James M. Redwine

Posey County

Nothing’s Plenty For Me

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The First Load, not The Last!

For those of you who read last week’s Gavel Gamut and are wondering about Peg’s and my cinematic futures let me report we have not yet received a call from Martin Scorsese. I know he has been busy. We remain both confident and hopeful. However, as we await stardom life goes on. Specifically, what we have going on is the interminable saga of our move from JPeg Ranch Hoosier in Posey County, Indiana to JPeg Osage Ranch in Osage County, Oklahoma.

Peg and I bought a cabin in Osage County last December. Our plan was to vacation there occasionally as we have numerous family members in Oklahoma. What we have discovered is the truism of the ancient admonition, “Where your treasure is there will your heart be also.” And as our modest treasure has ever so increasingly been “invested” in the cabin we have slowly shifted our focus to the Tall Grass Prairie. Let me say the simple pleasures described by Laura Ingalls Wilder in her Little House on the Prairie books have been put in jeopardy by our transition.

We are in the throes of our tenth round trip of 1,200 miles with a loaded trailer and pickup.  (This time we have graduated to a U-Haul, my guess is Atlas Van Lines is in our future). At first we amused ourselves with the bucolic image of The Beverly Hillbillies with junk piled high as they headed west. After a couple of trips the analogy became too apt. Now we feel more closely aligned with the fate of Sisyphus. We are not sure why, but it seems the completion of one trip only guarantees we must start another. And what we have discovered is that no matter what household item we need in one place is always in the other. We now have duplicates of everything from can openers to skillets.

Peg and I used to wonder how other people had such difficulty with everyday tasks such as how does one keep track of where they put what. Now we get it. However, the question we now most often ask one another is, “Why did you ever buy that?” We are continually discovering items that have not surfaced in years, many still in their original packaging. Of course, we must pack and move them anyway. This phenomenon has tested our ability to refrain from asking one another, “Can we just throw that away?”

I have found that a great deal of what Peg holds to be indispensable is really superfluous. And I resent her attitude about many of the items in my Man Cave; wait until we start on the junk in her Girl Cave. She does not understand that I might need some of what she calls worthless items someday. I suggest we ask the husbands of the world to fairly judge what should be placed in the Conestoga and what should be dumped along the trail.

What Peg and I do agree on is the mystery of how over thousands of years we have gone from maintaining what is truly essential to accumulating thousands of items we forget we have. George Gershwin’s old song goes:

♫ I got plenty of nothing

And nothing is plenty for me.

I got no car.

I got no mule.

Got no misery. ♫

Porgy and Bess (1935)

Well, paring down to the essentials is a fine thought but I must end this column as Peg is calling out to me to load another box onto the trailer.

Our Best Entertainment

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Many of you have read JUDGE LYNCH!, the historical novel Peg and I wrote about the lynchings of four Black men on the campus of the Posey County, Indiana courthouse in 1878. And several of you even participated in the making of our short movie about the murders. That was our first effort at movie making and probably yours too.

To those of you who volunteered to endure the cold, rain and tedium of my directorial debut, thank you! Please do not forget the compensation you received; wasn’t Shawnna Rigsby’s bar-b-cue good? You might be interested in some of the behind scenes manipulation I engaged in to get my friends to commit suicide, get shot, get chased by night riders on horseback and to even get lynched.

For example, early on I called our sons’s one-time boxing teammate and our good friend, Danny Thomas, and said, “Danny, I need some Black men to shoot and lynch on camera.Would you, your family and friends care to do that?” Danny did not hesitate. Then there was our neighbor, Chuck Minnette, who was minding his own business when I told him he surely must feel depressed and possibly even suicidal. Chuck thought I was kidding until we filmed his suicide scene. The scene involved Chuck firing a pistol with a blank cartridge near his head while my wife, Peg, laid on her back on the floor puffing on a cigar and blowing the smoke up toward Chuck’s face.

Chris Greathouse was called upon to have his neck broken by Danny Thomas and several “soiled doves” played their parts with such enthusiasm I will leave them unnamed. Jerry King generously offered his amazing Pioneer Village for several scenes and Jerry and his wife, Marsha, even donned their costumes of General and Mrs. Hovey. Dan Funk, whose father was a minister, played his preacher part convincingly. Dr. Bill Etherton and his wife, Judy, attended Dan’s frontier church and Dr. Bill along with Nurse Bonnie Minnette attended to “injured” patients.  Through it all the only person who actually knew anything about video cameras, Rodney Fetcher, managed to get the whole nineteen minute movie filmed and, along with Peg, edited. My eldest brother, C.E. Redwine, is a professional musician and he wrote and performed a marvelous score for the film. There were numerous other budding Academy Award winners who contributed time, talent, tips and immense patience; I appreciate you all!

