Carol C. - Yamhill, OR

What is progressive? A short statement of the nature of each historical order, “one number after another, gives harmonical progression, when the first has to the third the same ratio that the excess of the first over the second has to the excess of the second over the third; and, inverted harmonical progression which is an arithmetical progression; thus, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc while 1, ½, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6. Musical progression is the regular succession of chords or movement of the parts of the composition in harmony, where the key continues unchanged. Motion in music of two parts is of three kinds: oblique, when one part repeats or holds the same note, while the other moves up or down; direct, when both parts move in the same direction; and contrary, when one moves up, the other moves down.” (Page 203, Volume II, Library of Universal Knowledge, New York: American Book Exchange, 1881)Thus, is a Progressive the contrary of a Neo-conservative? Is a Progressive better defined as one who holds the Preamble to the Constitution as the same note (oblique) while the Neo-conservative moves up or down according to fashion? A direct Progressive moves in the direction of the statements of sovereignty in the Preamble which the old Conservative honored but forgot. A Progressive is contrary to a Neo-conservative but may be an original Conservative who did honor the Preamble’s only stated purposes of government. It is not too far-fetched to think that as God is to humanity, We, the People, are to government, in order to form a more perfect union:• establish justice, • not injustice or frontier justice,• insure domestic tranquility, • not create violence and unrest setting citizen against citizen by spying, torture, or fomenting distrust,• provide for the common defence, • not national security, a misnomer,• promote the general welfare, • not specific wealthfare, and• secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity, • not promoting “democracy” around the world by force of arms in search of trade,do ordain and establish the Constitution of the United States of America.'God does not require a place in government. The First Amendment states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...” The notion that God is impotent because the government functions as the Founders wrote is born of a human need to worship the state and demote God to the level of humanity, a Neo-conservative position. This gives the state power usurped from the People and is contrary to the purposes of progress. Each of the five particulars above in the Preamble may be viewed as a standard meta-system against which We, the People, measure our attainment of, or our deviation from, these noble norms of the Founding Fathers. The italicized words above are the antithesis of the Preamble which many Neo-conservatives promote today to our Nation’s detriment.The Constitution, which follows the Preamble, contains the general and specific rules; the Constitution itself is not the measure of the goals; it is the means. The Preamble contains the ends; the Constitution provides the means with the Bill of Rights protecting the People, specifically, from the government or state.Nothing in the Preamble sanctions harm to the people; rather, it promotes benefits for all of us. Nothing in the Preamble says that we are a conquering empire, as of old. Nothing in the Preamble mentions capitalism, corporatism, or empire. We are a constitutional republic, nothing more or less, if we value and honor our forefathers. After all, many of our ancestors left various countries around the world to avoid personal and political harm. These concepts are still progressive. Preferring the state or one human to rule mankind is regressive in any and all senses. This, then, is to be a study of our Constitutional goals measured against the Preamble. We have no other national measure. Perhaps, it's time to assess our real progress, progress measured by the Preamble which goes beyond politics, fantasy, vindictiveness, the right, the left, and business.Our standard of measure begins with the goal of forming a more perfect union; i.e., the United States of America, not The Homeland, as some seem to pretend. This is not the original homeland of most of us, except for Native Americans. In the past, we came here from many lands and many peoples. Our family stories are rich with that past. We must discover those laws and impulses which accomplish this goal; and, conversely, we must rescind those impediments placed legally, or otherwise, during the past 230 years to avoid this goal.As we study the law in this area, we need to identify the benefit accruing to those denying this goal to the People. Every law which does not measure itself as the equal to this standard is, by definition, unconstitutional. Our task is to discover, as a people, those laws, made in our name, which force us to be untrue to our only Constitution.Politics causes our elected officials to make decisions for us in secret for reasons basically against a more perfect union. As these laws are identified, appropriate and inappropriate, we must petition to remove the useless ones from our law books by every constitutional means we can devise to be heard. We must recall those who insist we are other than what the Preamble demands.The Supreme Court should be measuring laws against these goals of the Preamble; but, I never read nor hear of it in its decisions. The Court appears to start into the details without a standard, except 'precedent', which may not have originally been a goal of the Preamble. Therefore, another task will be to study the Court's decisions in light of the Preamble rather than acceptance by expediency.We need to measure local, county, state, and federal laws to see if they match the ends that are meant by charters, state constitutions, and the Constitution. We have believed in them since the Revolution. The Preamble is the only progressive, useful tool for the People. We can start anywhere.We waste our national treasures: our young in warmongering; our monies in debts; our sacred honor in lies; our Congress does the bidding of lobbyists with money; and, we are not heard anymore for our fourth estate has become “media,” preferring to sell goods rather than write the truth.I wrote the above in 1999; and, when I read In These Times, November 17, 2003, I knew I had to dig it out again. Susan J. Douglas’ article on page 15, “Seize the Moment,” mentioned “...we need a kind of overarching information office that synchronizes all these efforts into an agenda-altering juggernaut.” The Preamble is just that; it is the people’s “overarching information” writ clearly. If every progressive citizen or journalist measured articles, proposals, and agendas against the Preamble, the nonsense would fall into disuse.Legislatures need to understand that ignoring the meta-system of the Preamble voids any laws they hope to pass by bribery, arm-twisting, or just plain politics (favor for favor).For instance, to establish justice is to measure our crime laws, our prisons, our dissolving of rights even after a prison term is served. It measures dissolving of rights within prison for the expediency of the guards or the warden.Each of the five preamble items needs to be considered again. Too much chaos, too much noise, has crept in during the past 227 years. We, the People, have forgotten the point in the excitement of the virtual, post-modern age where our media take people apart in gory and disgusting ways without justice, without promoting the general welfare, and without preserving freedom for us and our children’s children.The Preamble is without prejudice. The Preamble does not mention hegemony, war without end, oil, or corporate persons. Those are all fi,Yes"