Flesh Against Flesh

Its in these hazy morning moments
That cardinal desire sets in.
I want to feel flesh against flesh
Not for lust but to know someone intimately
No, not even that. I want someone to know me intimately
For in the morning, in the bright orange lights people think differently
I think differently.
There are times when I think I am most me.
Only for fleeting moments am I truth
before the world sets in
Before I put on my costume for the day and go of with the yes sirs and I’m on its

I need a partner
Someone to share that with
Someone who can be themselves in front of me

And then I remember I don’t believe in love
That I’ve long ago given up hope of its existence
Everybody wears masks
And everybody myself included is too afraid to let their guard down
long enough to find that person
I’m too afraid to find that person
A person I trust with my soul
A person I trust to guard my true self

I don’t know if my true self is even worthy of that type of love.

Brothers of the Night

The starry black sky
Filters through my window
Showing a wistful freedom of the night

My curiosity leads me out my door
To see it once more and
Join my brothers of the night

Starry Eyes

I see her starry eyes
And part of me hopes to make her mine
But the fiery spirit of those eyes
I don’t know if I can handle such highs.
Chancy Chancy
Should speak to her of her eyes
Will they ignite
And burn me alive.
And leave me alone in the night

The artist revolution

Tech has created a new medium
Can’t stop the idea
Color sound words
Swirling into life
Rife with eyes
Through out our lives
It can’t be held in one head
It treads
Coming into our home
Into our heart

What is nobilty?

How do we define nobility in this age
For after all there is social nobility.
Is it how I talk or stand or walk the land?
Is it how I treat my fellow man?
Is it how I choose to unleash my rage?
Is it the mark of civility?
Or how we chose to use our God given abilities?
Is it how we chose to rise above the bland?

The Quiet Times

I hope for peace
But How can it come
When there is so much war
So much pain
When nobody stops
And just says this is what I have
This is what’s worth keeping
The quiet times

Winter

First every thing dies.
Green grass stops growing,
And turns into a dry dreary brown.
As this happens the sun goes bye bye
Its not going to be seen again a long long time.
Then the people go.
Outside’s no longer fun.
Its to cold to go out and run.
Finally a crushing blanket of white powder covers up the ground.
The little life left around me is covered up and frozen.

The Fallen Warrior

Its three in the morning. I’m awake again. I want to pound the bag until I’m forced to the ground, but I know it won’t work. Even now my body won’t obey my commands, It’s my damned brain. It’s racing. I want my head to shut the fuck up. I put my heavy ass legs over my bed, because I know there is no chance of going to back to sleep. I go to the bathroom and shower.

Most nights like tonight, I’m relaxed enough to play some video game or read some book but tonight is different. Wounds that never closed seep with blood and pus... And to top it off that sticky shit on the band-aid doesn’t work anymore. I can’t ignore it tonight. I can’t act like ... like I’m not afraid.

It seems like the university was a long time ago, but it wasn’t. When I was there I was a different person from who I was just prior and after. Alone and with the work and doubt I was darker, cut off, especially in the second semester. I worked my ass of so I can go back somewhere else but still. I fucked up. I still don’t know how, but I fucked up. And for some reason I still can’t explain why I want to go back. If I could make this situation a person I would tell them to fuck themselves in ten thousand different ways. I can’t. Especially since I’m the one who flunked out. And then there’s the differences. I still don’t know where I’m going to go or what I’m going to do. And this time it matters. Nobody’s going to say don’t worry about it your still a freshman.

I also think I’m out of practice. Its not the academics I worry about so much. Most of the class work is the same. Calculus is calculus no matter where you take it though I dropped out of that class here too. I still make the MacArthur like speech about it calling it a tactical retreat and vowing to return when the stakes aren’t so high. Anyway here at home things aren’t the same. I can’t have mommy and daddy looking over my shoulder with a shot gun the rest of my life. My parents think that I flunked because of a lack priorities. It wasn’t fucking that and it pisses me of every fucking time they say that idiotic shit I worked my ass of while I was there. Sometimes I wouldn’t have but a half hour in the day when I didn’t have to do something. Me being up now is probably a hold over from when I stayed up till four back then. Hell most, nights I didn’t even get home till twelve. It was probably my people issues. There alone I couldn’t cut it.