Now, Gentle Reader, you may have noticed that I had little to do with the finished product. But let me suggest the same is often true in other movies where those who get the acclaim may not be those who do the real work. In my defense I just wish to state, “Hey, I wrote the book!”

Anyway, our little movie does tell the horrific story of murdered African Americans by the powerful white community of Posey County, Indiana in 1878 and brings to light the long hidden tragedy. I am proud of our effort and will always treasure the experience. However, it is not JUDGE LYNCH! that is the impetuous for this week’s column but Peg’s and my attempt to research the making of a full-length movie about the infamous Osage Reign of Terror that occurred in Osage County, Oklahoma where I was born.

Author David Grann has written an excellent exposé of the murders of numerous Native Americans of the Osage tribe in Osage County, Oklahoma in the 1920’s and ’30’s. Peg and I were at our cabin in Osage County when the casting call came out for extras for the Martin Scorsese directed film that will star Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. While growing up in Pawhuska, the county seat, I often heard whispered rumors of these crimes. Kudos to Grann, Scorsese, DiCaprio and De Niro for having the courage to lift the veil from this great evil.

In preparation for this column Peg and I did go to the Osage County Fairgrounds on Sunday, November 10, 2019 for the advertised casting call for movie extras. Our purpose was to gain information about the making of the movie that we could include in this column. We were met by several extremely polite and pleasant people who were not authorized to answer our questions but they did suggest we might want to experience the casting call process from the inside by filling out applications ourselves. We did so and had an interesting and fun time. Of course, the staff at the door, the numerous tables and chairs, the clear directional signs and the four enclaves of people photographing, taking prospective extras’ measurements and interviewing the hundreds of hopeful locals was just a little different than the process I used for getting actors for JUDGE LYNCH!. My method was pretty much, “You are my friend. I need you to lynch someone (or be lynched), shoot someone (or be shot) or stand out in the cold rain and try to fathom my directions.”

In my opinion Peg is a possible Barbara Stanwyck double and after a beer or two I can find a remarkable resemblance between myself and Robert Redford. Of course, we both have movie experience. herefore, we are excited and waiting by the phone to be discovered. Hey, it happened to Norma Jeane Mortenson didn’t it? And while you may not know it, before Gone With The Wind, Clark Gable worked as an oilfield roustabout in Barnsdall, Osage County, Oklahoma which is the nearest town to our cabin. Can you say kismet? Further, since I am an experienced fellow director, maybe Marty will want another perspective for a scene or two. Next week we may dig a little deeper into the film noir that has Osage County, Oklahoma buzzing.

A Tale of Two Counties

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Posey County, Indiana
Osage County, Oklahoma

 

 

America is a wonderful country from the amazing amalgam of cultures in cities such as Miami, New York City, San Francisco and Portland to the majesty of Yellowstone and the Mississippi River. We are truly fortunate to have the privilege to live here. As for Peg and me, we are most familiar with two counties in two states, Posey County, Indiana and Osage County, Oklahoma.

Of course, the basic element of all inhabited areas is the same, the inhabitants, and those inhabitants are more alike than unalike wherever we live. I have found this to be true from Russia and Ukraine to Palestine and Bahrain as I have taught judges from several foreign countries and from every state in America. Of course, I have also physically visited a few places around the world. It has been my great pleasure to discover practically everybody I meet is interesting. I understand why Will Rogers who grew up near Osage County, Oklahoma said he’d never met someone he didn’t like.

But just focusing on Posey County, Indiana and Osage County, Oklahoma, the two places Peg and I call home, I find much to admire in both. In Posey County the soil is so rich and the people are so industrious that enough wheat, corn and soybeans are produced to feed much of the world. And Osage County’s Tallgrass Prairie and hardworking cowhands furnish the accompanying beef. One need never go hungry if he or she spends time in either county.

I hope I have made it clear that I truly appreciate the county where I was born and the county where I have earned a living. On the other hand, just as there was a serpent in the Garden of Eden, both Posey and Osage Counties fall a little short of perfection due to the foibles of Mother Nature. I suppose life just requires that we occasionally find half a worm in an apple. Let me explain.

Neither Posey nor Osage County has unbearable weather. Each gets a couple of snows each year and each has a hot July and August along with a rainy spring and fall. Both experience tornadoes. For Posey County, Big Creek and the Ohio and Wabash Rivers occasionally flood as does Bird Creek in Osage County along with the Arkansas and Caney Rivers. But all in all the climate for both counties is fairly salubrious. In fact, the weather in both helps make them more interesting and for Indiana it gives citizens something besides basketball to talk about and for Oklahoma it expands the topics beyond football. Both states used to discuss politics but recently most rational people do not broach that topic.

