James M. Redwine

James M. Redwine

Publicly Executed?

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Photo by Peg Redwine

The ironic observation, “Nothing is as frustrating as to be anonymously hanged”, is often attributed to the great English wit Samuel Johnson (1709-1784). United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth wants the “honor” of a public firing squad to be given former U.S. Army Major and psychiatrist Nidal Hasan who murdered 13 unarmed people at Fort Hood, Texas on November 5, 2009. Hasan was convicted and sentenced to death by firing squad via a court martial trial in August 2013. The army panel also ordered Hasan’s dishonorable dismissal from the service and the forfeiture of all his pay and allowances. Our military likes to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s.

The court martial panel heard the evidence concerning Hasan’s actions and determined in a sentencing hearing he should receive the death penalty. No mention of whether the execution should be public was offered during the court martial and sentencing. Apparently, Secretary Hegseth decided Hasan’s execution should be available to the world via live streaming.

It is predictable that much of humanity would be appalled by making Hasan’s execution a public spectacle. It is also predictable that much of the public would want to observe one of their fellow human being’s body being shredded by several bullets. But which segment of humanity has the moral high ground, if either? Those who squeamishly choose to not watch will not change the end result nor will those who find the experience ghoulishly intriguing. What also will not be changed by whether Hasan’s execution is public or by invitation only is the deaths of his 13 murder victims and his own. Of course, most people will take no note at all.

The brilliant French philosopher and penologist Michel Foucault (1926-1984) observed in his book, Discipline & Punish, The Birth of the Prison, that the public spectacle of executions had the effect of putting the public at the center of punishment. When executions are private and virtually anonymous the citizenry does not feel the responsibility of operating its penal system. Whereas, the public may prefer that miscreants be punished without the public’s direct involvement, what private punishment does is often remove the moral responsibility from what is one of society’s most moral dilemmas, how we as a society control others and punish them.

As for Nidal Hasan, he knows the bullets will have the same effect whether he is shot privately or publicly. He may prefer that the world see America’s justice system as America often sees those of other countries. The closely guarded inhumane procedures still being used at Guantanamo Bay prison should, perhaps, also be live streamed.

You can also follow us on Facebook at “Jim Peg Redwine” or Substack “@gavelgamut”

Taking the Mantle

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Photo by Peg Redwine

In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I Prince Hal who will later be King engages in riotous living with John Falstaff and others. But when Hal becomes king in Part II, he assumes the responsibility of the monarch and rejects his prior immoral behavior. Falstaff does not understand or accept this change in roles. Hal calls his former partner in villainous behavior a fool and rejects Falstaff. King Henry tells Falstaff:

“Presume not that I am the thing I was, for God doth know, so shall the world perceive, that I have turned away my former self, so will I those that kept me company.”

This is the “Prince Hal effect”. A responsible leader must put off childish or bad behavior and govern in the best interests of the people. As advised in First Corinthians, Chapter 03, verse 11:

“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.” 

Assuming the Mantle of Responsibility is particularly crucial for one who seeks and wins elected office. It is one thing to live one’s life on one’s own terms, placing his or her desires foremost. It is quite another thing to seek to help govern one’s fellow citizens then keep behaving and publicly speaking as an irresponsible miscreant or a feckless child.

When a seeker after public office campaigns on promises that raise the hopes of the electorate, a democracy is belied if those promises are not kept, especially if the elected official continues with narcissistic or immoral behavior. To seek and assume leadership of one’s fellow citizens implies the promise that former selfish behavior will be set aside and the official’s decisions will be consistent with his or her campaign promises. For a democracy to function in the best interests of the country, the leaders of that democracy must subjugate their former illicit desires to a desire to serve others.

America’s history is replete with elected leaders who sought the power to govern for their own ends. Fortunately, it was also built upon the selflessness and courage of the many who put away past selfish behaviors and sacrificed for the country. The Prince Hal Effect has often brought forth greatness from our leaders whose prior lack of promise was unexpected when crises had to be faced.

Unfortunately, the converse is also true.

You can also follow us on Facebook at “Jim Peg Redwine” or Substack “@gavelgamut”

Those People

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Photo by Peg Redwine 

Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) was a philosopher whose main concentration was comparative mythology. As we look to Campbell for guidance on war and peace, Gentle Reader, you might want to remember I am to understanding Campbell as a reporter is to understanding Artificial Intelligence. The same sort of puzzlement you may experience after reading my analysis of Campbell’s recitation of the age-old mythology of war is what I feel when a reporter with a degree in English stumbles around A.I. with Geoffrey Hinton. In other words, one would be prudent to rely on their own conclusions rather than to simply elide over mine when Campbell’s higher thoughts are an issue. With that product warning, let’s dive in.

