Indeed!  Property is worthless without the labor to acquire, create, transport, store, defend, and use it.  Money takes many forms and it can be a medium of exchange but also the labor/property being exchanged itself.  Tobacco was a form of money — but it isn't worth anything without the labor to produce it.  An unharvested carrot is worthless.  All wealth and prosperity is the result of someone's labor.  This is where making promises comes in — promising to do something in exchange for something.  Now the money system has been turned inside out such that all the money represents 'promises' (i.e. debt).  It'll all be fine as long as the promises can be kept... ;-)

That's not really repentance, is it?  That's just trying to get out of trouble.

It's not so much what I know, but how I apply it.  Just like any power or weapon, how I wield it matters more than possessing the power itself.

I like, "There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses."  Hence a distributive republican government, to provide many checks against the abuses of centralized power.  No one can be trusted with so much power — the system is supposed to be set up to guard against the power-hungry and the mob to prevent the takeover of the country from within.  Stealing power can be easier than acquiring it oneself.  Throughout history the rulers' powers have all been acquired through theft and conquest.  Today is the same, although the common man does not know who the real rulers are — the top of the pyramid is known by the temple builders themselves.  And the greatest thieves rule the world.

It's a classic, eh, Mike? ;-) The concept should be easily adopted by the global citizenry as fundamental.  The road out of serfdom starts there.

Thanks, Mike.  What is preventing citizens from forming a grand jury to indict the Clinton's for their very apparent crimes?  From what I understand, grand juries in Washington DC are used, and are typically loaded with people who work for the government directly or indirectly and are very liberal, and they can be talked into indicting just about anyone — it is the judge that serves as a check, and with liberal judges everywhere, 'due process' merely is that which empowers the progressive agenda.  If we have to wait for the government to check itself, it will never happen...

The cover-up implies a wrong-doing, and in and of itself would be wrong.  The penalty for lying can be greater than the action being lied about.  The lawyer's bread and butter — find any lie to use as evidence of being a liar, thus all else is discredited.

So how come Hillary and company have never had to face grand juries for their obvious crimes, while charges keep coming for insignificant players connected to Trump?  The game has been rigged for a long time.

Mike, I've heard that anyone can form a grand jury and bring the case to the Sheriff.  Do you know anything about the process?

Which is why the blame lies with us for the corruption of the government and the principles upon which it is founded.  Courage and conviction would well put us on the road to reform.

Indeed!  Vaclav Havel is a true inspiration.  What a world this would be with more Vaclav Havel's around.

Yes, "Truth, Goodness, and Beauty" and Courage! I agree 100%. Happiness is not an 'end' for me, it is simply a 'way.' I am happy when I am happy and unhappy when I am unhappy -- both serve their purposes. I do not live for an 'end' but for the process of life itself in this 'perpetual moment.' ;-)

Just say NO to statism! ;-)

'Taking a stand' -- what an honor it is to have something to stand for and doing it!

I have heard the same argument from 'liberals' that there is no Truth, either, it's all just made up. Yet, liberals wish to dominate the making of 'laws' and the broadcast of the 'truth' that supports their authority to dictate. They call these 'laws' so that people will obey, but they are merely 'rules' -- these are the man-made 'laws.'

But what is called Natural Law is that natural 'order' we have been discovering since mankind could think. Science is the field of learning about the world, politics is the science of controlling the world. Unfortunately it does not take much power to control people compared to controlling the forces of nature. The 'law' of gravity was 'discovered' but it already existed before mankind gave it a name. And yes, there is such thing as fiscal 'laws' not written down by man -- the ecosystem of Earth is a balance of give and take, life and death, everything interconnected and interdependent. How did all this come about before mankind claimed power over the Earth? And, Robert, since you have brought up Buddhism several times, what is 'karma' and how/why does that work without mankind's control and judgement? Even very simply, you have the choice to tell someone a hard truth or a comfortable lie -- is there any 'natural' consequence of doing either?

There are a great many natural laws, physical and metaphysical. Working in harmony with them has sent men to the moon. Working against them only produces more lessons to learn, in fact this is how we learn about reality. Only when we have so much invested in the lie is facing the truth so difficult, but there it is.

Love it, Mike. Now if that were only taught in law school...