However, it is not the occasional weather phenomenon that keeps paradise just out of reach for both counties. No, it is Mother Nature’s diabolical sense of humor. Let’s take up spring in Posey County first. You may know that Osage County, Oklahoma has thousands of roaming buffalo (bison). Well, just to make sure Hoosiers remember who dictates what happens in heaven, each April, May and June millions of biting/blood sucking buffalo gnats (flies) descend on Posey County much like the Biblical hordes of locusts. And like beachgoers after the movie Jaws it simply is not fun to be outside.

But Osage County has its own flies and to add to Mother Nature’s amusement She has supplied Osage County with several varieties of scorpions. Gentle Reader, should you never have been stung by a scorpion, as I have in Oklahoma, trust me, it is an experience you do not want. Peg, who is a born Yankee who spent her childhood in New York, Vermont, Massachusetts and northern Indiana, has now learned to shake out her boots in the morning to be sure some scorpion has not chosen them as a residence. And the ubiquitous sand rock of Osage County appears to be a scorpion’s version of the Garden of Eden where the scorpions play the serpent’s role.

I guess what it comes down to is both Posey County, Indiana and Osage County, Oklahoma are wonderful places to live. But don’t forget to channel Katherine Hepburn in The African Queen and wear screening over your head and carry a fly swatter in Posey and shake out your boots in The Osage nine months out of the year.

Table Talk

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is generally regarded as a portrayal of the evils of America’s wealth-driven culture. I suggest it really was about Fitzgerald’s tumultuous marriage to his wife Zelda who constantly drove him crazy. When the book’s narrator, Nick Carraway, says about the wealthy Tom and Daisy Buchanan, “Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me”, I submit Fitzgerald really has Zelda in mind for Daisy. And he is not referencing Daisy’s money but her infuriating ability to easily manipulate Jay Gatsby and, ergo, Zelda’s penchant to drive Fitzgerald over the edge.

It is the institution of marriage, especially Fitzgerald’s complete inability to keep up with Zelda, that was the impetus for one of America’s great novels. Most married couples can relate to such a theme. For example, let’s you and I consider the dynamics between Peg and me as we negotiate our move from Posey County, Indiana to Osage County, Oklahoma. If there is anything more challenging than paddling a canoe for a couple it is moving.

I do want to be fair in relating both Peg’s and my viewpoints on the matter, but let me point out it was not Adam who first suggested taking a bite of that apple; original sin in-deed! Anyway, let’s start at the beginning when Peg first saw our cabin on the prairie.

“Oh, Jim, it is perfect.” That should have been my clue but then I am a man and female-speak will forever remain a foreign language. I did not comprehend that by perfect Peg meant everything from the yard to the interior absolutely required change. Let me suggest the fact that women generally outlive men by several years disproves Dr. Joseph Brady’s Executive Monkey Theory.

You may recall that in 1958 Brady published the results of his psychology experiment in which two monkeys would both be shocked if one of them did not “correctly” press a lever. One monkey had control, the Executive (or wife), and one monkey (or husband) had no control. The non-executive felt no pressure and lived a normal life. But the Executive died young. So, there, Dr. Brady; why do not us non-executive men live longer? But back to our move to the prairie.

Please allow me to cite just one example of a marital disaster in moving. It involves our “new” antique dining table that Peg saw as perfect until we moved it into the cabin. Then she demanded I modify it so there was more leg room. Not being completely obtuse I referred the problem to an expert, our general contractor in charge of implementing all of Peg’s changes to our once perfect property. Gentle Reader, I assume you agree that tables play a huge role in our lives. There is Leonardo da Vinci’s table of the Last Supper. There is Sir Thomas Malory’s Round Table in Le Morte d’Arthur. There were the endless squabbles over the shape of the “peace” talk tables between South and North Korea and South and North Vietnam. And there is Peg’s once perfect antique dining table.

So, I told Mark, our highly skilled contractor, about my problem and he, also of the male persuasion and also not conversant in female-speak, volunteered to help. You know what they say about good deeds. Mark understood the problem to be not that the sides of the table were too low to allow leg room, but that the whole table was too tall. When Peg saw all four legs had been cut off by four inches, well, somethings cannot be printed in a family newspaper.

All’s well that ends well however as Mark was able to apply his magic and restore Peg’s table including ample leg room. Peg, of course, never blamed Mark anyway. I am the one who had to deal with my own Zelda crisis. Well, Gentle Reader, let’s just table that thought!

WHY AMERICANS ARE THE ONES SMILING (OR CONTROL MAKES ONE HAPPY)

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JUDGE JAMES REDWINE SPEAKING AT THE 4TH OF JULY CELEBRATION, NEW HARMONY, INDIANA 07/04/2019

THANK YOU, NATHAN. AND THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING HERE. BY THE WAY, YOU CAN RELAX AND RELY UPON THIS BEING A SHORT SPEECH, ALTHOUGH YOU MAY SAY NOT SHORT ENOUGH. YOU SEE, YOU HAVE AN INSURANCE POLICY AS SOME MEMBERS OF THE REDWINE FAMILY INSISTED ON ATTENDING TODAY TO MAKE SURE I DO NOT GO OVER MY ALLOTTED TWENTY MINUTES.