Campbell wrote many books on mythology. One of my favorites is Myths to Live By. It is only 276 pages long. However, if you are like me, it will take you as long to digest it as it would James Joyce’s Ulysses. On the other hand, Myths to Live By is much more useful and interesting than Ulysses and, frankly, easier to understand.

In Campbell’s chapter on the “Mythologies of War and Peace” Campbell sets forth his central thesis as follows:

“For it is a basic idea of practically every war mythology that the enemy is a monster and that in killing him one is protecting the only truly valuable order of human life on earth, which is that, of course, of one’s own people.”

Campbell juxtaposes this philosophy with that of the great German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860). Campbell cites to Schopenhauer’s essay “The Foundation of Morality” in which Schopenhauer asks:

“How is it that an individual can so forget himself and his own safety that he will put himself and his life in jeopardy to save another from death or pain – as though that other’s life were his own, that other’s danger his own? Such a one is then acting out of an instructive recognition of the truth that he and that other in fact are one.”

Campbell says such actions occur because we occasionally recognize that we are all one. Such actions are motivated by the one and only inspiration of inherently moral action. For a moment one is selfless, boundless, without ego.

This epiphany that we are all one is what Jesus was preaching about. Or as John Donne (1572-1631) put it in his poem, For Whom the Bell Tolls:

“No man is an island, entire of itself; … any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.”

So, the mythology of war is mainly between all “others” are monsters versus there are no “others” because we are all one. We must strive to defend ourselves and our fellow citizens from those “others” when they regard us as “the other”, but we will only achieve true peace when we and all “others” accept that we are one. While some defensive wars are still necessary for our survival, if we are to avoid extinguishing our species, we must accept all as we want them to accept us.

At least that’s what I got from Professor Campbell or I might have learned it by being horrified by the news. Of course, my wife Peg points out that other fine contemporary philosopher, John Lennon (1940-1980), said the same things in his song, Imagine. And it certainly is easier on the brain.

You can also follow us on Facebook at “Jim Peg Redwine” or Substack “@gavelgamut”

N.I.L.

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Photo by Peg Redwine

Congress is in a dither over college athletics. The Transfer Portal and Name, Image and Likeness have made such matters as our war against Iran and the cost of living irrelevant. The Senate’s pending Protect College Sports Act of 2026 (S 4668) is full of Sound and Fury about such civilization-ending matters as the ownership of quarterbacks, basketball centers and pitchers. One might think the 14th Amendment and slavery were still the salient issues of the day.

Who owns college athletes and how much should such indentured servants be paid by their university masters? More importantly, how much can colleges raise tuition on non-athletes to pay the stars? Where’s the loyalty? What about tradition? Does one’s alma mater matter? Most significantly, is a college degree of any more value than a certificate of honorable service for 4 years working the drive-thru window at McDonald’s?

We could place the blame for game-day tickets costing $600 plus a car payment equivalent for parking and a hot dog on coaches, fans and television. But, I suggest the responsibility for college athletics costing more than the Defense Budget rests squarely on the institutions themselves. Have they all forgotten how N.I.L. used to work before July 01, 2021 when the NCAA authorized payments to athletes?

We all remember the old days, well some of us do. Once pay for play was illegal and could result in Draconian punishment. The most egregious incident was when “the greatest amateur athlete in the world”, as King Gustav V of Sweden called Jim Thorpe, was stripped of his 1912 Olympic medals because he accepted $50 for playing one summer of semi-pro baseball.

Thorpe could have been treated as many “amateur” college players were. A star player might find a new car with his or her name on the title sitting in their driveway. Or a college might “hire” a player to do a non-existent job. No one seemed to care too much and the players always stayed at their alma mater until they graduated. Wealthy boosters supplemented the taxpayers’ funds. I did not play college sports but I did work at a college dormitory cafeteria; I had to show up.

I would prefer that Congress address $50,000 per year tuition and the often worthless degrees it buys. Universities are important to our democracy but mainly as havens for the free-flow of controversial ideas. I respectfully suggest we make all higher learning job specific and of 2-year duration. That’s assuming that all college students already know from prior public education how to read, write and respect the Constitution.

If some infatuated fat-cat fan wants to pay their money to buy his or her alma mater’s super star a Rolex or a jet plane, I do not see how that hurts me. However, if a public university does so, I say “throw a yellow flag!” And if a player wants to change schools, I say, “slavery went out with the 13th Amendment”.

You can also follow us on Facebook at “Jim Peg Redwine” or Substack “@gavelgamut”

To Take A Walk

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Photo by Peg Redwine

I have always enjoyed walking alone. In the small town where I grew up one could “slip the surly bonds of …” life’s cares, as John Gillespie Magee, Jr. might have said, within 15 minutes of casual walking. My town was surrounded by countless acres of people-free space populated only by gracefully waving tall grasses and meandering cattle. Occasionally the reverie would be accentuated by a coyote or two or maybe a soaring red-tailed hawk. Later in my life I learned to enjoy – usually – Peg’s accompaniment on my quest for a respite from the world’s intrusion. But those sojourns now are often infested with the clang of, “Jim, can’t you see that fence is sagging and what about the length of the grass? Isn’t it time to mow again?”

