 2019, that amount came to a total of $940 billion, representing the monies so being spent on the Military spending, Veterans, and Foreign Aid.   Further to the point, standing armies in order to justify their existence, must make it their point, to flex their muscles, each and every year, so as to indicate to the American population not only how dangerous that the world at large so appears, but that the threats, real or imagined, so discovered, must be and only can be dealt with effectively by that military complex.  So then, the upshot of such a viewpoint is that the defense spending of America increases year by year, even though America has not had a Congressional declared war since World War II.

So too, because of the America's defense budget as well as other national expenditures of all types, the fiscal responsibility of this country to balance its own national budget, has fallen completely to the wayside.  So that, the present day citizens of this nation, are not being taxed at the rate so necessary to pay for this defense as well as other national commitments, because this government runs instead, massive deficits, of which the financial burden of such are thereupon placed upon the backs of future generations.

Because America refuses to get its fiscal house in order, and because therefore the taxpaying public does not suffer the real-time impact of what their taxation would have to be, in order to balance a budget that promises both guns and butter, the howling that would be expected from an overburdened and overtaxed public is not only not heard, but the real impact as well as the real sacrifice necessitated is not ever felt by that public, so that the end result is a nation that is enthralled to the military complex, and led by a government that hoodwinks the public about the national costs of this fiscal irresponsibility. Such a government has not the courage to place the onerous taxes so necessary on its people to balance its fiscal budget, because the rich won't pay for it, the poor don't have it, and the middle class can't alone carry all that weight.