WHEN MY SISTER AND OUR TWO BROTHERS AND I ALL SANG IN OUR CHURCH CHOIR, OUR MINISTER, REVEREND MAX WOLFE, WOULD SOMETIMES RATTLE ON AS THE CONGREGATION YEARNED FOR RELIEF. SO HIS DAUGHTER, JUDY, WHO WAS THE CHURCH ORGANIST WOULD ALLOW MAX TO GO ABOUT FIVE MINUTES LONG THEN SHE WOULD BEGIN SOFTLY PLAYING THE INTRODUCTION TO “THE DOXOLOGY”. THEREFORE, IF YOU HEAR MY FAMILY BEGIN SOFTLY MUMBLING “PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW …” JUST JOIN IN AND I WILL SIT DOWN. NOT YET, DAVID CAMPBELL!

IT IS GOOD TO BE WITH YOU ON THIS DAY OF CELEBRATION OF AMERICA’S INDEPENDENCE. IT IS CALLED INDEPENDENCE DAY WITH GOOD REASON. OUR FOUNDERS WERE WILLING TO DIE FOR THE RIGHT TO CONTROL THEIR OWN LIVES. THEY WERE NOT SEEKING WAR WITH THE MOST POWERFUL NATION ON EARTH IN 1776. THEY WERE NOT ATTEMPTING TO DICTATE TO KING GEORGE III HOW THE ENGLISH SHOULD BEHAVE. THEY SOUGHT ONLY FREE WILL FOR AMERICA TO DETERMINE ITS OWN COURSE.

I AM HONORED TO HAVE BEEN ASKED TO SPEAK BY THE FRIENDS OF THE WORKING MEN’S INSTITUTE, THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN INDIANA AND THE NEW HARMONY KIWANIS CLUB. WHEN MY FRIENDS, JEANNE AND NATHAN MAUDLIN, CONTACTED ME THEY ASKED ME TO ADDRESS ISSUES SWIRLING AROUND AMERICA’S STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. I BELIEVE THEY THOUGHT I WAS OLD ENOUGH TO HAVE SERVED IN IT. WHILE I AM PROUD TO BE AN HONORABLY DISCHARGED VETERAN IT IS NOT TRUE THAT I SERVED DURING THE REVOLUTION. THERE WAS NO UNITED STATES AIR FORCE IN 1776.

HOWEVER, I DO UNDERSTAND THE DESIRE TO GET A FIRST HAND ACCOUNT OF HISTORY. ALL OF US WISH WE COULD ASK OUR PARENTS ABOUT THINGS LONG PAST OR PERHAPS HAVE A CHANCE TO ASK PAST HEROES SUCH AS GEORGE WASHINGTON OR JAMES MADISON WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN THOSE SECRET MEETINGS IN PHILADELPHIA THAT PRODUCED OUR CONSTITUTION.

FOR EXAMPLE, ONE OF MY HEROINES IS FRANCES (MAD FANNY) WRIGHT, THAT FIGHTER FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS, BLACK RIGHTS AND FREEDOM FROM RELIGION WHO SPOKE HERE IN NEW HARMONY ON JULY 04, 1828. OH HOW MUCH WE COULD LEARN IF WE COULD SPEAK WITH HER NOW. THEN I REMEMBERED WE MAY HAVE SOMEONE WITH US HERE TODAY WHO MAY HAVE KNOWN MAD FANNY AND WHAT SHE REALLY THOUGHT. IS MY FRIEND CHARLIE GASTON HERE? HELLO CHARLIE. DO YOU MIND ME ASKING? DIDN’T YOU USE TO DATE MAD FANNY WRIGHT? WELL, THANKS. MAYBE WE CAN TALK ABOUT MAD FANNY LATER AT MACLURE PARK OVER A HOT DOG.

ANOTHER OF THE GREAT INDEPENDENCE TYPE QUESTIONS THOSE OF US PRIVILEGED TO LIVE IN POSEY COUNTY OFTEN PONDER IS WHY DID FATHER GEORGE RAPP’S CELIBATE RELIGIOUS COMMUNE LAST FROM 1814 TO 1825, BUT ROBERT OWEN’S ATHEISTIC ENLIGHTENMENT COMMUNE ONLY MADE IT ABOUT THREE YEARS FROM 1825 TO 1828? WELL, IN DOING RESEARCH FOR TODAY’S GATHERING I READ THAT AT THEIR FOURTH OF JULY GALAS FATHER RAPP’S RAPPITES GAVE OUT FREE BEER, BUT ACCORDING TO ROBERT OWEN’S FOURTH OF JULY SPEECH IN 1826 OWEN CALLED FOR HIS FOLLOWERS TO “…ABANDON THE USE OF SPIRITOUS LIQUORS ….” APPARENTLY WE CAN MAKE IT WITHOUT SEX, BUT NOT WITHOUT BEER. THAT’S ANOTHER OF THOSE FREE-WILL OPTIONS WE CELEBRATE ON THE FOURTH OF JULY.