I was raised to believe that of you work hard you’ll get what you want. Now I know it’s bull. The rat in the wheel can run ‘till he’s dead but he’ll still be in the same place. You got to work smarter not just harder. In high school if you compare answers with your neighbor there you’re a cheat. Here its called studying. Profs even flat out said work together and you’ll be fine. Hell in lab we even worked the shit out. I never wrote it down thinking that I should pay attention and try to do it myself later. Fuck. I was a moron.

And then there’s my penance. I can’t apply for a pre-professional degree. Which of course means I couldn’t get back into engineering if I wanted to. Most of the time I don’t. But I hate closing fucking doors. Truth is I know less about what I want to do with my life then I did then. Then at least I had a plan. Now I’m just floating. I have to chose a major by the end of the week to go on the transfer applications. I’m going with journalism. I want to be a newspaper reporter but the truth is print’s dieing. I refuse to be a TV reporter. As a mater of fact the only reason why I’m even putting that down is because I want to write. That’s the only thing I know. I want to write. Hell its the only thing I came out of the last 3 years doing with any amount of confidence. If college has given me a skill it is only this one. Fuck it though. I’m too chicken shit to try to get anything published.

I get out of the shower. If I was groggy before that feeling’s gone. I figure I should work on the applications. I already filled out the monkey parts you know name address shit like that. Its the other parts that make me want to walk away from the table like I’ve done the other five times I tried to do this. “Is there anything we should know about your academic record”. The truth is I almost never talk about this shit with anyone and I don’t want to write some stupid nonchalant shit and have it read by some stupid nonchalant clerk who will then proceed to nonchalantly judge me. I also don’t want to lie. I know I can’t say everything will be great this time because I don’t know. Like I said I’m out of practice. At the community college I got good grades but there are small differences. At the university, I was game to do anything at anytime. If I had to be somewhere at eleven I was fine with it because the buses ran ‘till two. Here whatever needs to be done needs to be done by seven. There the library was walking distance from my pad too. I always lament the loss of the closeness of the place. I could easily get anywhere I wanted to be within fifteen minutes. Here its like an hour. That of course adds to the out of the way factor. Whenever I tell mom there is better time to do something she always cries about how I have my priorities screwed up but doing things her way could add hours of wasted time that I don’t have to my day.

I think of where I would want to go. NYU. MY parents said they won’t pay for me to go out of state. But there’s nowhere in state I really want to go. NYU seems like it would be a cool place. I know chance are slim of going there. I would need a scholarship. Ten grand more, than I got, I need. Dad’s pissed about the money he spent on my last academic venture. Even though by going to community college I actually saved him twenty grand counting his losses. It was always a gamble. Everything is. He once told me the worse thing I could do to him is not go to school. Would he, now that things get a little rough, have me give up. Fuck that shit. And there’s also all this talk of restrictions. Fuck that shit too. If I leave I leave to grow up. I can’t do that if I have to defer to mom and dad about my every decision. Nobody’s going to get me though the next few years but me.

He makes speeches about how all the littles make a big, about how I should cut my hair and get a driver license. Probably would have cut my hair if he hadn’t made such a big deal about it. I have it now because I can’t change it. Had had this fro for a good 10 years. I can’t just change it on a fucking whim. I’m a fighter, but I can’t fight with fists. This is the only weapon I have, to be different to do things my way.

I bang my head against the desk, get up and pace like a wolf in a cage. I always preferred wolves to tigers. I used to say I would grasp what I wished with the speed and ferocity of the wolf, and now I hesitate. I think about my friends. Although for most of my time there I was trapped in melancholy solitude, I had a few friends. I feel regret that I haven’t spoken to them since I left. I always hope that maybe I’ll go back there for a masters, so I can see them again. I’m one bastard who knows how to fall off the face of the earth when I want to . Every time I thought of messaging them I had to work though my shame. Eventually I just quit trying. Even when two of them died, I did not pick up a phone or go to the funerals. I know that is going to be something I regret for the rest of my life. How could I talk to them after that. The grand irony of this is that if I get accepted and attend my second choice I’ll be meeting up with a lot of my high school friends.

