Common Sense REVISITED - (Part Six)

A Sequel to "The Law"

Continuing from Part Five - Part Four - Part Three - Part Two - Part One

This is the last part of the series. I will also post “acknowledgements” separate for those who might be interested to see who helped or was directly involved in this project. If you want the list of the References you can download a free PDF of the whole pamphlet HERE without any of my comments added. I hope this has been helpful for your search for truth. It was for me back in 2008. And the only thing that has happened since is it has gotten a lot worse when it comes to the control freaks in government and their insane programs and projects that are aimed at our freedom. Thank you for reading and hopefully passing this on! C.L.

There is no doubt that drug use and abuse increase dependency and reduce one’s indigenous power. Virtually everyone would agree that drugs are an extremely negative influence. Those who argue that somehow drugs can be a positive influence are involved in serious self-deception. Drugs and alcohol damage the human physiology and reduce the natural powers of perception.

A society based on indigenous power, rather than surrogate power, would create a culture and educational program that would foster the development of young people’s indigenous power through religious, spiritual, cultural, and family traditions. Drug use and abuse would be minimal with a strong family-based, bottom-up society. This is not happening in the country today.

The massive welfare/warfare federal surrogate has made it difficult for families to survive economically unless both parents are working. This puts a tremendous strain on parents and weakens their ability to create the appropriate family environment for a child’s holistic growth. The full growth of the child’s indigenous power is not going to happen in government-run schools; it can only occur within the family. Therefore, the conditions today set the stage for substance abuse among young people.

The federal war on drugs has done nothing to curtail the availability of drugs. Today any young person can obtain virtually any harmful illegal drug he or she wants. At the same time, the war on drugs has increased the power of law enforcement officials at all levels of government. In the name of this drug war, perfectly law-abiding citizens have had their property seized, with no recourse to restorative justice.

Compounding the problem is a rehabilitation system based on the idea that once an addict, always an addict. The belief is that the addict is permanently flawed with an incurable life-long disease and that relapse is normal. Parents, kids, siblings, society, television shows, and bad genes are just a few of the so-called causes for this disease. An individual, supposedly, is neither responsible for his or her actions, nor able to cure him- or herself without a recovery group.

Within this concept, the addict in recovery may be trading his or her dependency on drugs for a dependency on the recovery group. Those who cure themselves by declaring their independence from substance abuse without the group are considered dry drunks, who are deluding themselves into thinking that they can actually decide to stop their addictive behavior and live a normal life.

Common sense can turn this dependent culture around. There is overwhelming evidence that the government’s war on drugs should be ended, including several extremely well-researched books by highly esteemed members of the law enforcement profession who convincingly make the common sense case for ending this nightmare. Both Judge Jim Gray and Sheriff Bill Masters have excellent books.

The solution to the drug war is straightforward: end the federal government’s unconstitutional involvement in people’s personal choices that do not harm others. There should be absolutely no role for the federal government regarding what people decide to put into their bodies. The resources of the state and local governments, local community groups, and primarily the family unit can be much more effective in eliminating the substance abuse problem.

Skeptics need only look to the past. Remember Prohibition, when the federal government banned the sale of alcohol?

Prohibition 1:

• turned millions of otherwise law-abiding citizens into criminals,

• put families on welfare by arresting breadwinners,

• made the illegal business of selling and transporting alcohol very profitable,

• encouraged alcohol traffickers to arm themselves to defend their turf,

• led to almost universal corruption of law enforcement professionals, breeding disdain for law enforcement among the public,

• created much more powerful crime syndicates, and

• resulted in an overcrowding of the judicial system, jails and prisons.

Does this sound familiar? The public became angry enough to put an end to Prohibition 1 because it became obvious that attempting to manage the private activities of the people through government force is counterproductive on every level.

The present-day war on drugs, Prohibition 2, is an even bigger failure than Prohibition 1. Neighborhoods all over the country have turned into battlegrounds because gangs are now involved in drug dealing. Jails are filled with nonviolent drug offenders and prisons are filled with drugs! If there was ever an irrefutable argument against the use of force to curtail drug abuse (the DrugWar), it is the wide availability of drugs within U.S. prisons!

