9th Circut Court of Appeals kills "may issue" in California.

[whiskeybill]

The Governor of Wyoming put his AG to work with a number of other states to bring a similar New Jersey case to SCOTUS. That is why the Ninth Circus ruling is important.

Why the 9th Circuit case ?good cause? ruling is so important

 

[GunRightsCoalition]

Re: defining Constitutional literacy (power vs. powerlessness)
and
Re: a reference to measure it

The Constitution(s) (State and federal) establish where the balance of power lies in our relationship with government. As we all know, knowledge is power. So it naturally follows that a vacuum of popular knowledge of the Constitutions is inherently a vacuum of political power in the people, and that vacuum will faithfully be filled by people who recognize, and are tempted by, the personal advantage or gain to be had in public office.

So to me, it seems that constitutional literacy is a condition where a critical mass of We The People are competent enough in our understandings of Constitutional/legal principles and articles that we individually and collectively know what powers and restrictions the Constitutions place on government and in turn, can very quickly and confidently, rise to the occasion to recognize usurpation and prevent abuse of power before it has time to get a foothold in daily life.

In ORS 336.067, the Oregon Legislature uses the words "to promote and develop an upright and desirable citizenry". They didn't say "to promote and develop a good work force". Being a "citizen" is much more than going to work every day and paying bills. It means having the knowledge and skills needed to be competent, informed civic decision-makers in order to operate and preserve our Constitutional Republic. To that end, the Legislature determined that 5 years of "special emphasis" on US Constitution studies was the minimum standard. But they also said "special emphasis" was required for "obedience to law" and the Oregon Constitution. And how else can you "learn" how to obey the law, other than by actually being taught how to read and understand its actual legislative intent, as opposed to what others tell you. How else can we legitimately be held accountable to the expression: "ignorance of the law is no excuse"?

As another reference to measure what constitutes a quality Constitution education, ask yourself this question: If you were a Citizen accused of a crime, based on a law that you know is itself unconstitutional (see recent Connecticut gun laws), would you want a jury whose members had 5 minutes of Constitution class time in high school or a jury whose members had 5 years of Constitution class time? Which jury would better recall, grasp and apply underlying liberty and balance-of-power principles in their deliberation of your case? Who would be better equipped to sniff out a malicious prosecution and render an acquittal decision? Which jury would be better at detecting improprieties from the judge who might be compromised by personal biases or other influences?

With a minimum of 5 years of Constitution class time, impressionable, budding young citizens would have time to study, analyze and assimilate all articles of the Constitution... not just the fashionable provisions of the bill of rights. For example, most people don't know that Article 1, Section 10, Paragraph 1 has the following language:

"No State shall.....make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts"

An amendment is the only authority that can silence this provision and no such amendment exists. But now, with so much water under the bridge, real metal money is so foreign to us that we choke on it's clash with modern debt-based views of how the economy works. And because our grandparents didn't know how, or that they should have, stopped Roosevelt from taking our metal money in the 1930's, now we have a debt-based society, where many States are quaking at the edge of total bankruptcy.

If public schools in Oregon actually provided the 5 years of "Constitution class" that they're mandated to, kids would eventually get around to studying the federalist/ anti-federalist papers and other founding documents. They would undoubtedly get into studying case law too. Statist-minded teachers would eventually end up having to do some 'splainin' to defend the revisionist theories they promote. For that matter, teachers' exposure to these materials may even reveal to them how much they were deceived by their own high school experience.

Is that you Ben? If not then this sounds precisely like the information a friend of mine has been digging up for awhile now.

And as Ben knows I am firmly in agreement that constitutional literacy is important if we wish to protect or restore our rights.

Rick