I decide to skip the question and move to the next. “Has disciplinary action ever been taken against you by and University or Secondary School”. Yes, in my freshmen year of high school. I’ve only been in 3 fights in my life and the last one which is the only one I’ve been suspended for in high school was one of the stupidest. The only downside of being a geek is that people occasionally take it as a license to fuck with you. And one of the few downsides of being large is people think you want to fuck with them. The former relationship takes place when people know me and the latter when people don’t. Nobody really beat me up in high school. They all would prefer to steel and hide my shit and see how the resident pacifist would react. As usual, I started with the usual bark which one person mistook for bite. The guy thought I was trying to start a fight with him and jumped me after class. I’m less embarrassed that I was in a fight than the fact that I lost to a guy half my size, like everyone else needed another reason to start shit with me. That fight was nearly a decade ago.

I feel old. I feel the ticking of the clock. I’m twenty and it sounds weird to say that. Both my peers and my elders both still call me a boy. At one time in my life I was the youngest guy in the classroom. My freshmen year I was seventeen. The older I get the more doors I see closing. There are more and more roads not taken. More things I could have done and I didn’t. Things I could have said and didn’t. Certainty is gone. A few years ago I knew things would be okay now I don’t. I hate closing fucking doors.

Possibly Losing My Religion

In my lifetime religion has grown more and more intermingled with politics. This has caused me to think deeply on not only my religious beliefs but also how those beliefs should be practiced. If religion can be named responsible for some of the blights of my country does it have any redeeming qualities? If it does not should I shed my religion altogether? Just because religion can be blamed for some of the ills of the world does not mean that religion itself is evil. However, religion can be used to manipulate and blind people.

Several people in my family are deeply religious. Some of my ancestors helped found a church. At every family reunion there are about five pastors to say grace. My mother is very religious. She is also one of the kindest people I know. She is my primary example in life on how to deal with people. Although I often disagree with her, my opinion of her is not lessened by her religiosity. In fact her connection to religion redeems it in my eyes. It is easy to look at corrupt televangelists and bigotry that uses religion as its rational and use that as evidence that region is for the insane but my mother is proof that it possible to be religious and still be a good person.

It is hard to deny that religion is responsible for many aspects of American culture. Many positive historical events and movements can be linked to religion. Although I think that religion is beginning to permeate politics too much it is hard for me as an African American to deny that religion can cause positive political changes. The Civil Rights movement was not only lead from a church but also lead by a Reverend. What is the line that I draw? It is not necessary for a person to be religious to be moral however often times a persons values stem from religion. If a legislator were to vote for rehabilitation programs for convicts because of a belief in God’s mercy I would support that. How ever I do not support a ban on gay marriage and similar logic would seem to be the reason behind that vote. Why do I feel differently about these two issues? Sometimes Christianity sends conflicting messages.

There are aspects of Christianity that speak of equality, redemption and mercy. At the same time it speaks of war prejudice and self-righteousness. Many of the religious people I speak to say that in order to be a true Christian I must believe and follow the entire bible. For them a true Christian does not cut and paste the bible. Part me believes this. When I think of the idea of love, admittedly I’ve never been truly in love, I think that you must love somebody completely that despite the things you do not like about some one you must accept all of them both the good and the bad. It is this kind of devotion and compromise that makes love beautiful.

As I said part of me feels the same way about religion. If I nip and cut away at he bible chose to ignore parts of it and disbelieve others can I still call myself a Christian? If I chose to lose my religion would it be so horrible? Why do I hesitate to make that declaration? Although I do not necessarily believe the entirety of the bible, I do believe that there must be a divinity. In my eyes the world is far too ordered for all of human and natural events to be forged by mere chance. I refuse to believe that all that his occurred, all that exists merely exists. Something must have started the universe on its path. Something must have guided times arrow. I choose to call myself Christian for two reasons. The first is my belief in a God. The second is belief that at the very least a man named Jesus walked the earth and was crucified.

Despite this belief I am unsure if I should call my self Christian. Although it is posible to be religious and a good person the religion is starting to put emphasis more and more on ideas that I am not sure I support. Although I believe that all things must eventually come to an end, I am not worried about an oncoming apocalypse. For me the world is a dark place.