Censorship, 'last' resort? That's putting it mildly. It's all scripted out of whole cloth now. Boobs and bigots are the bread and butter of the politicos and their propagandists. The promotion of boob-ism and bigotry is top on the list of 'Big Media' in most of its content for public consumption. It's not even denied any more, creators and producers are now being demanded they write-in characters that represent their class. Song writers are rebuked for not promoting some SJW cause. News reports are written in advance of the events, in concert with deep state cover-ups. Staged 'live' news scenes. Crisis actors following the playbook. The incestuous relationships between the CIA/FBI and the Big Media, they are the opinion-makers writing the narrative. Make no mistake, it is a battle for the minds of the boobs and the bigots, a cash cow to milk forever.

It all comes down to how people define their responsibility in this world. I was born into the world with its 'systems' already in place, so I can easily blame my forebears for its corruption.

But the 'problem' is never solved until someone takes responsibility for solving it -- I must 'own it' as if I created it in the first place, and, while I did not create the problem, people like me, doing what I do, allowed it to happen, maybe even helped it along unknowingly, so in a way I AM responsible, too.

Making excuses does nothing to empower -- it places the power to resolve it in someone else's hands and demands action from them. When that latent spark of Independence and self-determination flashes, it awakens the whole being into a new world of possibilities. Such is what Adams called 'the American mind.'

Great distinctions drawn, Mike. I like, "The jury attends in judgment, not only upon the accused, but also upon the justice and the humanity of the Law."

I can't remember a time when federal judges countermanded presidential executive orders as frequently as they have been doing with Pres. Trump. I do not think that the President has to obey such orders or wait for the Supreme Court to decide. It has become painfully obvious that the courts and system of law are being corrupted into a statist theocracy ruled by lawyers and judges belonging to an exclusive club with a monopoly on the power of the 'law.' The Supreme Court is so obviously partisan, that they do not deserve life-long appointments to secure their power forever.

Yes, "when it steps beyond that boundary, its acts, like those of the most humble magistrate in the state who transcends his jurisdiction, are utterly void," but what court will rule against its own usurpation of power?

Regarding the laws prohibiting 'drugs' or alcohol, this is a declaration of war against people who are violating no one's rights. It is an offensive act with NO authority or consent granted -- it is mob rule, no less than a KKK lynching. And it is about MONEY and POWER, let there be no doubt. Alcohol prohibition birthed the police-state in which all are subject to arbitrary search and seizure -- everyone considered a suspect of breaking the law. Once that was struck down, the long arm of the law was used to enforce marijuana prohibition, then later whatever substances the government 'declared' prohibited. The drug war protects the monopoly on medicine by the medical union/establishment which profits immensely from pharmaceuticals that kill more people than all illegal drugs combined (not even close).

Under Obama's EPA, federal jurisdiction is claimed over every State -- a pond must be approved or filled in. There are literally hundreds more examples of government overreach passing more 'laws' every day that are arbitrary and assumed to be in the jurisdiction of Congress.

The IRS makes us sign our labors away, even though the study of the origin of the IRS and its powers reveal that most people are not subject to these taxes -- they have been conned into agreeing to pay them 'voluntarily.' Yet, just try and make this argument in a tax court (with no jury or due process).

America's tryst with fiat banking, socialist democracy, and straight up authoritarianism are the balls and chains that hold us. Is there any hope for what John Adams called the 'American mind' ?

This knowledge was common enough among juries during Prohibition trials that many defendants were acquitted by juries despite breaking the law. Juries are the final veto of bad laws, if they choose to exercise their right to do so.

Spooner is the the boy who says, "the emperor is wearing no clothes." He points to our true delusion. We grimace, then hope the boy shuts up...

The socialist 'revolution' of America is being carried out administratively from within. Armies of lawyers and their staffs, work tirelessly behind the scenes, monopolizing 'due process' itself, re-writing statutes, extending their jurisdiction, extorting high fees and a share of the spoils, placing themselves as authorities and enforcers of the law.

My childhood friend is now a lawyer and describes his work: "I sue people." Lawyers need defendants, or they sue people -- that's what they do for money, and they demand the highest fees because the legal fraternity is a private monopoly, lawyers may not practice without their certification.

Socialism is a lawyer's dream! Social justice warriors defend their dependencies and call them 'rights' with armies of lawyers ready to 'defend' them. Their so-called rights, though, are a claim to the fruits of other people's labors, and without lawyers to sue me for not contributing my 'fair share' (as they have defined it), their only other alternative would be to take it from me by force themselves. That perversion of the law is the very process that feeds the Leviathan.

The credo of Caesar -- enough said.