Citizens Prerogative

Episode discussion topics

• How can capitalism be merged into the doughnut economic model?
• How can we have a system that facilitates the creation of new businesses without the burden on the biosphere of unending economic growth and profits?
• How do we get to something more sustainable?
• Our proposal:
  • Start-up - private validation and growth cycle
    • Corporate entity
    • Private shares and seed capital through peer-to-peer investing platforms
  • Growth - public cycle growth cycle
    • Corporate entity
    • Conversion to publicly traded shares
  • Sustainability - community reinvestment cycle for the common good
    • Non-profit entity
      
    • Employee ownership
    • Strictly limited ownership access through publicly traded shares
• Calls to Action:
  • Consider opportunities for your ideas to start a business.
    • Maybe there is a product you would love to improve or a service you can provide that is in demand.
    • How much would it cost to begin selling a product or marketing a service?
    • Where and how would you find customers and sell the product or service?
    • Then check out the amounts you might be able to raise through existing peer or group lending platforms.
    • Also, save some seed money from other jobs, pay a little out of pocket as you go, or consider borrowing part of the funds you need. But do your best not to borrow or take risks with your or other people's nest eggs.
  • Support local leaders in business and civics that are willing and capable of trying something new to spur the coming of the next great economy. One such potentially revolutionary idea is to support new avenues of providing access to training and funding for aspiring entrepreneurs and new businesses.
  • Share with us what you think about these ideas on our sponsor's Facebook page Citizen Do Good.
• Honorable mentions:
  • Doughnut Model (previous episodes)
    • • S2 E25 | New Economics a la Doughnut
      • S3 E45 | Doughnut Time: Our Sustainable Responsibility

  • Hippocratic Oath (National Institutes of Health)

  • Biomimicry (Biomimicry Institute)

  • SBA Loan Guarantee Program Info (pdf from U.S. Government site)

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• We have transcripts located at the end of each podcast episode's page on our site. Check it out, but know this: It's all AI and not us. So thank you in advance for forgiving any and all errors.
  
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or like us on Facebook.
  
• Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on this podcast are for listener consideration and are not necessarily those of the show or its sponsors.

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Episode discussion topics

• The first amendment holds many liberties that are of the utmost importance to self-rule. One, in particular, was captured in the first 16 words of the amendment:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"

• It was designed this way because many founders had no interest in the tyranny of theocratic regimes. They were farmers, lawyers, businessmen, and plantation owners. Many founders did not even subscribe to a religious tradition or church. Nor did they want to be forced to live under the rules of one.
• The government is meant to have a live and let live under our laws and policy. Like all citizens are subject to our laws, so are people in groups.
• Organizations can get tax-advantaged status as non-profit or venture capital churches. The government should not respect an establishment of religion by providing a tax-free ride.
• Let's talk about what prohibiting the free exercise of religion looks like:
  • Police raids on churches and parish leaders.
  • Bogus charges will put followers behind bars or perhaps die in police custody.
  • Religious groups getting denied applications to organize a non-profit or acquire wealth or property for the church.
  • Harassment, threats, and violence as authorities look on and no recourse comes from the courts.
• The first amendment does not give rights to businesses to discriminate against customers because of religious beliefs. Selling a product to a customer has nothing to do with exercising religion.
• There can be no religious test to run for elected office either since our laws do not respect any establishment of religion.
• Calls to Action:
  • One of the best ways to break down divides is to ask questions and find common ground with those in our communities that are different from us.
  • Whatever you believe, seek out someone who believes differently and see if you can appreciate what you have in common as humans.
  • Seek out and vote for representatives that fight to preserve our first amendment rights.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• We have transcripts located at the end of each podcast episode's page on our site. Check it out, but know this: It's all AI and not us. So thank you in advance for forgiving any and all errors.
  
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or like us on Facebook.
  
• Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on this podcast are for listener consideration and are not necessarily those of the show or its sponsors.

