[BOBT12]

Originally Posted by psholtz

Being a "lawyer" imparts no qualifications to you whatsoever.

What you say will be considered for its truth and merits, and if found wanting, will be rejected.

Otherwise, if what you say has value, it will be accepted as such.

It is hard to state the issue in more basic terms then this. I am looking to the justness in the rules (statues, act, etc.), for it is the people's responsibility to oversee the government in the final analysis.

"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.... Were I called upon to decide, whether the people had best be omitted in the legislative or judiciary department, I would say it is better to leave them out of the legislative. The execution of the law is more important than the making of them.”--Thomas Jefferson

Originally Posted by mertensv16

Since most of you seem to be anarchists at heart and don't accept the concept of authority to begin with, what does it matter what my qualifications are? Either way, you'll find something to complain about, won't you?

”Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human liberty; it is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” –William Pitt

Regardless of what some rules may say, the people must judge the rule and the facts to see that justice is done.

”Woe to those who decree unjust statutes and to those who continually record unjust decisions, to deprive the needy of justice, and to rob the poor of My people of their rights…” –Isaiah 10:1,2

Why should we exclude our conscience from the application of the law? Hitler had a highly ordered society, yet, why should we want to follow this example? I see many of this mindless desire to obey unjust rules (sometime called laws)today, I think many of us here have, and we reject the mere promulgation of a unjust rule as basis of law.

Every mind is self owned, and , therefore, that first property; everything else in nature is unowned. Every action caused by a mind - the movement of an arm, the speaking of a word - is owned by that mind. Every liability and every benefit generated by an action accrues to the mind that gave rise to the action. This is the origin of all property, and all liability. -Locke

I am against losing unalienable rights. I am against direct taxes on the individual, regardless of what rights the courts may conspire to usurp. For instance, I am not opposed to killing in self-defense. Yet, I am opposed to murder. Are these questions only the government can answer?

”Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master” –George Washington

Shouldn’t the people look at these questions for themselves? Why should we want (fully informed) juries, when only the government and attorneys know all the answers?

”The law itself is on trial quite as much as the cause which is to be decided.” –Harlan F. Stone, 12th Chief Justice, U. S. supreme Court, 1941

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, I should do and, with the help of God, I will do! –Everett Hale.

”Where rights secured by the Constitution are involved, there can be no rule making or legislation which would abrogate them.” –Miranda vs. Arizona, 384 US 436 p.491

The End of Law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge Freedom. –Locke

Or it will be doomed to producing tyranny.

Let us look the Declaration of Independence for a guide, "We hold these truths to be self-evident".

The Constitution ought to be preferred to the statute, the intention of the people to the intention of their agents. -Hamilton, Federalist No. 78

In any event, my conscience, my law, must always be my final guide. I hope that this conscience is what we the people are guided by.

The safety of the people is the supreme law.... The safety of the people cannot be judged but by the safety of every individual.... Unjust is State power where the law is either uncertain or unknown. -- Maxims of Common Law

You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the Universe. -John Adams

Emphasis added.