Core Values and Principles

Richard Salbato 6-4-2009

 

I have often wondered why people disagree with each other.  Of course, these disagreements become very personal when they are between friends, family or on major issues of life and death.  It seems to me that if everyone thought correctly we would all think alike and come to the same conclusions. 

It is easier to be wrong than right because none of us have all the facts to make good choices about things.  A core principle of science is that two absolute apposing views on something cannot be both correct but they can be both wrong.  

I do a great deal of investigation on the major issues of life and death and use all the history I can read, the major trends in the world today, the success and failure of these trends, and the future ramifications of these trends to individual people, nations and the world.  I try to be right.

One thing that has surprised me in my investigation is that everything anyone does in this world affects everyone else one way or another.  What bothers me the most is the fast pace of changes in morals and the entire disregard of values and principles of knowledge.  To understand this I have concluded that people have accepted the idea of democratic truths and morals.  Of course, if you think about this properly it is self evidently false.  Right is right, even if nobody does it.  Wrong is wrong, even if everyone is wrong about it.

Because I studied the Greek fathers of Philosophy I always start with the core principles of observation, reasoning and conclusions.  I love the study of societies and the best thinkers on this are the Greeks.  I love religion and the best teachers on this are the great Philosophers of truth.  I love the core virtues of morality and study the great teachers of morals throughout history.

No matter if it is science, social laws or religious truths we always start with core principles.  Core principles and virtues always apply to everything in its field of study.  Core principles in science are the principles we start with no matter what science we are studying because they always apply and they are always the starting point of study.  (see Science before Science by Rizzi)

I suppose most of my disagreements with my friends come from my obsession with Core principles.  I stop and think.  This often aggravates people who are waiting for a quick answer from me.  I am thinking before talking because I want to know the long term consequences of my answer.  I think, “Will my answer fit properly into the principles of truth.”

Understanding the principles of knowledge comes from Philosophy, which means “love of wisdom”.  Wisdom is our ability to arrive at truth from what we know.  We cannot arrive at truth if we do not believe in absolute truths.

Most of our knowledge today is nothing more than beliefs and not truth because we have not investigated what we think we know.  Think about what you know to be true, and how you have come to know this.  It is because someone you trust told you so, or because you investigated what he said?  Most people are too mentally lazy to investigate, and because of the Internet, that is not too hard today. 

Most people today have learned from parents who believed modern psychology, who taught that we are animals who react to reward and punishment.  But this has been proven to be wrong. 

Most children who have been really successful in life were taught differently.  They were taught to love and enjoy what the parents wanted them to do or learn.  Unlike animals, humans think.  If you help them like, even enjoy what you want from them, it will stay with them for life.  Have fun studying with them.  Have fun with your children when cleaning the house or yard and they will not hate it later in life.  Of course, society (family) needs rules of conduct but it should be equal for all, and explained so that everyone loves the rules.

We should always have understood social morals because they are self-evident.  Why then did God have to write them down in stone?  If I want my life, liberty, and property protected from others, then I should respect and even protect the life, liberty and property of others.  Isn’t this self evident?  Why then has this become the greatest problem in the world and getting worse every year?  

If I want people to listen to my ideas, then I should be willing to listen to their ideas.  If I want to talk, I should listen.  Isn’t this self evident?

Why are there Catholics and Protestants?  Truth cannot contradict truth?  People have a right to different ideas but not different truths.  Ideas are thoughts that have not been proven yet.  Different ideas can be worked out towards truth if we investigate them.  Isn’t this self evident?

Why are there Republicans and Democrats?  Do you know what Republicans stand for today?  I used to think they stood for Constitutional Government, which means less Government but not sure today.  Democrats used to stand for more government and unionized industry, but I am not sure they have not become socialists now. 

What’s a Capitalist?

Republicans say they are Capitalists but that cannot be a true core principle because everyone who uses money is a capitalist.  Capitalism means the use of money for exchange, and so even socialists and communists are capitalists. 

What I stand for is the rule of law, absolute and equal rules of law, contract law and unbreakable contracts.  This is capitalism but a special type of capitalism, a system that is fair for everyone and cannot be changed by anyone. 

The rules can change but not retroactively.  In other words the people through their representatives can change the rules for the future, but not anything that is still under the old law.  This is the method of the rule of law (written down) that made America the greatest economic power of the world.  This is what we call the Rule of Law or more broadly Constitutional Law.  I think if Democrats and Republicans understood this, they would both be Constitutionalists. 

What is Common Law?

How did this change?  This goes back to the subject matter, which is how to think.  Testing ideas by looking at their origin and the results of this idea, helps you judge if it is good or bad.  The gradual change from the Constitution came out of English law.

In England there is no constitution, there is only Common Law.  Common Law is precedent law, which means laws that have been passed in the past and supported in the courts. 

So in England if you go to court, you cannot argue any written law, you must argue based on some other case that was ruled on in the past, sometimes many years in the past.  The House can pass any law they want without any restraint of a constitution. 

Sometime during the great depression some court in the USA used a precedent case in England to rule on a case in the USA instead of using the Rule of Law in America.  Later, many other courts started using precedent cases out of England. 

Today if you go into a Lawyer’s office you find hundreds of books of past court laws in America.  Before this change, all you needed to be a lawyer was the constitution.  A typical black and white case in the past could be solved in hours, but now it takes months and millions of dollars. 

Written Contracts?

How is it that Government Motors (GM) can violate the most secured contracts in the land (Secured Bonds) and favor labor unions?  The ramifications of this will be that no one will ever trust any contract in the future. 

