Saturday, July 20, 2013

democracy is about Life.

Democracy is about the Freedom and Equality afforded us within a political structure. Freedom and Equality for an Individual is about his or her ability to experience every aspect of his or her life. Life within a political structure can be experienced only when the individual is not constrained or kept from living in a manner s/he sees fit. That is to say, when the individual can live his/her life within the complex legal structures established by the government. Legal structures should merely 'guide' and 'protect' the expression of life and never constrain it. That is precisely the purpose of law. Most legal structure spell out what is allowed within a certain institution and what is not allowed. Its subject matter is too vast to refer to each and every aspect of it. Even lawyers specialize in one or another aspect of it, which is just another way of saying no lawyer knows all the law. Of course, legal infractions are about as numerous as bodily sicknesses and medical doctors can't cure all the sicknesses either. But, we're discussing Freedom and Equality within government and the law that helps that expression. Law is the only governmental institution that helps keep order in the social; that's probably the source of that inseparable phrase, 'law and order'. The minute we step outside the door, we step 'into law',i.e. into legal structures. Hence, living in a 'condition of togetherness' is living in conditions subject to legal structures. That's the only way an individual can be Free and Equal within the political structure. Hence, law serves as a protection and as a guide from encroachment by others and government. Law must be respected. But, here's the problem. The duty, I repeat, duty of the Supreme Court is to interpret the laws and to insure they are in conformity with the Constitution. But, when Party ideology becomes the main consideration in interpretive practices, the Courts are not doing their job. Objectivity, as required in Journalism, is also required in Constitutional interpretation. Maybe we need some laws that state that if the Judges are not being Objective, there is a Right to remove them. As it is now, they sit for life.

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Democracy For The Bottom by Gilbert Gonzalez is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.