*CONTROL*

ISN’T THAT WHAT MATTERS MOST TO ALL OF US? THE VISCERAL NEED FOR THE FREEDOM TO MAKE OUR OWN CHOICES IS WHY ON THAT DAY WE NOW CALL PATRIOT’S DAY, APRIL 19, 1775, AT LEXINGTON AND CONCORD THOSE SUPPRESSED COLONISTS, “FIRED THE SHOTS HEARD ’ROUND THE WORLD”. AND IN OUR CURRENT POLITICAL CLIMATE, WHEN AMERICANS TODAY GET EMBROILED IN POLITICAL DISCUSSIONS IT SOMETIMES FEELS AS IF BOTH SIDES HAVE MUSKETS AT THE READY.

WHEN I FIND MYSELF SURROUNDED BY THE COMPETING POLITICAL MINI BALLS I TRY TO REMEMBER TO REMIND MYSELF THIS IS NOTHING NEW. OVER THE TWO OR THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND YEARS WE HOMO SAPIENS HAVE BEEN AROUND, AFTER AIR, WATER, FOOD, SHELTER AND PROCREATION, WE SEEM TO HAVE TWO MORE BASIC NEEDS: THE CONTROL OF OUR OWN LIVES; AND THE STRONG DESIRE TO CONTROL THE THOUGHTS AND BEHAVIOR OF OTHERS. THESE TWO RELATED BUT DIRECTLY OPPOSITIONAL IMPULSES APPLY TO GROUPS OF PEOPLE AND NATIONS AS WELL. YOU KNOW, WE WILL EACH DEFEND TO THE DEATH THE RIGHT OF OUR POLITICAL ADVERSARIES TO AGREE WITH US. BUT CONVERSATIONS CAN RAPIDLY TURN TO CONFRONTATION IF SOMEONE COMES DOWN ON WHAT WE BELIEVE IS THE WRONG SIDE OF SUCH ISSUES AS RELIGION, GLOBAL WARMING, IMMIGRATION, WAR AND PEACE, AND ESPECIALLY TODAY, WHO SHOULD OR SHOULD NOT BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

THE RIGHT TO CONTROL OUR OWN LIVES MAKES US SMILE. THE DESIRE TO CONTROL OTHER PEOPLES’ LIVES CAN LEAD TO SUCH THINGS AS VITRIOLIC STATEMENTS AND SOMETIMES EVEN VICIOUS INTERCHANGES IN OUR PUBLIC INTERACTIONS. SOMETIMES THE DISCUSSIONS ABOUT CONTROL MAY CENTER ON SEXUAL ASSAULT AND THE “ME TOO MOVEMENT” OR HATE CRIMES AND “BLACK LIVES MATTER” OR PERHAPS EVEN QUESTIONS OF WAR AND PEACE.

RAPE IS A TERRIBLE CRIME NOT BECAUSE OF FORCED SEXUAL CONTACT, BILLIONS OF HUMANS HAVE HAD SEXUAL RELATIONS. NO, RAPE IS A TERRIBLE CRIME BECAUSE OF THE VICTIMS’ LOSS OF THEIR RIGHT TO DECIDE FOR THEMSELVES WHETHER AND WITH WHOM TO HAVE SEX. THE FEAR, TERROR, ANGER AND HUMILIATION CAUSED BY LOSING TOTAL CONTROL OF ONE’S BODY IS INCALCULABLE. IT IS IN ITSELF A LIFE SENTENCE THAT CAN LEAD TO PERMANENT BITTERNESS TOWARD AND DISTRUST OF OUR LEGAL SYSTEM. MUCH AS LYNCHINGS CAN RESULT IN AN ENTIRE RACE OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH CONSTANT CONCERN ABOUT THEIR FREEDOM.

LYNCHINGS, SUCH AS THOSE THAT WERE COMMITTED ON OUR POSEY COUNTY COURTHOUSE LAWN ON OCTOBER 12, 1878, ARE A COLLECTIVE DENIAL OF ANOTHER’S RIGHT TO CONTROL THEIR OWN DESTINY. AND IT IS NOT JUST THE VICTIMS WHO LOSE, BUT EVEN THOSE WHO DENY JUSTICE TO OTHERS MAY REAP THE WHIRLWINDS OF RETALIATION AND POLITICAL CORRECTNESS.