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Episode discussion topics

• On monuments: Why they are important and under what conditions they serve us the best.
• Challenges with venerating ancestors.
• Effective ways to venerate ancestors.
• Opportunity to keep alive the valuable ideas of our ancestors and inspire a shared symbology that aligns with the principles of a more perfect union.
• We accidentally do not have a transcript for this episode. We did provide a copy of the public comment that MVP provided to the Monuments & Memorials Committee of San Francisco.
• Calls to Action:
  • This is truly a grassroots activity and one where citizens can force a lot of change. Throughout our local communities, there are monuments to the humans that came before us. Inspiring as they may be, their shortcomings are controversial and distracting nonetheless.
  • Identify these examples of ancestor veneration in your community. Approach your local representatives on the county or town council to understand the motivation for the art and how it may be symbolized in another non-human-specific way.
  • Speak with your neighbors in the local community and understand their perspectives on this topic and whether they might be interested in supporting a change for our children's sake at the least.
  • Speak with local artists to understand why kind of symbology might make sense to express the valuable ideals of the figure to be replaced. We want to honor the valuable lessons learned from the past so as not to fall victim to repeating our mistakes.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• We have transcripts located at the end of each podcast episode's page on our site. Check it out, but know this: It's all AI and not us. So thank you in advance for forgiving any and all errors.
  
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or like us on Facebook.
  
• Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on this podcast are for listener consideration and are not necessarily those of the show or its sponsors.

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Episode discussion topics

• Just as the allied nations of World Wars past continue to battle in the struggle against tyranny, we as individuals need to be allies of the common good.
• Equal liberty and justice under the law can only be established if the plurality of Americans that have an equal footing to gain band together in solidarity. Especially those who are least wealthy among us, which represent 98% regardless of ethnic or religious identity.
• What does this look like?
  • For the LGBTQ+, it looks like a straight military veteran who jumps into action to take down an armed mass shooter in one of their nightclubs.
  • For the curious young mind, it looks like a brave teacher or librarian who risks their livelihood to provide a banned book or discuss cogent subject matters.
  • For the black person being refused service, it looks like the other employees behind the counter who shut down their confused coworkers and poor business acumen.
  • For anyone who is being ridiculed because of their color, shape, size or other aspects of who they are, it looks like the anti-bully who puts an attacker in their place.
  • For immigrants, it is the person who reminds us that this country was built by and is fed from the labor of slaves and immigrants.
  • For the religious or nones, it looks like mutual respect for a live-and-let-live way of life: The essence of liberty.
• Calls to Action:
  • We need to stand up for our human dignity during our battle for liberty and justice by standing up for each other everywhere, in every way that we can.
  • We need to recognize the real string of bullies that have been ascending various thrones from business to politics and stop promoting their messages.
  • We need to meet each moment prepared to speak truth to power in the halls where we walk and call out divisive commentary and thinking as we encounter it from others.
  • We need to show care to one another, especially when it is unexpected.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• We have transcripts located at the end of each podcast episode's page on our site. Check it out, but know this: It's all AI and not us. So thank you in advance for forgiving any and all errors.
  
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or like us on Facebook.
  
• Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on this podcast are for listener consideration and are not necessarily those of the show or its sponsors.