It has been reported that 40% of the nation’s local police agencies depend on seized assets as a budgetary supplement. Property owners need not be charged with a crime for their property to be taken. Innocent people who have had property seized rarely get their property back, and they rarely get compensated. This gives law enforcement officers a strong financial incentive to raid whenever they have an opportunity.

Decriminalizing drugs at the federal level would automatically take away the profit incentive that is now the lifeblood of violent gangs. It would also free up the court system. A time magazine article reports, “The U.S. is, by far, the most ‘criminal’ country in the world, with 5% of the world's population and 25% of its prisoners. We spend $68 billion per year on corrections, and one-third of those being corrected are serving time for nonviolent drug crimes.”

Of course, under a bottom-up system the people in any state could decide to make any drug they want illegal. However, it is more likely that people will have learned their lesson and will use their resources for education and rehabilitation, rather than for law enforcement and providing free housing (jail) for nonviolent drug offenders.

Many people wonder if decriminalizing drugs will encourage their use. The exact opposite is true. Ending the government’s involvement in this arena and letting the people reassume their sovereignty and personal responsibility for themselves, their families, and their communities will create the greatest opportunity to succeed in reducing harmful drug use. All of the human and financial resources misused at the governmental level would be directed to the family and local level, where they can actually make a difference.

If individuals were free to be open about their inappropriate drug usage without fear of criminal prosecution, they would be much more likely to deal honestly with their problem. If resources were focused on a rehabilitation program that worked and that emphasized personal responsibility and the growth of indigenous power, drug abuse would be dramatically reduced.

Fortunately there is such a program, one that has had such tremendously successful results that it is spreading like wildfire across the country. The program is called Rational Recovery and was created by Jack and Lois Trimpey. In this program each individual takes responsibility and uses his or her own indigenous power to recover. Participants start to live a totally normal life and restore relationships with family members. The family plays an important part in the

Rational Recovery program.

The technique used in the Rational Recovery program, called Addictive Voice Recognition Technique (AVRT), has been proven more effective than any other form of addiction treatment or recovery group participation. With AVRT, everyone has a 100 percent chance of prompt and full recovery. Over 60 percent of recoveries from addiction occur without groups, counselors, or rehab. As Rational Recovery demonstrates, the scourge of drug abuse in this country can be turned into an insignificant issue by returning to the bottom-up model in which the family unit makes up the solid base of the power pyramid.

Jefferson and the other Founders had an incredibly deep understanding of human nature and the nature of surrogate power to expand. Drawing on their vast knowledge of history, government, and natural law, they set out to create a civilization that would offer the most freedom and opportunity possible. They were determined to provide an environment conducive to the full development of the individual, even though they realized from the beginning that the nature of some humans to expand their influence over others would begin eroding individual freedom.

The Founders did everything they could to limit the power of the newly formed central government, creating checks and balances between the branches of the federal government as well as between federal, state, and local governments. Even so, they realized their safeguards would not be enough; eventually a future generation of Americans would be called upon to revive the fundamental principles upon which the founding documents were based. Jefferson and the others clearly foresaw that if this future generation did not answer the call, the freedoms they fought for would be lost.

Conditions right before the Revolutionary War were similar to those today. (2007? How about 2024? C.L.) The Founders knew that to achieve freedom, they would have to stir the hearts of the people so they would support the effort to separate from the top-down, command-and-control regime of King George. So too do the hearts of the people today need to be awakened to the fact that we are no longer governed by people who understand or believe in the fundamental principles that inspired the founding documents.

What will it take to flip the power pyramid back to where it belongs, with the people in charge once again?

Fortunately, there is a model from the past to emulate. Remember that in January 1776 about two-thirds of the delegates to the Continental Congress were not planning to vote for independence. Then the small pamphlet COMMON SENSE so powerfully and effectively articulated the case for liberty that a passion for independence swept the country, and on July 4th, the United States of America was born.

A paradigm shift occurred in a matter of months! A paradigm shift is a significant change in an existing pattern or model. In this case, it is a change in the structure of the people’s government. However, in order for a change in the people's government, what really needs to happen is a change in people’s hearts. A change of heart will drive a return to a bottom-up structure based on love and freedom, instead of the top-down model based on fear and control.