Photo by Peg Redwine

As I am marveling in the tall milkweeds that bring the Monarch Butterflies and the blue-flowered thistle, Peg is cataloging items that must be attended to “right now”! I never respond to these intrusions as I never notice them. I am lost in the Indian Blanket and Indian Paint Brush with their brown and gold splendor and the swaying blue stem grass.

“Jim, when are you going to rearrange those sand rocks around the dock by the pond? And, there are weeds poking through every crevice.” My response is to feign attention to “something, anything” but what Peg is consumed with. I just continue drinking the miracle of people-less space and natural wonders that need no mending.

As we near the end of our informal survey of our property, Peg says, “I am going to do some laundry and finish up a project or two in the Girl Cave, what are you doing next.?”

“I am going to take a walk.”

You can also follow us on Facebook at “Jim Peg Redwine” or Substack “@gavelgamut”

The Wages of Sin

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Iran may not have been America’s ally in 2025 when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slithered his way into Donald Trump’s psyche and sowed discord between America and Iran. But at least we were not at war with them and the Strait of Hormuz was open. And lest we forget, America and Iran were close allies until 1979. Netanyahu used false intelligence to con Trump into doing what previous U.S. presidents refused to do. It is reminiscent of the Hebrew religious hierarchy’s manipulation of the Roman Empire in Israel during the time of Jesus.

When Jesus lived, Rome ruled the land of Israel and Roman law prevailed in all areas of the non-Roman’s lives except for ecclesiastical matters. Rome was the America of that era. The Romans allowed the Jewish people to worship as they chose and to regulate their own religious affairs. However, when it came to criminal laws the local inhabitants had no authority. Thus, when the Hebrew religious hierarchy alleged Jesus was fomenting anarchy through heresy, they had to have the Roman officials charge and punish him. The problem for the Jewish religious leaders was that, after two separate inquests, the Romans determined Jesus had broken no criminal laws. That was not what the Sadducees and Pharisees wanted to hear. They pressured the Romans to ignore the law. And, as our Founder and main author of our U.S. Constitution, James Madison, cautioned: a country must comply with its own laws; the Rule of Law is paramount to a free society

President Trump has ignored the clear mandates of our Constitution and, along with Israel, attacked Iran without a Declaration of War from Congress. Our great sin has resulted in egregious punishment to ourselves and millions of others. There certainly are consequences for our immoral breaking of our own laws.

According to the Bible’s Book of Luke, Chapters 22 and 23, the Roman rulers, Pontius Pilate and Herod the Great, could find no fault in Jesus, but the “elders of the people … both chief priests and scribes” demanded that the Romans “crucify” Jesus. Pilate succumbed to the pressure and killed the blameless Jesus. The powerful Romans were misled to ignore their own law by the Israelis who wanted Jesus killed but did not have the power or legal authority to do so themselves.

Today’s Iranian rulers are corrupt and Iranian citizens are tortured and oppressed. But when it comes to Iranian actions against America that justified our preemptive war, there were none. And if Israel believes Iran deserves destruction, then Israel has the overwhelming military ability to do it alone.

Is Israel to blame for starting the war with Iran? Yes, but Israel is not to blame for President Trump’s decisions to join in the war. Those immoral and self-destructive actions are the responsibility of all of us who are Americans. And, just as declared in the Bible’s Book of Romans, Chapter 6, verse 23, “the wages of sin” have been death and economic disaster. President Trump was convinced by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to have the United States do what Israel did not wish to do on its own.

There were many reasons why no previous U.S. president allowed Israel to convince us to attack Iran. Those reasons are varied and numerous but all fall under the rubric of morality. Can we recover from our transgressions against Iran? Maybe. However, to do so we must first acknowledge we were duped into a great wrong and that that wrong has caused enormous world-wide human and economic loss.

Leaders of character do sometimes fall short of their duty but then admit their sins and seek expiation by reversing course. America’s best chance to return to our pre-Iran War status is to unconditionally withdraw now. A President of character would do so. Will Iran voluntarily reciprocate by agreeing to open the Strait of Hormuz? That is not likely unless America also eases sanctions and compensates Iran for the damage to its civilian infrastructure we and Israel have caused. But Iran’s economy is in chaos and its people are barely getting by. Will Iran seek the path of diplomacy? Perhaps not, but the path we are currently on is not only bad for America and the rest of the world, it is devastating to Iran. Who knows, maybe if we quit bombing them they will accept a reasonable alternative.

You can also follow us on Facebook at “Jim Peg Redwine” or Substack “@gavelgamut”