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Episode discussion topics

• It has been a while since we discussed the idea of freedom in the United States and this time around we’re marrying it up with the pursuit of happiness. We’re also going to lean into some Stoic teachings to help guide our discussion.
• Freedom is the ability to use one's own agency to affect change in their life. Whether that be to change one's class, profession, companions, or one's own mind. This embodies the freedom to pursue happiness.
• Government acts as the civilian interface between individuals and groups. It mediates the boundaries where our lives intersect. The law is there to bring those conflicts to a conclusion and deconflict our freedom to pursue happiness.
• Together, they should keep others from treading too heavily on our pursuit of happiness and keep us from trespassing on others.
• Now, how best to choose a life for one's self? How shall we make ourselves accountable for pursuing happiness? There is nothing in school or church that truly prepares one to live a fulfilling purpose-driven life. That one is on us to figure out through self-reflection to achieve greater self-awareness.
• Calls to Action:
  • We all have a limited time here on Earth, try not to spend too much of it angry, fearful, or wanting. Look for any reason to be grateful. Focus your energy on what is in your control, not outside of it.
  • Learn more about fulfilling your purpose, something you feel compelled to create, which is all part of the pursuit of happiness. Explore it, grow it, and share it with others for  community's sake.
  • It is up to each of us to find our path in life and seek fulfillment through growth and community building. If we are not building community as we move through our careers and lives, our purpose seems aimless. We will fall short in using our freedom to pursue happiness.
  • Learn more about the history of the United States and philosophy, in general, to get grounded in something closer to fact than fiction.
    • Philosophy, we have a special reverence for Stoicism, teaches us how to think well and develop an ever-growing awareness of things.
    • Learn something new often. The truth is documented, that was done before our time or the time of the internet.
    • Books, magazines, documentaries, podcasts, and online course lectures are good too.
    • Join Citizen Do Good's newsletter and get your FREE Guide to Good Thinking today. It has practical steps to think well, be well, and make better decisions dear citizens. Build beautiful new mental skills today. Check us out and help to form a more perfect union one mind at a time!

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• We have transcripts located at the end of each podcast episode's page on our site. Check it out, but know this: It's all AI and not us. So thank you in advance for forgiving any and all errors.
  
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or like us on Facebook.
  
• Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on this podcast are for listener consideration and are not necessarily those of the show or its sponsors.

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Episode discussion topics

• How the power of faction can bring the demise of a republic. Ideology is never a good substitute for reasoned choice and is even worse when wielded by authoritarian bullies.
• Just as Presidents Lincoln and Grant had feared, the greatest threat to our republic may be from within. Will we be able to maintain the people's hold on self-rule? Will we be able to have, as President Adams said, “A government of laws, and not of men.”
• What have other republics looked like at the time of their demise?
  • Consider the former Weimar Republic of Germany and how it enabled a party to come to power that converted it into a dictatorship. The heads of the conservative parties in power trusted that Adolf Hitler would not run amok and that he could be controlled. They were wrong.
  • Julius Caesar was feared to be a tyrannical dictator with eyes on establishing a monarchy. He was assassinated by the fearful and a monarchy was established by his nephew. The fear brought about exactly what they feared. As it turned out, evidence was found that Julius had no intention of replacing the Roman Republic.
  • Russia technically still is a republic, as is Iran as we mentioned before. Iran had a religious revolution, but how did Putin install himself for unlimited terms? Taking control of a party, rigging elections using fear and anger, and then changing the laws to keep him in power. This happened under our watch in our lifetimes.
• Not so far from home, these were also the sort of systems that used to exist in the good old days of the antebellum southern gentry. A time when patriarchy and slavery reined supreme. Confederate ideology was exported, seeded, and watered throughout the nation after the failure of Reconstruction. This culture is now in all states to more or a lesser degree.
• Somehow history has repeated itself along these lines on several occasions. In each case, the groups that identified with relatively conservative ideologies became most concerned with conserving their power. Ruled by greed, envy, and hate.
• Generational wealth creates a class of society that washes away its humanity over successive generations. They raise children in an environment relatively devoid of love and instead in its place is a concern for the nest egg. They become divorced from any sense of the human condition through a lack of empathy for the majority of people which is reinforced by being able to avoid even the most common hardships and adversity that are faced by the rest of us.
• Our whole system of governance was designed with checks and balances intended to thwart this dark capacity for evil that lurks within the malintent of those giving in to selfish desires, those who would usurp power from the people and retain it for themselves.
• As the majority of people do not have the advantages of being wealthy and of light complexion, we should be making reasoned choices from that perspective. The parties blind us to what is in common: Our republic and its capacity to support our common good through liberty and justice for us all.
• Calls to Action:
  • Use your reasoned choice to set aside any dogma or ideologies for a moment and consider the facts of the matter and the people you choose to be your representatives. Avoid the narrowed-minded trap of single issues and consider the whole of your values and your existence as a human being.
  • Do not allow the parties to control your choices, be your own person and make your own decision. Do your research and think for yourself. How can life be better for you that is also better for all of us? Let love and grace guide you in this examination.
  • Do not vote against your best interests.
    • Consider this: A wealthy person does not need to work for money. Their money works for them. Their time is their own to choose freely what to do.
    • Multigenerational wealth tends to coddle fools the same as a monarchy would. They become cash cows for the buzzards in their midst.
    • Why vote for a wealthy person who cannot fathom the difficulties, anxieties, and other stresses of the working class?
  • Vote for freedom's sake, for republic's sake, and for the sake of our common good. We the people still have a chance to save our republic.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• We have transcripts located at the end of each podcast episode's page on our site. Check it out, but know this: It's all AI and not us. So thank you in advance for forgiving any and all errors.
  