WARS OF AGGRESSION, NOT CONSTITUTIONALLY AUTHORIZED WARS FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE, ARE OUR COUNTRY’S INTENTIONAL DENIAL OF ANOTHER COUNTRY’S OR PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO INDEPENDENTLY DETERMINE THEIR OWN DESTINY. ONE OF THE MAIN CAUSES OF OUR COUNTRY’S POST-WWII DENIALS OF THE RIGHT OF OTHER COUNTRIES TO CONTROL THEIR OWN LIVES ARE WARS INSTIGATED BY INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE ACTION WITHOUT CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORIZATION.

WE CAN EACH QUICKLY CITE EVIDENCE OF SUCH WARS BASED ON FALSE PREMISES AND RASH EXECUTIVE ACTION. PRESIDENT LYNDON JOHNSON USED THE SHAKY PREMISE OF THE TONKIN GULF RESOLUTION TO GET US HOPELESSLY EMBROILED IN VIETNAM. PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH RELIED ON FALSE INTELLIGENCE REPORTS THAT IRAQ HAD WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION AND WAS INVOLVED IN 9/11. PRESIDENT BUSH THEN PRECIPITOUSLY LED US INTO WHAT APPEARS TO BE AN ENDLESS AND POINTLESS WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST. AND NOW, IF WE IN AMERICA AS LED BY PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, INSIST ON CONTROLLING IRAN, IT COULD BE THE PERSIAN GULF WAR REDÜX BASED ON THE PRETEXT OF TORPEDOED OIL TANKERS OR DOWNED DRONES. AS PETE SEEGER’S SONG “WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE?” ASKS US, “WHEN WILL WE EVER LEARN?, WHEN WILL WE EVER LEARN?”

OUR FOUNDERS’ WISDOM OF PLACING THE AUTHORITY TO WAGE WAR IN CONGRESS IS THAT SUCH A PROCEDURE KEEPS ALL OF OUR CITIZENS MORE CLOSELY INVOLVED IN THESE GRAVE DECISIONS. AND, IT REQUIRES MUCH MORE CAREFUL DELIBERATION WHEN CONGRESS IS INVOLVED. ALSO, WHEN WE ELIMINATED THE MILITARY DRAFT WE TURNED FROM A CITIZEN MINUTE MAN TYPE MILITARY TO A PROFESSIONAL AND LESS ECUMENICAL TYPE FORCE. TO MAKE THE TRAGIC CHOICE TO GO TO WAR ALL AMERICANS SHOULD FEEL THE DIRECT COST. THAT’S ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS WE WENT FROM 1918 TO 1941 AT PEACE. BUT AFTER WE ENDED THE DRAFT WE HAVE NEVER BEEN WITHOUT CONFLICT. IT IS TOO EASY TO HIRE OTHERS TO IMPOSE OUR WILL ON THE POWERLESS. WITH A PROFESSIONAL STANDING MILITARY OUR ARMED FORCES NEVER STAND DOWN AND THE TEMPTATION FOR ANY OF OUR PRESIDENTS TO PLAY WITH THESE AWESOME POWERS AS IF THEY WERE TOY SOLDIERS IS TOO INTOXICATING FOR MOST TO RESIST.

ONE OF THE GOOD THINGS WE RECEIVED FROM ONE OF OUR BRITISH COUSINS AND THE IDEALS ROBERT OWEN’S COMMUNE ASCRIBED TO, WERE JOHN LOCKE’S ENLIGHTENMENT PHILOSOPHIES AS HIGHLIGHTED BY THE DOCTRINE OF SEPARATION OF POWERS. OUR INDEPENDENCE AS A NATION HAS SURVIVED GREAT TRAUMA DUE IN LARGE PART TO OUR GOVERNMENT’S THREE SEPARATE AND EQUAL POWERS: EXECUTIVE; LEGISLATIVE; AND, JUDICIAL. WE FORGET THIS AT OUR PERIL.

OUR FOUNDERS UNDERSTOOD HUMAN NATURE. THAT’S WHY WE HAVE AN ELECTED PRESIDENT INSTEAD OF AN ANOINTED KING. IT SEEMS THAT ALMOST NO MATTER WHO THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE IS, THE TEMPTATION TO CONTROL OTHERS BY MILITARY MIGHT IS IRRESISTIBLE. CONTROL OF OUR LIVES IS AN INHERENT NEED FOR INDIVIDUALS AND NATIONS AND, IF LOST, CAN LEAD TO LONG-TERM BAD EFFECTS FOR BOTH THE INVADERS AND THE INVADED.