There is a war and part of me feels like I have not sacrificed for it. I feel conflicted because at the same time I do not support the reasons my nation has gone to war. Despite this it is impossible for me to deny that the military, in order to accomplish its goals, no matter how ambiguous they are needs more men. There is political as well as ecological strife. I still believe that the strife caused by the war and natural disasters is a result of the folly of man not the wrath of God. Mankind through its greed and shortsightedness has caused the crisis that my
generation must solve. These things are horrible but the world will go on. Although I am, a pessimist I have a faith that mankind will find a way to survive. There will be no thousand years of darkness, no holocaust that causes all of humanity to go extinct. We will survive.

During the last century religion has been used as a way to extend human rights. The Enlightenment, The Civil Rights Movement, Transcendentalist Movement The Renaissance, all had roots in religious thought. However, over last few decades people have begun to worry about the righteousness of the nation. Fearing that America has lost the favor of God they have begun to strip away some rights that were hard fought for as well as denied rights to those who had not gained them yet. Part of the bible talks about forgiveness and that God is the ultimate judge of men. Why then do we feel the need to condemn and persecute those who are different? A person’s relationship with the divine can not be fully understood by another person.

Despite the bigotry and negativity that religion may cause it is an important part of culture. For better or worse much of American society has be forged around religion. Although today people may take religion too far it is hard to deny that many of the social values of the country have steamed from religion. I do not mean to say that to be moral is to be religious and to be religious is to be moral, but it is hard to look at the values of the people around me even atheists and say that those values did not come from anywhere. I believe that one of the reasons my mother is so kind is because of her religious views. I am not as religious but through her religion she has taught me how to treat the rest of humanity.

Okay I will now start to ramble as thoughts come to me. As a starting point since I am watching the matrix at the moment so I will start with a quote. “Its the question that drives us.” Its not the known laws but the idea of a God that drives me to think on the matter. What is the nature of God? Why did the creator create the world in the mater he or she did? What is the point. All life ends. What is the point of tonight’s candle. If the candle is blown out, if the world ends, will God create something in its place? Is God by his very nature a creator. Does he wish for things to exist? If he does why do things die? Is there a such thing as an immortal soul or is now, here all we have.


Sometimes I think what I would believe if I gave up Christianity. If I went into the woods and thought on the mater, what would I believe about God? Is God within all living things? Is it possible to gain a spiritual connection with God through mere thought and meditation? Shall I follow the examples of Buddha and Thoreau?


I often have the thought that what I think about God is irrelevant. The absence or presence of God does not suddenly change my world. Every day I still have to wake up, put my pants on and go to class. Why do I even want to ask myself is there a God.

Regardless of the existence of an afterlife, my primary concern will always be my current life. I need no eternal punishment or reward; for both come in this life. Its what I do here and now that matters. Whether it is the ties I make or the ties I break the ties I have here matter. Maybe I say this because eternal spiritual life may last forever but the physical life is fleeting.

I think that there are several problems with religion. It can be used to justify horrible things. There have been several man made tragedies that have been the cause of religion. These include the crusades the Salem Witch Trials as well as 9/11. I believe partially this reason that religion must remain personal. My ideas about God are my own. I do not wish to preach. I am unsure about the nature of God. Perhaps that is the point. That God is merely the unknown. If God is the unknown perhaps, it is impossible to know him.

I do not know what I believe or even it maters that I don’t know what I believe. Life goes on. I will continue to think about these things but they will only be in the back of my mind. I must deal with the present. I must deal with tangible issues and not allow my self to be distracted by religion, Things need to be done. Despite my religious beliefs or the lack there of I must live in a world where God walks above man not among him.

If You Want to Run

I’m tired of being told
Walk now
Run when you’re more old
I wish I were more bold
And just said now
I want to do
Not to practice
Because doing is practice
Doing is making mistakes
And then correcting them

I want to write books and poems
Not to write about books and poems
I want to do business
Not sit in a lecture about why people sell
Hell

I ain’t got the time
And my patient's not that kind
I know it may seem that I just whine
But I feel that my life is mine
And it seems like such a crime
To just sit and wait
And to placate
the authority

Into the sun
Like a bullet out of a gun
I want to run

I Left

I have abandoned those who I cared about
I left without a word
No goodbyes
Last night the ghosts of my past visited me
Thoughts and feelings I thought I laid to rest
Its not the feelings of personal failure and self loathing that I though I could deal with
But the fact that I did not turn to those who cared for me when I felt these feelings
I kept everything inside

Orientation: Chapter 1 Draft 1

Caleb’s eyes blink open as he lifts his body from the bed. Shifting his weight he almost falls in the attempt to reach the phone.