Every human being, deep within his or her heart, yearns for freedom and love. Fortunately, millions of young people in our country have already started to declare their dissatisfaction with the monstrous debt that is being left to their generation. So the paradigm shift has already begun. In order to be most successful, everyone should continue to articulate the freedom message with loving hearts, minds, thoughts, and words to every person with whom they connect.

If everyone does this, all of the force and power of the “laws of nature and of nature’s God” will create a tipping point for the paradigm shift from surrogate power to indigenous power. In fact, it will take the country and the world to a level of prosperity, peace, and harmony well beyond that envisioned by the Founders. It will create a force so attractive that even those individuals working for the most power-hungry surrogate institutions will want to be part of the paradigm shift!

In 1776, the paradigm shift set in motion by COMMON SENSE grew rapidly. The last century of institutional consolidation of power can also be overturned in a few months or years—as soon as enough people wake up. Each individual is important in this shift. One person can bring together a small group of people who believe in bottom-up government and common sense solutions. A small group can transform a community and set an example for others in other towns. Soon the whole state is affected and eventually the whole country. That is the whole idea—it all starts with you, the individual.

The Nation’s Inspired Youth

It is the incredible enthusiasm of America’s youth, uniting behind a peaceful revolution to restore the country’s eternally valid founding principles, that finally inspired the writing of this pamphlet. The young people get it, and hopefully they will awaken in their parents and grandparents the flame of freedom that burns within every individual.

Young people know intuitively that there is something very wrong about the current government and institutions. They know that top-down, command-and-control surrogates increasingly create an oppressive environment. They are responding to the freedom message with great enthusiasm and energy.

Young people across this nation are realizing that when the power of love exceeds the love of power, the world will know peace, prosperity, and freedom. The creative solutions to our problems will occur spontaneously and naturally, from the bottom up.

People must educate themselves, their friends, and their families about the principles of freedom. For an up-to-date, comprehensive list of educational resources, including websites, books, and essays, visit Common Sense Revisited

Below is a list of must-reads:

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? and Whatever Happened to Justice? by Richard J. Maybury These two books brilliantly teach the basic economic and legal principles that comprise the freedom formula for a civilized society. Maybury’s entire "Uncle Eric" series is strongly recommended. If your children are not being taught the history, law, and economic principles found in these books in their current schools you should consider teaching them at home, using these as textbooks along with the study guides available for each book. Every book is written so that someone with an eighth grade education can fully comprehend the knowledge.

The Law, by Frederic Bastiat An incredibly powerful essay on the nature of the relationship between government and the individual. This is a classic. 15 pages. This is available online for free.

The 5,000 year Leap, by W. Cleon Skousen This is also a classic. Skousen explains all the fundamental principles of nature that guided the Founders while they created the freedom formula.

Economics in One Lesson, by Henry Hazlitt Another classic. This blows away the nonsense that is now taught about economics. This is the basis for understanding freedom-based economics. Available online for free.

The Revolution: A Manifesto, by Ron Paul Congressman Ron Paul’s latest book covers how to achieve economic freedom, civil liberties, and personal responsibility, and what role the government is supposed to play in people’s lives.

The Creature from Jekyll Island, by G. Edward Griffin A comprehensive history of the creation of the Federal Reserve and its impact on society.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.

To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all

Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor

THE END or it is the BEGINNING of A NEW AGE?

For quick access to the past parts you can use these links…

Continuing from Part Five - Part Four - Part Three - Part Two - Part One

I have but one more very short page to do. It will be entitled Acknowledgements and will be what the author had in the pamphlet. We removed the reference page but it is available if you download the PDF or order the physical copy of the pamphlet. We thank everyone of you who have taken the time to read this work and hope you pass the link to your friends and relatives. At my age I feel time is getting short and I would love to see a wonderful world left to my grandchildren, your children and your grandchildren. The only way it is going to happen is if we all shed our sheepish ways and ask for a lion heart and take the world back from the control freaks that have it in their grasp as I write this. Remember FEAR is their weapon and COURAGE is the what will defeat it. C.L.

I am your friend…and the