A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO PEG AND I ATTENDED A RODEO IN OSAGE COUNTY, OKLAHOMA WHERE THIRTY-FIVE COMPETING COWBOYS WERE INTRODUCED AS THEY HELD A GIGANTIC AMERICAN FLAG IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ARENA. EACH COWBOY STOOD AT ATTENTION AS HE HELD THE FLAG WITH ONE HAND AND HELD HIS WESTERN HAT OVER HIS HEART WITH THE OTHER WHILE A COWGIRL ON HORSEBACK SANG “THE NATIONAL ANTHEM”. IT WAS A MOVING EXPERIENCE FOR PEG AND ME AS WE STOOD AT ATTENTION WITH OUR HANDS OVER OUR HEARTS. IT MADE ME THINK ABOUT THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE AND SILENT PROTESTS BY PLAYERS AS WELL AS RAISED FISTS AT THE 1972 OLYMPICS AND MEMBERS OF THE U.S.A.’S WOMENS SOCCER TEAM WHO CHOOSE TO STAND BUT NOT PLACE THEIR HANDS OVER THEIR HEARTS. WHAT A FEELING OF FREEDOM IT SHOULD GIVE US ALL WHEN OUR FELLOW CITIZENS VOICE THEIR DISSENT EVEN IF WE DISAGREE WITH THEIR POSITIONS. THESE PATRIOTS HARKEN BACK TO PATRICK HENRY AND HIS PREFERENCE FOR DEATH OVER A LIFE WITHOUT CHOICE.

DISSENT BY OTHERS, ESPECIALLY BY THOSE DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED TO MY BELIEFS, HELPS TO REMIND ME INDEPENDENCE DAY IS ONE OF LIFE’S GREATEST GIFTS AND REINFORCES MY GRATITUDE TO OUR FOURTH OF JULY 1776 HEROES. IT MAKES ME THINK OF JAMES MADISON AND HIS DEMAND THAT THE FIRST TEN AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION BE ADOPTED.

THE FIRST AMENDMENT IS THE ULTIMATE RECOGNITION OF THE IMPORTANCE OF CHOICE: FREEDOM OF AND FROM RELIGION; FREEDOM OF SPEECH; AND, THE FREEDOM TO PETITION OUR GOVERNMENT WHETHER IN WRITING OR BY DEMONSTRATION. I AM PROUD THAT IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IF PEG AND I WANT TO STAND FOR “THE NATIONAL ANTHEM” OR FOR ANY OTHER CAUSE, SUCH AS “THE HALLELUJAH CHORUS” OR THE “INDIANA UNIVERSITY FIGHT SONG”, WE MAY. AND, IF OTHERS DO NOT WISH TO, THEY HAVE THE RIGHT NOT TO. EVEN THOSE MISGUIDED PEOPLE FROM PURDUE UNIVERSITY, PROFESSOR SCHUETTE.

FOR SOME REASON THAT RODEO EXPERIENCE REMINDED ME OF WHAT OUR SOLDIER SON, JIM, TOLD US HE OBSERVED WHEN HE VISITED THE OLD SOVIET UNION BEFORE THE WALL CAME DOWN AND BEFORE HE WAS SENT TO WAR IN IRAQ. JIM SAID WHEN HE HAPPENED TO SEE OTHER AMERICANS IN THE OLD USSR HE COULD ALWAYS PICK THEM OUT FROM THE CROWD OF RUSSIANS BECAUSE THE AMERICANS WERE THE ONLY ONES SMILING.

THEN WHEN I WAS SENT BY THE NATIONAL JUDICIAL COLLEGE TO TEACH UKRAINIAN JUDGES IN 2000 AND THEN TO RUSSIA TO TEACH RUSSIAN JUDGES IN 2003 I HAD SIMILAR EXPERIENCES. IN UKRAINE I TOOK THEIR DILAPIDATED GREY SUBWAY TRAIN AND WAS CRAMMED IN WITH MANY UKRAINIAN MEN AND WOMEN AND ONE BOY ABOUT SIX YEARS OLD. THE ADULTS WERE ALL DRESSED IN DARK CLOTHING AND HAD SOBER DARK EXPRESSIONS. NO ONE SMILED OR NODDED HELLO. THEN I CAUGHT THE LITTLE BOY’S EYE AND SMILED AT HIM. AT FIRST HE ALMOST SMILED BACK THEN CAST DOWN HIS EYES.

IN RUSSIA PEG WAS WITH ME AND WE TOOK THE SUBWAY TO SEE THE ONION DOMES OF THE KREMLIN. PEG HAD ON A LIGHT BLUE COAT AND I WAS WEARING MY RED SKI JACKET. EVERY OTHER PERSON ON THE TRAIN HAD ON DARK CLOTHES AND DOUR FACES. WHEN PEG AND I SMILED AT ONE ANOTHER BECAUSE WE WERE HAPPY TO BE IN MOSCOW TOGETHER WE WERE THE ONLY ONES SMILING. THAT’S WHEN WE REALIZED WHAT FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE AND THE FOURTH OF JULY ARE ALL ABOUT. WE ARE CONFIDENT WE HAVE THE RIGHT AS AMERICANS TO CONTROL OUR OWN DESTINIES. THAT MEANS EVERYTHING. AND THAT IS WHY WHEN AMERICANS ARE SEEN AMONG THE PEOPLE OF OTHER NATIONS OFTEN THE AMERICANS ARE THE ONLY ONES SMILING. BUT IF WE INSIST ON IMPOSING OUR WILL ON OTHER COUNTRIES OR UPON ONE ANOTHER, WE SHOULD NOT BE SURPRISED IF THEY DO NOT SMILE BACK.