“Hello,” his voice scratches.

“Yo. You know you should be woke already”
“Huh”

“We have to leave in an hour”

“Shit!”

Dropping the phone he runs to the shower knowing Cole will forgive him . He almost knocks over his mother. Caleb’s mom thinks of them as brothers. She could never really get a read on her son, but Cole could. Almost every day she would call Cole just to make sure Caleb wasn’t in harm’s way. She knew however Cole would never tell her anything Caleb didn’t want her to know.

Knowing there isn’t enough time to tame his mangled mane, and not wanting too anyway he throws on a black skullcap. He groans as he sees that not only is Cole’s car in the drive way but so is Aunt Jessie’s. He had forgotten that his aunt had asked him to take his younger cousin with him. When he and his cousin were alone he enjoyed his company but, Roger did not know when to be mellow. He didn’t know that sometimes it’s good to find solitude in a crowd.

Caleb went to say hi to Aunt Jessie. When Uncle Omar first married her everyone was nervous because she was white, but she was so amiable that everyone came to love her and forgot their original reservations. Although Caleb hated the idea of taking Roger with him, he also hated the idea of turning Aunt Jess down, besides his mother would never forget if he had. Aunt Jessie had never met Cole, but Caleb wasn’t worried they would be on the road before anything too awkward was said.

Cole’s dependable hopty is the iron horse that will take them to the university. Cole has the habit of naming all of his favorite things grandiose names. He calls his car the Argo. The trunk is open as Cole walks out the door, his father has already put his suitcase outside. Cole kept his book bag in his room with him. It’s never more than a few feet from him. He slings it on his back. Deciding it would be unsociable to just leave he decides to shoot the breeze with Mom, Dad and Aunt Jess.

“Don’t worry mom. I’ll be back in a few days.” They both know it may be a lie, that in Caleb’s heart he believes he should have left home years ago. It burns at his pride that he hasn’t.

“Yo the sun ain’t gonna be up forever. We’re burning daylight and worse gas.”, Cole shouts.

Jessie moves to put Roger’s bags in the trunk. Cole looks at Caleb counting on his fingers and raising an eyebrow. Caleb smiled. This put his mother at ease. Cole seldom smiled. Whenever he was at home he lied in bed in an artificial night. The glow of the bed lamp and the computer were the only things keeping him from true darkness. Even now being out in the morning sun hurt his eyes.

Caleb’s mom knows the sorrows of her son for they are her sorrows as well. She doesn’t know what to do or say to shake him out of them. She cries every night believing she has failed in her duty to protect her son. He never wanted or asked for her aid. Even if he had there is know denying that the twists in the road are his fault, but she still cries. At his high school graduation she wore a black afro. Now, just three years later her hair was a grizzled grey. Caleb was worried about her as well. He knew his depression was causing his mother to wither, yet he could not escape himself.

Jess snaps a few pictures to commemorate the moment, and tosses the camera to Roger. In emulation of his older cousin, he grew his hair but instead of growing out it grew down.
“When you gonna get a hair cut Cal”

“Soon as you do. My ‘fro makes me look like a warrior your head makes you look like a girl”

“At least I don’t wear a hat everywhere I go even in the summer.”
“No but you should cuz. But you should”

“See what you started” Eva laughs to Cole

“It was early and arh arh There was a little need for tension breaking”
“Huh”

“Don’t worry about it Ma” Caleb laughs

“We ought to get going”

The trunk closes and Cal and Roger get into the car. As they drive off their parents wave them off.