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or like us on Facebook.
  
• Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on this podcast are for listener consideration and are not necessarily those of the show or its sponsors.

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Episode discussion topics

• Paraphrasing Gandhi and Jefferson, if we measured society based on how we are treating our most vulnerable, it would get a failing grade.
• Forced pregnancy and childbirth have a long disgusting history in our country and in the world.
  • The UN recognizes this as a human rights violation and tracks this global problem.
  • The slavery economy in the United States featured, at its core, a potentially renewable resource for labor at cost or an asset.
  • Plantation owners would routinely force pregnancy on their slaves and wives for the sake of the business.
  • The industrial barons in the non-slavery states were not much better in the sense that they provided for child labor and a low-wage environment. Many people, men, women, and children alike suffered greatly under this system with unlimited working hours, unsafe conditions, and utterly no respect for human life.
  • As a reminder, the system we all live and work under today is an amalgamation of both the slave trade and industrial servitude systems. Well, we all live under it except for the wealthy, who are the freest among us all by their design.
  • We must also mention that sexual violence is part and parcel of much of this, including the opposite, forced sterilizations. No bodily autonomy.
• Some of the preceding points and others are clearly articulated in an amicus brief from Howard University School of Law for the recent Dobs case (SCOTUS pdf).
  • For instance, because slaves were property, "After Congress prohibited the importation of slaves in 1808, slave masters—who could no longer rely on the international slave trade to replenish their labor force—gained an acute 'economic incentive to govern Black women’s reproductive lives.' Female slaves were 'valuable to their masters not only for their labor but also for their ability to produce more slaves.”
• Forced Labor, Revisited: The Thirteenth Amendment and Abortion a 2010 Faculty Working Paper (Northwestern pdf) from Northwestern University School of Law that provides another legal perspective for consideration.
• Citizen Do Good might pull their sponsorship if we failed to mention that according to the literal text of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that citizens are born or naturalized and will not be deprived of life, liberty, or property. The unborn are clearly not citizens and not entitled to rights.
• In spite of all the perspective of history that was re-established for the record in painful detail and the fact that the constitution does not grant rights or privileges to the unborn, Dobs became the case our religious court used to put reproductive rights back on the legislative block for all 50 states. So much for liberty.
  

• Calls to Action:
  • Learn more about United States History, especially the uglier parts. The parts that act as warnings through history if only we learn them. Anything "again" is a bad slogan.
  • Start with a group or set of events relevant to today that you know nothing about!
  • Keep an eye and ear out for headlines for clues in your search as most stories today lack historical context.
  • Vote in November and support candidates that support civil rights for us all.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• We have transcripts located at the end of each podcast episode's page on our site. Check it out, but know this: It's all AI and not us. So thank you in advance for forgiving any and all errors.
  
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or like us on Facebook.
  
• Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on this podcast are for listener consideration and are not necessarily those of the show or its sponsors.

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Episode discussion topics

• The second amendment: One highly charged sentence of 27 words.
  