Do-gooders will say that the government protected jobs.  Is that true? At the start of the downfall of GM it had 60,000 workers in the plants and another 50,000 in the dealerships.  Now it will have 30,000 in the plants and 25,000 in the dealerships.  It lost 55,000 jobs in a few months and those left cost the tax payers $400,000 per job.  This is what I mean by thinking and using the principles of investigation. 

Look a little back in history to when GM had 600,000 workers and ask how it lost 550,000 jobs even before 2006.  You will find that it is Unions. 

Government Unions?

Let us understand how the seventh largest economy in the world, California, is bankrupt. If you know how to look at roots (principles) you will see it starts with Federal Mandated Programs like Medical, government unions and retirements. 

One town in California pays for three police departments, one that is still working and two that have retired and receive 100% of their wages even though not working.  California teachers are the highest paid in America, and the grades are the lowest in America.  Twenty percent of Medical goes to illegal immigrants who pay no taxes.  

Think of this.  India has build and is selling a brand new car that is selling for $2000 dollars.  That is the same cost to put in safety bags in American cars.  China has built an all Electric car that does 200 miles and this company never built cars before.  It was a battery company.  Because of Unions, it costs GM $1000.00 per car just to deliver it to a dealer. 

Catholic Law and Oaths?

What about the Catholic Church in the last 70 years.  Can we apply the same principles to understanding this change?  The Church is also based on Written Law and added to this are Oaths.  All our laws are written down in Dogmas and Canon Laws.  When we first partake in any of the principles of the Church we take an oath (a promise to God).  We or our parents take this oath at baptism, at first communion, at Marriage, and at ordination.  We do not have jails for those who break these oaths, we have Hell. 

I have no problem with the traditionalist or liberals who have left the Church and no longer are members of the Body of Christ.  At least these are honest people.  I have a problem with those who have violated the laws of the Church and the oaths they made to God and still go to Mass every week pretending that they are still Catholics.  Since being Catholic is having faith in a set of absolute laws.  Isn’t it self evident that those who violate this oath are no longer Catholic?

Not all laws of science, morals or religion are absolute. Some have circumstantial conditions.  When the man asked how we get to heaven, Christ answered: “Keep the commandments!”  When he asked what ones, we all thought Christ would say: “All of them!”  But He did not.  He listed only four of them because these are absolute without any conditions.  All the others have circumstances that we must judge as sinful or not.  If we pick a fruit off a tree that we thought was on public property, but it actually belonged to someone, this is stealing but our intentions were not sinful. 

God is jealous of His laws because they are for our good, but when He judges, He judges the heart, the intentions.

What do you know?   

Remember that rules of life apply to all people equally because everyone has the right to be treated the way we want to be treated.  Everything has consequences, good or bad.  We should use our logical brain always.  Someone who does not want to know anything is someone who wants to be stupid.  Stupid is becoming an epidemic. 

In science, I do not believe what cannot be proven.  For example, I do not believe that Carbon dioxide (chemical formula: CO2) is harmful to the world or that it even causes global warming.  CO2 in fact is good for us and the world.  Without it plants could not grow and produce Oxygen.  Global warming has increased in the world at the same rate since the last ice age, 300 years ago, long before the discovery of Oil. 

In religion, I do not believe what cannot fit into wisdom.  We call it faith because we cannot see it, but that does not mean we cannot prove it. Einstein proved everything he discovered through pure logic.  It is pure scientific logic that proves God and His religion.

In social life, I do not care what people think of me, only what God thinks of me.  If I have a major conflict with people, I go to God and silently listen to Him. I think long and hard on the conflict and if I cannot find anything I did wrong and God does not condemn me, I forget it.  If God enlightens my understanding of a wrong, I go and correct it. 

In most cases, conflicts are not about principles of truth, but on emotions or believing what someone said that cannot be proven.  Pride is always the cause of conflicts, and pride blinds truth.   However, everyone has a right to protect his or her dignity as a person, even if that causes conflict. 

In politics, I want the most individual freedom and rights I can get.  I expect governments to protect my rights from others and others from me.  I expect to know by law what I can do and what I cannot do.  I want to know what my rights are and that they are the same for everyone.  Monopolies in business, unions, or government take away individual freedoms.  Monopolies takes away competition and competition breads greatness. 

Success  

Success is not winning or losing. It is not who has the most toys.  It is not who makes the most money.  It is not who has the most power.  It is art.  Art is quality in whatsoever you do.  It is doing the best that you can in what you love to do. 

 

Notes:

Parable on Socialism

In the panhandle of Texas there were some very dangerous wild boars in the mountains.  Many people had been killed by these wild boars and the townspeople insisted that something be done about it.  The leaders offered a $10,000 dollar reward for anyone who could rid the mountains of this threat.

The gun slinging cowboys of the area banded together, thinking they could just kill all these boars.  Hearing about this reward, a city slicker from a near by city came into the town dressed in a fancy suit and tie.  He said he came to collect the reward for riding the mountains of the wild boars.  The cowboys laughed at him and made fun of him, because he had no gun and no horse.

The city slicker did not pay any attention to them.  He rented a truck and bought a load of corn.  He went up into the mountains and dumped the corn in a large open field in the center of the problem.  He went back to the town and sat down drinking beer, listening to the cowboys make fun of him. 

The next day he dropped off another load of corn and went back to drinking beer.  He kept doing this for two weeks, until the wild boars no longer ran away from him or his truck.  In time he just watched them come out eating the corn and paying no attention to him at all.

The last time, he bought a few roles of wire fencing and another load of corn.  He went up the mountain, dropped the load of corn, and waited for the boars to come out eating the corn.  He took his time building a fence around them until all were caught in the fence.

 

Give others the power to take care of you and you are no longer free.                                                                         

Richard Salbato