Thursday, December 29, 2011

The Dignity of the Voting Public

This year we have seen many times when our elected officials have failed in their duty to respect the dignity of the voting public.

We have a governor who put the Downs of Albuquerque’s business interest before local communities. If not local citizens, than who should be in charge of major decisions that would affect the safety and calm of local community life?

We have leaders of our police force who put property, personal interest, and money before the safety of the voting public.

These local police forces have taken away the lives of far too many non-convicted citizens. Their fatal behavior has resulted in making them judge, jury and executioner without the benefit of fair representation for citizens of our state.

We have republican presidential candidates who see no need to assist the poor and weak in our society.

Those same republican presidential candidates would make our elderly homeless and penniless in order to reduce the taxes of the top 1% of the richest in our population.

The republicans would remove illegal aliens from our country without regard for the destruction of families because they are foreigners. These are people who are only in search of a safe home and a better life for their own families.

These republicans politicians have turned a blind eye to the suffering of the many homeless families and would remove all support, which might aide them in attaining a better life for their families in the future.

These same republicans would remove all laws and rules that protect our environment. This does not make them good stewards of our lands. Our children’s future health and welfare may well depend on how we handle our current environment.

In 2012, the voting public has it within their power to prevent the republicans from taking control of the White House and the House of Representatives in our country. The voters must exercise their right in voting for people who would protect the moral values of our country. We simply cannot stay home.

While we must look upon these republican candidates with charity and benevolence, we simply cannot allow these misguided individuals to take control of our federal government.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Social Justice for All New Mexicans

Society ensures social justice by providing the conditions that allow free associations between individuals and groups to obtain their just due. All individual in this state should be allowed their constitutional right to free association. This should apply to all voters and elected officials in this state including district court judges. To punish the many for the sins of the few is a shameful excess and a disrespectful use of power by those in authority.

Respect for the human person considers the other “another self.” It presupposes respect for the fundamental right that flow from the dignity intrinsic of the person. People from other nations should be respected. Hate and fear of others is nothing more than self-hate redirected onto another individual because of there national origin. All New Mexicans should respect their long held diversity.

The equality of men concerns their dignity as person and the right that flow from it. It is wrong to deprive anyone that resides in this state of their own personal dignity because of race, creed, sex or national origin.

The differences among persons belong to New Mexican’s history, which wills that we should need one another. These differences should encourage charity. It should encourage our state to help people in need of support and information. The Mayor of Albuquerque saw fit to encourage a plan that would get homeless people of the cold streets and into safe housing.

The equal dignity of human persons requires the effort to reduce excessive social and economic inequalities. It gives urgency to the elimination of shameful and yes even sinful inequalities. The governor should work to reduce these inequalities in our state.

Solidarity is a virtue. It practices the sharing of spiritual goods and intellectual goods even more than material ones. The sharing of intellectual and spiritual goods encourages the growth and development of jobs in our state that provide individual dignity for all New Mexicans. Both state and federal agencies should willing share intellectual goods in order to promote new job opportunities for all New Mexicans.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

New Judicial Standards a disservice to both Judges and the Voting Public

Funny, I don’t remember as a member of the voting public agreeing to have our judge’s constitutional rights stripped by the state supreme court. Justice Richard Bosson is a man who is out of touch with the voting public. If he so desires a private life away from politics then maybe the voting public should grant him his wish in his next retention election.

Judges need to be active publicly so that the voters know first hand that they are fit to sit on the bench. There is nothing wrong with judges being at a county political meeting since they are elected official in this state. The party has always shown respect for their limits when it comes to issues. We don’t ask for their views on issues that might appear before the court. At the same time it is good and proper that they should know the feelings of the voters when it comes to issues that provide stability for our local communities.

There is an old saying that states “Render therefore to Caésar the things that are Caésar’s and to God the things that are God's. What this means for the voting public is that church and state stay separate so that our country is not ruled by any one church or any one ruling group. Justice Bosson would have the judges in this state separated from the communities they represent. He would have judges base their decision on laws created by the people, for the people, and with the people without the judge’s real life knowledge of what that means for the people of their communities.

The republicans of this state would be only too happy to remove every democratic judge in this state because they resent their views on constitutional issues. The most conservative newspaper in this state has made it clear that they want judges divided from the people they represent. This can be no good for the stability of our state and the safety of our voting public. We already have far too many problems with local police enforcement agencies. The last thing this city or state needs is for our sitting judges to be out of touch with the voters in this state. The last time I checked, our court system was a public one so that the public could ensure the fitness of those who work in that system.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

New Rules from the New Mexico State Supreme Court Fatally Flawed

On January 1, 2012, new rules will take effect that prevents judges from taking part both personally and financially in the political process. These new rules strip judges of their constitutional right of free association. It also strips them of their right to free speech. It encourages them to take part publicly in religious activities.

The New Mexico State Supreme Court has sent a very strong message that separation of church and state is not important in our legal system. It has sent the message that judges should not have to associate with member of the public unless they are members of there own churches. The end result will be a very limited world view on how the voting public views religious issues.

The Supreme Court has made it possible for third party groups to control elections for our state judge positions. Those third party groups with unlimited financial resources and an unnatural right to freedom of speech will be able to speak out during elections while judges are forced to stay silence and separate from the voting public.

It has not given any alternative such as bipartisan public education requirements on the legal system by sitting judges. It has handed the future judgeships in this state over to the Republican Party at the cost of fair and equal justice for the voting public. The voting public knows very little about our sitting judges even now. In the future judges will be totally unknown to the voters. The voters will not know their party affiliation or their views on issues that affect our whole state. Those views could be express in a general manner without commenting on any current case in non- election years if sitting judges had the right of free association.

Voters should express their outrage on these new restrictive overreaching rules that will only result in a negative result for our state’s legal system. The New Mexico Supreme Court has exceeded their ability to fix the problems in our current legal system until it is completely and totally broken.

The sad part is that the most conservative newspaper in this state clearly thinks that this is a great idea. What has happened to our state party’s respect for the rule of law in this state?