"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

• The original point of the amendment was about supporting a well-regulated militia, and for the people to bear arms for militia's sake.
• In the mindset of the times when it was written, our right to keep and bear arms was protected under the law so that the people were prepared for conscription.
• In Boston circa 1788, the militia was already called The National Guard. It had been established in 1636 for the protection of the colony and is now a fixture in all 50 states. You may find that they are generally well-regulated.
• The right for citizens to buy and hold weapons for private purposes, like self-defense, was read in by the courts and advanced through precedence after a series of decisions beginning in 2008 and onwards. Cornell Law School provides a nice synopsis of this evolution.
• The availability of military-grade weapons for private use would not have been in the state's interest. After all, the idea of mob rule was a constant concern and it was not common for farmers to own their own cannons. These arms were intended to be held for the militia, which was made up of the people to bear arms for militia's sake.
• At this moment in our history, circa 2022, the profit motive has been allowed to run rampant and the lobbies that stood to profit have done so.
  • According to CBS News, gun makers tallied $1 billion in revenue over the last 10 years from AR-15s alone.
  • Sending about the same amount on average to the healthcare industry out of citizens' pockets for each mass shooting event. A morbid relationship.
  • Ours is the only country in the world with more civilian-owned firearms than there are people alive to hold them.
  • 120 guns for every 100 citizens according to Bloomberg.
  • Yemen followed with 52.8 per 100 residents. Canada had 34.7 and France and Germany both had 19.6, according to the Small Arms report. In countries like Japan and Indonesia, that number plunged to less than one.
• Calls to Action:
  • Lobby our representatives to do what is right and proven to help solve the problem of gun violence in our country, as inspired by successes abroad:
    • Banning semi-automatic and automatic weapons along with high capacity capabilities.
    • Mandating gun registration.
    • Requiring a reason to buy a gun.
    • Established rules for storing guns.
    • Increasing the minimum age for ownership to 21.
    • Requiring periodic mental health evaluations where changes in status should affect access to guns.
    • And since children potentially have access to these weapons at home, we should invest in their mental healthcare and monitoring for our common good.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• All those statistics MVP rattled off are too much for the notes. We captured them here for you: CPP S3 E58 Bear Arms for Militias Sake cited_stats.
• We have transcripts located at the end of each podcast episode's  page on our site. Check it out, but know this: It's all AI and not us. So thank you in advance for forgiving any and all errors.
  
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or like us on Facebook.
  
• Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on this podcast are for listener consideration and are not necessarily those of the show or its sponsors.

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Episode discussion topics

• The coup was very real and our republic, and the liberty it promises, remain at risk.
• We were warned about the risks of having a president given history's prevalence of kings and dictators.
• Congress has done nothing to prevent the rise of executive authority even when it came at the cost of eroding its own power.
• The parties are challenged in their own ways and both are enabling greater corruption, legal or otherwise, and other stresses on our institutions as a whole.
• Let us harken back to Washington, our first president's Farwell address in 1796, where he opined on his hopes for the people and their new experiment in self-rule:
  

"… Your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free Constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue;"

• And he warned us of tyranny and how political parties will set the stage for it:

"... Unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion." We might argue that the engines at risk are our elections.

• Calls to Action:
  
  • Lobby your representatives to support congressional action to reinstate their own authority granted under the Constitution and ensure proper oversight of the executive and judicial branches.
    
  • Get involved in your local party to help add your voice. Both parties have extreme elements at the helm that are skewing our candidate options towards the poles of the scale instead of the pragmatic center.
  • Citizen action to elect candidates to office that:
    • Do not take big corporate donations.
    • Advocate for free and fair elections.
    • Will pass laws to save our nation from authoritarianism, corruption, and climate change.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• We have transcripts located at the end of each podcast episode's  page on our site. Check it out, but know this: It's all AI and not us. So thank you in advance for forgiving any and all errors.
  
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or like us on Facebook.
  
• Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on this podcast are for listener consideration and are not necessarily those of the show or its sponsors.

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Episode discussion topics

• The Supreme Court of the United States of America is no longer bound by precedence when it so decides.
  
• No reasoning needs to apply, nor any applicable law, a justice may simply rely on their own personal beliefs. The rest of us be damned. And so, as the court turns precedence be damned.
  