Courage and Hope

What must men do when there is no clear path
When There is no guiding light to show the way
When there are no words of destiny’s say
And no clear wants of this man’s heart’s way
Become tugged and wrought with disaster and pain
And watch my life become a run’way train
Let all that I’ve hoped for go up in flame
No because all I have is courage and hope,
That one day I will have more than just courage and hope

The Last War

I hope not to see the horrific fire and plague in my lifetime
The roar of swift metal plunged into men's chests.
The yelling of all nation’s crests.
When all are at fault.
This is how humanity will be dammed.
This is how God's glorious experiment will go and end
There will be no more room left in the tombs.
No mothers left to weep for their sons and husbands.
For all will cry for blood.
Shall crimson be the color of the grass
for the eternity remaining after humanity is gone?

A Young Black Man’s Treatise on Government

It is my personal belief that my nation is on a precipice. We lie on a knife’s edge of losing ourselves. The previous two elections have cast doubt in my mind about the practicality of the government of the United States of America. However, I believe that although there are flaws within the republic, we must attempt to maintain it. I fear what the alternatives may bring. No government on earth is perfect. I have lost hope that utopia will ever exist, however I believe that if my countrymen do not demand more from their government, it will fall as the republic of Rome has, long before my nation was even a thought.

But this leads me to a series of questions. What should the citizens demand of their government? What is its purpose? Why do governments exist in the first place? What gives them their authority? Why would several million people choose to follow the laws of a few hundred or in some forms of government one person? The answers to these questions that I choose to believe has and will continue to form my political ideology.

I believe that an excellent way to understand the function of an object is to understand its nature. This is the base that all of my other ideas of government will stem. The problem however is that there are multiple forms of government. What I am about to say does not apply to all or even most of them. However, I would like to believe that the reasons why republics as well as democracies are formed have to do with the nature of man. Human beings are social creatures; however at the same time we are egoists. We will take advantage of each other given the proper opportunity. In Beyond Good and Evil Nietzsche says, “It so happens, said a moralistic pedant and pettifogger, that I respect and honor a selfless man, not because he is selfless but because he seems to me to have a right to be of use to another man at his own expense.” (Nietzsche) I believe that most human beings do not like to be taken advantage of. How are individuals protected from other individuals. I believe that the answer lies in society and government. Society and by extension government consists of a group of individuals who band together imposing rules, punishments, and rewards upon one another for the sake of protecting each other against the vice of the individual as well as advancing goals that the individual could not.. It is due to the self-interest of man that governments are formed.

If republics and democracies are formed by the needs of the collective of individuals to protect and provide for themselves, then the government is formed by these individuals, or “by the people”. Even if it is not the people who run the government if they are the ones who created it, the government must be held accountable to them. I believe that there is an unspoken agreement between a government and the people who follow it. As long as the government functions, keeps its duties, and does not abuse the power that the people have invested in it that the people will provide for the government (in the form of taxes) as well as keep the law of the government. It is the people that hold the government in place; for if they refused to do these things the government would not operate and in a way cease to meet the criteria I have previously raised.

Many philosophers have tried to explain the relationship between people and the government. There are many philosophers whose ideals I have tried to integrate into my political ideology upon the relationship of the people and their government. John Locke, Thomas Pain, Henry David Thoreau, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, have in my mind provided excellent ideas on the duties of the citizen to his government and the government to their citizens. The relationship between people and government has been previously called the social contract. In Jean-Jacques Rousseau Social Contract he states,

But, as men cannot engender new forces, but only unite and direct existing ones, they have no other means of preserving themselves than the formation, by aggregation, of a sum of forces to overcome the resistance. These they have to bring into play by means of a single motive, and cause to act in concert.

He is in general saying that for self-preservation human beings band together and form societies. Rousseau goes on in the document, disusing how leaders arrive in these societies. In order for them to work, there must be a higher power. Someone or something, which he calls the sovereign, must be able to make decisions for the group. He later states that,
“I hold then that Sovereignty, being nothing less than the exercise of the general will, can never be alienated, and that the Sovereign, who is no less than a collective being, cannot be represented except by himself: the power indeed may be transmitted, but not the will.”(Rousseau)

He is here stating that although the decision making power of rule may be put in the hands of a single person, the rule of government is the general will of the people, and that the will of the people will always remain with the people. I believe that the mechanism that allows governments to function is the people’s submission to them.