WE CAN KEEP SMILING AS LONG AS OUR FRIENDS AND FELLOW CITIZENS RESPECT OUR OPINIONS AND THEY WILL KEEP SMILING AT US AS LONG AS WE RESPECT THEIR RIGHT TO THEIR OPINIONS.

UH OH, I THINK I HEAR THE OFF-KEY STRAINS OF “THE DOXOLOGY”, SO THANKS AND I’LL SEE YOU LATER FOR HOT DOGS AT MACLURE PARK. THAT IS, OF COURSE, IF YOU INDEPENDENTLY CHOOSE TO GO THERE. AND MAYBE WE CAN ASK CHARLIE GASTON ABOUT MAD FANNY WRIGHT. THANKS.

Ageless Wisdom

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When Jeanne and Nathan Maudlin as representatives of New Harmony, Indiana’s Working Men’s Institute that along with the University of Southern Indiana and the New Harmony Kiwanis Club is helping sponsor this year’s New Harmony Fourth of July celebration asked me to speak, my first thought was to research prior speeches. I am a judge after all and precedent is important to me. Jeanne graciously sent me a copy of the excellent book, New Harmony’s Fourth of July Tradition, by Donald Pitzer and Josephine Elliott.

The book includes verbatim Fourth of July speeches given by Robert Owen (1826), William Owen (1827) and Frances (Mad Fanny) Wright (1828). Each talk contains observations and advice that address issues that could have been found on the front pages of today’s newspapers or on T.V. news programs. War and peace, racial problems, women’s rights, religious discrimination and freedom of thought and action are exposited clearly.

Independence as declared on July 04, 1776 and our country’s often slow and incremental progress toward accomplishing the ideals encapsulated in our Constitution are referenced or implied in each address. As Frances Wright explained, the genius of our Founders was they gave us a government that we could change if we needed and wanted. Mad Fanny was called mad in 1828 because she called for freedom from religion, freedom for enslaved Negroes, equality for women and liberty from wars of aggression for the United States of America and all other countries. As not so mad Fanny might observe today, America has made substantial progress toward these ideals through incremental, democratic, constitutional change. Of course, we still have work to do.

In his address on July 04, 1827 William Owen, Robert’s twenty-five year old son, concentrated on the evils of superstition and bloody wars of aggression as egged on by various religions. And William Owen thanked the heroes of July 04, 1776 for fighting for our liberty and freedom of speech:

“Are we prepared to exercise the right, as we enjoy the power, secured to us by the heroes of the revolution, of expressing our thoughts openly and sincerely? Are we willing to run the risks they encountered? Are we ready like them to meet the prejudices of past times, to risk name and reputation in the cause of truth, – in defense of the honest expression of our opinions?”

William both recognized the sacrifices made by our Founders and cautioned of the repercussions should we fail to follow our own Constitution:

“Man had been slowly but gradually freeing himself from that thraldom in which he was so long enslaved, when our ancestors, on that day, the anniversary of which we this morning celebrate, by one bold step recovered that state of liberty and independence, which is the birthright of humanity, and gave a death blow, to the unnatural league between despotism and superstition, by the adoption of a Constitution, which forever precludes, so long as adhered to, the recurrence of such an unhappy connection.”

Robert Owen, whose vision of humanity and equality was the bedrock of the secular commune of New Harmony, 1825-1828 (c), on July 04, 1826 fearlessly stated his view as to the root cause of the world’s evils:

“Religion, or Superstition – for all religions have proved themselves to be Superstitions, – by destroying the judgment, irrationalized all the mental faculties of man, and made him the most abject slave, through the fear of non-entities created solely by his own disordered imagination.”

Owen was a wealthy industrialist who cared about his workers and their families. He put in place many of the better conditions of employment that eventually were adopted by the United States of America, and other countries. Owen fought for women’s equality, freedom from religion and the avoidance of wars of aggression. And along with numerous other idealists such as his own sons, William Maclure of the Working Men’s Institute fame and Frances Wright, Robert Owen established a legacy that all of us in Posey County should treasure.

Gentle Reader, if you wish to help carry on New Harmony’s Fourth of July traditions of celebrating our Independence, the festivities begin the morning of July 04, 2019 at the Atheneum in New Harmony. Peg and I plan to be there and look forward to the reading of the Declaration of Independence by our friend Chuck Minnette as well as a golf cart parade, hot dogs and patriotic music. Hope to see you there. Happy birthday!