• Something more comparable to a lifetime role like that of the Supreme Leader (Ayatollah) in Iran than the stabilizing component it was envisioned to be.
  
• The case for illegitimacy is strong.
  
  • Two seats on the court were essentially stolen by historical precedence in the Senate.
    • A party gerrymandered the seats into their pocket effectively stealing them from the opposition. They violated the rules of the game to win at the risk of the league's legitimacy or the stability of our republic in this case.
    • One appointment was stolen from President Barrack Obama. Namely Merrick Garland, who was nominated but the nominating body, the U.S. Senate, decided not to hold any confirmation hearings. Punting the seat to the next guy.
    • They said they punted because it was too late in the president's term, a fictional rule made up for the moment. The fact is, that it was an abandonment of duty for party-serving reasons.
    • The second steal was a reversal of the prior scenario. Where the same rule violaters confirmed a President Donald Trump nominee when it should have been too late in the executive's term to do so, as in the previous case.
    • They didn't even honor their own rule. They only honor the rules that serve them before all else. "Precedence be damned" may have begun in the Senate in this way.
      
  • Religion is starting to run amok.
    
    • The most extreme and insane religious groups in the United States have an enormously outsized hand on the wheel of our republic these days. Moreso than in the past because our system was born of the enlightenment, based on reason and rule of law.
    • Here is the case MVP mentioned about public funds for religious schools, a case from Maine: Carson v. Makin.
    • One of the last descents from retired Justice Stephen Breyer makes for a good synopsis, "The First Amendment begins by forbidding the government from “mak[ing] [any] law respecting an establishment of religion.” It next forbids them to make any law “prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The Court today pays almost no attention to the words in the first Clause while giving almost exclusive attention to the words in the second."
  • The aptly-called shadow docket of the Supreme Court (article by the Brennen Center for Justice).
    • It is both figuratively and literally in a sense shadowy, as covered in the linked article.
    • It is not the hilarious and unreal happenings of something like the "What We Do in the Shadows" streaming series. Rather, quite the opposite.
  • Removing or reserving rights to privacy, a core component of liberty, to a wealthy minority.
    • More religiosity coming our way with the latest affront to precedence that has no basis in reason. The reversal of Rowe v. Wade was insane and based on one of the most selective readings of the Constitution possible.
    • "Originalist" must mean the most original new interpretation a justice can make based on the narrowest text. This is much the same as one might pick and choose from a bible.
    • The Constitution says that we the people have rights regardless of whether or not they are enumerated in the document, see Amendment 9.
• Calls to Action:
  • Implement term limits of something like 18 years, as has been suggested to enable presidents the opportunity to appoint on average at least one in each of their terms.
    • Yes, we would need to pass a Constitutional Amendment.
    • Article 3 of the Constitution states that these judges, “hold their office during good behavior,” which means they have a lifetime appointment.
  • Expand the court to include more voices for the record. Citizens on large experience a huge plurality of life conditions, given the hundreds of millions of us there are. Having more perspectives from honorable people will help make legal precedence reflect the will of the people.
  • In this episode, we proposed, "Setting the bar for impeachment based on a clear code of conduct."
    • However, congress already has the power to impeach and convict even Supreme Court Justices, although that has yet to happen.
    • If citizens elect enough representatives willing to impeach and convict, then the court can be remade.
  • Amend the constitution to make the laws clear so as to not allow the abridgment of any citizen's liberty. Unambiguous laws make it harder for the courts to intervene.
  • Vote early and often! The power to make change rests in our votes and casting them for change makers to represent us in congress and all elected offices.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• Note: MVP misspoke mid-episode about which amendment religion belongs to, that is the first one and not the second.
• We have transcripts located at the end of each podcast episode's  page on our site. Check it out, but know this: It's all AI and not us. So thank you in advance for forgiving any and all errors.
  
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or like us on Facebook.
  
• Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on this podcast are for listener consideration and are not necessarily those of the show or its sponsors.

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.