A counter argument to this is that it is God who imbues power onto the heads of government. Many monarchs throughout history have traced their lineages to the divine or were put into power by the heads of the church. Even now pastors will actively seek to sway the votes of their parishioners. This however seems contradictory when a monarch, such as King James II of England, seems to do something that goes against the will of the divine.

Government and law are abstract concepts that are formed by our perceptions of what they are. A physical object will not cease to exist if it fails to fit into the description of it. If I decide that, my boot looks more like a gym shoe than a boot the physical object still exists however, an abstract idea may not. If I am feeling angry but my emotion changes, the anger no longer exists. Governments are formed by the people. If a government is to operate or even to exist it requires some sacrifices by the people. A king without subjects cannot call himself a king. A government without people cannot call itself a government. A rule or a law that is not followed is not a rule. If a ruler is someone who rules, and he does not he is not a ruler. I consider these things true due to my concept of what they are. I have previously put forth a definition of government. If the power of the government is imbued with power by the people and if it is put into existence by the people, then if the people refuse to give power to the government the government will cease to exist. If government is nothing more than the exercise of the will of the people than it cannot exist with out that will.

Therefore, in order for government to exist power must be transferred from individual to the larger entity of society. We do this in a number of ways. We recognize the authority of the larger entity by following laws. If I choose, I could break the law, but it’s the law that makes a government a government. Is it possible for a government to exist without law? Part of the reasons why governments exist is to impose law upon the governed. If a government is formed because the people have deemed it necessary to create one the people have a duty to follow the will of the collective. It is the duty of the individual to keep to the will of the collective because in doing so the individual is contributing to the continued existence of the government. People should support and acknowledge their government. If the government was ignored it would cease to exist. There is no legal reason for the United States to exist instead of the British Colonies. The only reason it does is because the collective of individuals make a choice to ignore the laws of the United Kingdom and acknowledge the laws of the United States. Why does England exist instead of British Rome? Why did Rome exist instead of Etruscan civilization? The people stopped supporting these governments.

John Lock in his Two Treatise on Government has stated

The first power—viz., of doing whatsoever he thought fit for the preservation of himself and the rest of mankind, he gives up to be regulated by laws made by the society, so far forth as the preservation of himself and the rest of that society shall require; which laws of the society in many things confine the liberty he had by the law of Nature. (Locke)

In order for government to be sustained, the individual gives up certain rights. The right which John Locke is saying the individual gives up is the right to make and follow wholly his own rules. We choose to follow the laws prescribed by our Government, by the collective will.

The people support the government by doing more than following its laws. We also provide for it. We pay taxes to ensure that it can carryout its duties. When there is a need we protect it through military conscription. It still surprises me that the draft has not been raised in my generation. With these acts, the people do two things. They ensure the continued existence and provide a means for the government to carry out its duties.

If the government is the collective will of individuals it is also the duty of those individuals to remain informed of the circumstances and decisions of the collective and if they must change it, in order for a government to operate,

It is unreasonable to expect the individual to voluntarily give up his freedom, money, and possibly his life for his government and not expect something in return. If the individual is to keep his duties to government, the government must keep its duties to the individual. The reason why the individual sacrifices his freedom is because he knows others are doing the same. The government must set laws in place and enforce them providing, a justice system where citizens can peacefully settle grievances between each other and society. I believe law is one of the primary benefits of government. It prevents the individual from being robbed, murdered or raped. If law is set by the government, and the government is the collective will of the people then law is set by the collective will of the people. (Locke)

I believe it is also the duty of the government to protect the lives of it citizens. The government is instilled to protect the interests of the people. Survival is a primary interest of human beings. The government is put into place partially to ensure the survival of the governed.

I am a socialist. When people are not in a clear and present danger of extermination, and when the population is sufficiently large they tend to expect society to provide basic services. These include education of the youth, a decent road system, as well as safe drinking water. If government is composed of the will of the people, it should advance their interests. The collective of individuals can do far more than a single individual could. Therefore, government should do for the individual what the individual cannot do for himself. I feel that individuals are capable of quite a bit but its unreasonable to expect one man to build an entire highway or an aqueduct. However if communal monies and resources are used, the things the government chooses to do should have a communal affect (maybe I shouldn’t use the word communal sounds to much like that quirky economic system) The problem with this argument is determining what the individual cannot do for himself. I do not believe in communism. However, I am in favor of a more moderate welfare state. This welfare state should provide for the people’s general welfare through public works, as well as provide a safety net in times of natural disaster or economic depression.

