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To: Archie Meeties who wrote (81176)	12/9/2000 5:57:55 PM
From: kodiak_bull	Respond to of 95453

OT OT OT "When you prepare the sermon, who do you imagine the congregation to be?" Archie, I never know. I assume people who actually believe in representative democracy would be interested in a fair and accurate vote, without shading toward one side or the other. It's sort of like the NCAA basketball tournament--we like it because it seems pretty fair, given the venues, the refs, the lack of "homecourt" advantage, etc. Representative democracy means we are, or propose to be, responsible enough to elect representatives who will then propose and debate and finally pass laws that we will accept under this Great Social Contract. Of course, we will need someone to execute those laws, to prosecute their various violations and incaracerate the incorrigible and the dangerous. And even execute those guilty of such heinous crimes that their residence on earth has been, through their own acts, adjudged "cancelled." And so we have administrative boards for things like zoning and pollution control, and we have armed police to investigate and arrest criminals. Finally, we need some fair minded people not to write the laws (they've already been written) or to execute the laws or police the public but to hear and decide cases and controversies brought under the law. And to guard against the legislature acting ultra vires and enacting unconstitutional laws, and to guard against the executive branch and the police abusing their authority. So we have rather ornate buildings and fancy courtrooms and folks with greying and white hair who sit in black robes and adjudicate when it is necessary. My ideal congregation believes in all three of these concepts, and their checks and balances. My ideal congregation realizes that it sometimes takes time, perhaps too long, for representative democracy to grind forward and write all the laws we need. But when judges fabricate law, no matter what the supposed social good is, it is always bad and divisive law. Eventually it circles back to the public and cleaves the populace in two or three parts. A good example is Roe v. Wade. Pure fabrication of a right to privacy in the constitution where none existed. No matter how much you may believe in "choice" (which I do in the first trimester) vs. pro-life, having a Supreme Court Justice fabricate the law, get 4 of his fellows to agree to it and then foist it on the public is, in the end, bad law and anti-democratic. I believe we need strict gun registration laws and insurance requirements, similar to those we use to police the slaughter on the highway. No kid (or adult) should be able to own or operate a gun without having passed a gun usage and safety course and obtained insurance against the harm he or she may cause with the dangerous weapon. But, we have the 2nd amendment, and the way we get the law we need is to legislate it, not to have some old guy "discover" the necessary law in the Commerce Clause (which seems to provide "cover" for every other law we've never agreed to). Until we have legislation passed by Congress concerning the regulation of firearms, or a constitutional amendment, we won't have the "correct" set of laws concerning firearms. But it will take time and a lot more bodies before the mind politic achieves that kind of consciousness. That's the cost of representative democracy, which no one ever said would be free or even close to perfect. Now maybe the 7 Dwarves of the Stupreme Court of Floriduh actually in their hearts of hearts believed that the best remedy for the election nonsense WAS to rewrite the law a little, after all, if the legislators had thought of this they would have done the same, wouldn't they? And shouldn't every vote count, especially if we can uncover a few more for Algore? But they exceeded the scope of their jobs and started doing unconstitutional things the moment they stepped in and stopped Katherine Harris from the original certification. Then they extended the deadline, and simultaneously squeezed the contest period. My congregation would understand all this, or at least WANT to. Regards, Kb