I believe that the government, at least in part, is responsible to seeing to the people’s general welfare. In a typical society, it is inevitable that some people will be impoverished but if the vast majority of the people are in this state the government is at fault due its inactivity in seeing to the peoples best interests. As I previously stated the reason why the people allow the government to exist is so that it will protect their interests

If part of the reasons why governments exist is to limit the freedom of the individual to harm other individuals, and the government is given the power to enforce the laws that enable it to limit individuals the government by its nature will limit the individual. This is necessary in order for government to function. However if the prime directive of government is to protect the individual’s interests it should not be able to go against them. Time and time again governments do this however. They censor, kill, and steal from the people. They advance the interests of one group of individuals at the expense of others. While some of an individual’s freedoms are taken away from the government the rest should be ensured by it.

The ideas of limiting the powers of government are relatively new. Up until this point, I have spoken of the government, as an extension of the people’s will. However most governments, for practical purposes, put the decision making power of government in the hands of a sovereign, a power above the people. I have also spoken of the duty of the people to remain informed of the operations of the government. However if the people become indifferent to the state of their government they give the sovereign, who they have, invested their freedom and money, free reign over them. To protect the people from the sovereign, who may abuse the power invested in it as well as to allow the people some power over the sovereign several mechanisms should be put into place.

The first is the direct election of the sovereign. In the United States there is the direct election of senators as well as representatives. This makes them accountable to the people. If they make decisions for their own benefit rather than for the peoples there is a fair chance that they will be replaced after the next election. I believe that the Electoral College is a mistake that needs to be rectified by the American people. In the year 2000 AD in an election, the head of state was put into office against the will of the majority of the people. This shows one of the flaws in the Government of the United States. That should not have happened.

The next limit of government is a constitution. The sovereign should not be able to change the government on whim. There should be a legal document stating the processes for enacting and altering the law. This document should be made public so the people may examine it. It should also, on paper, list the powers that the people have given their government. It should also list powers, which the government under no circumstances should assume.

The third mechanism is one that I believe is failing the American people. In order for the people to protected from the sovereign they must understand what decisions the sovereign is making. If the people are to oversee and watch the sovereign they must be informed. Journalism is a pillar of the republic. The people must be trained to ask questions and demand answers. The government is accountable to them only if they hold it so.

Despite these safe guards a republic ruled by the people has several flaws. If the individual is fallible, then to must a collective of them. Though it is entirely possible and morally wrong, I might add, for the for a majority of the collective to act towards the disadvantage of minority of it the minority must not have the ability to work towards the disadvantage of the majority. America is divided by several races, religions, and creeds. This is neither good nor bad. This is simply the way of things due to the nature of the nation’s history. However these divisions allow for factions to arise. In the “Federalists Papers” #10 and #9 Alexander Hamilton and James Madison discuss factions. Special interests of factions can cause a government to act contrary to the peoples will. At the same time the majority of people may wrongly persecute the members of a minority of the group. The government should some how secure the rights of a minority, while at the same time insuring the rule of the majority.( Madison) ( Hamilton)

Governments must not stay the same. The will of the people is fickle. It changes not only from generation to generation but also from year to year. Five years ago I would have said terrorism is a military problem now I and several people believe it to be a policing problem. Governmental policy must not remain static or eventual it will fail to serve the will of the people. The government must constantly evolve.

These changes must come gradually or abruptly but they must come. If the sovereign does not change with the will of the people, a time may come where the people no longer accepts its rule. When the change comes suddenly, it normally comes violently. Sudden change is also often followed by a time of anarchy. The absence of government goes against the interests of the people. Because of this, it is better for the changes to come slowly.

A good government must have mechanisms for changing not only the law, but the processes under which the law is created. The people must be able to freely express that change is needed, and the sovereign must be able to freely enact change. If either fails in these things government will become stagnate and the change will be sudden.

The Government is to be held accountable to the people at all times. It is the people’s power that allows government to exist. As a result, the government is responsible for the people’s general welfare and common defense. However, the people must at times be protected from the government they created. The government must be flexible.