Uncommon Sense Unconventional Wisdom
Lawrence John Brown
Uncommon Sense, Unconventional Wisdom
By Lawrence John Brown
Dedicated to Truth, Justice, and Peace
Copyright July 2013 and May 2016 by Lawrence John Brown
The cover image is of NGC 1309, a pinwheel-shaped galaxy 100 million light years from Earth. I want to thank the U.S. Congress and NASA, ESA, The Hubble Heritage Team, (STScl/AURA) and A. Riess (STScl) for making the image available in the public domain.
Introduction
On January 10, 1776, less than a year after the start of the American Revolution and about six months before the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress, Thomas Paine published a pamphlet he called Common Sense. In the pamphlet, using language he hoped the American people would understand, Paine presented reasons why the thirteen American colonies should seek independence from England.
Common Sense sold like the proverbial hotcakes, and seeking independence from England turned out to be a very good idea.
However, common sense or the conventional wisdom is not always right. For example, about five hundred years ago the conventional wisdom among scientists was that the Earth was in the center of the universe—that the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars all revolved around the Earth. Today we know that the Earth and the other planets revolve around a rather ordinary star located on a spiral arm of a galaxy that has hundreds of billions stars.
In this pamphlet-sized ebook, I discuss 18 ideas that are considered common sense by many people or are the conventional wisdom among certain groups of people but that are, nevertheless, wrong.
Table of Contents
Part One: The Middle East
1. The Iraq War was worth the costs.
2. Torturing terrorists is justified because it has saved lives.
3. A good way to deal with suspected terrorists is through drone strikes.
4. Israel has the right to defend itself and deserves our support.
Part Two: The Earth and Nature
5. Mankind owns the Earth.
6. Experiments on animals are justified because they prolong human life.
Part Three: Government and the Rights of Individuals
7. Two of the purposes of American government are protecting people from themselves and discouraging socially unacceptable behavior.
8. The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives people the right to own semi-automatic and automatic weapons.
Part Four: Capitalism, Taxes, and Government
9. Capitalism is the best economic system.
10. Taxes on the wealthy are too high.
11. Government social programs have to be cut to balance the budget.
Part Five: Evolution, Science, and Psychic Phenomena
12. All life on Earth came about through chance genetic mutations and natural selection.
13. Science deals with facts while religion deals with beliefs.
14. Psychic phenomena, including telepathy and clairvoyance, do not exist.
Part Six: Philosophy and Religion
15. Life is meaningless.
16. The end justifies the means.
17. The Bible is the Word of God.
18. Jesus Christ is the Only Son of God.
The Future of Man and Civilization
Part One: The Middle East
1. The Iraq War was worth the costs.
After the Iraq War had begun, and after it had been demonstrated that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction and that he had not been harboring terrorists, many Americans said the war was still worth the costs because it got rid of a dangerous dictator.
Today, ten years and many more casualties later, Republicans continue to cling to the idea that the Iraq war was worth the costs.
The removal from power of Saddam Hussein, who was only a danger to his own people, cannot justify the tremendous costs of the Iraq War:
Over 4,000 American servicemen were killed and about 100,000 were injured in the Iraq War. According to several estimates, the war will end up costing U.S. taxpayers more than one trillion dollars when future health care costs are added in.
For the Iraqis, the human costs of the Iraq War dwarf the American costs: hundreds of thousands of deaths and injuries; a million widows, orphans, and grieving parents; hundreds of thousands of displaced families; widespread unemployment and economic hardship; a breakdown in law and order including sectarian bombings and kidnappings; a broken medical system; and a badly damaged infrastructure.
When you also consider the fact that the Iraq War was counterproductive—the CIA said in 2005 that Iraq had become a training ground for terrorists—it is clear that the war was, like the Vietnam War, a horrible, horrible mistake.
2. Torturing terrorists is justified because it has saved lives.
I think most Republicans believe torture has saved lives and is, therefore, justified.
I can think of half a dozen reasons why torture is bad policy:
The torturing of prisoners violates their human rights and shatters the image of America as a shining light to the world.
The torturing of prisoners creates hatred for the U.S. in the Muslim world, and, as we have learned from the Boston Marathon bombings and some other terrorist acts, hatred for the U.S. can lead to terrorism.
The torturing of prisoners can result in unreliable information, as people being tortured often tell their interrogators what they want to hear.
The torturing of prisoners makes it more likely American soldiers will be abused or tortured when they are captured.
The torturing of prisoners violates international laws signed by the United States including the 1984 Convention Against Torture and probably also the 1949 Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
A non-partisan, independent panel convened by The Constitution Project reported on April 16, 2013 that there was “no firm or persuasive evidence” that torture conducted after 9/11 uncovered any valuable information that could not have been discovered without torture.1
3. A good way to deal with suspected terrorists is through drone strikes.
Opinion polls show that a majority of the American people are in favor of using drone strikes against suspected terrorists. The supporters of drone strikes argue that they are effective and much cheaper in terms of money and American lives than conventional warfare.
There are several good reasons for the United States to end all drone strikes:
Drone strikes on suspected terrorists create sympathy for terrorism in the Muslim world and inspire more young men to become terrorists.
Drone strikes are immoral. They terrorize entire villages and kill innocent people, including children.
Drone strikes violate Jesus’ Golden Rule. In Matthew 7:12 he says, “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you.” I don’t think any American would like it if someone were shooting missiles into their neighborhood.
Drone strikes are a violation of the legal principle, recognized by many countries including the United States, that every man is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Drone strikes are also a violation of the sovereignty of nations. Imagine how we would feel if another nation were to use drones or some other means to kill American citizens on American soil. Throughout history, that has been grounds for war. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when England was violating American sovereignty, we went to war twice.
Hina Shamsi, who headed a team of lawyers at the ACLU that was trying to get the U.S. government to disclose more information about its drone program, told the Huffington Post in March 2013:
“We simply cannot start out with the pr
emise that the government is able to kill people it suspects of being threats far from any battlefield on its unilateral say-so without judicial review before or after the fact.” 2
In the name of world peace, God, human rights, Christ, justice, and international law, we should end drone strikes immediately.
4. Israel has the right to defend itself and deserves our support.
Opinion polls show that a majority of the American people sympathize with the Israelis in their conflict with the Palestinians.
Having just read in Will Durant’s The Reformation about the horrific treatment of Jews by Catholics in Western Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries, and already knowing about the horrors they suffered in the 20th century at the hands of the German people, I too have a lot of sympathy for the Jewish people.
However, the actions of the state of Israel have gone far beyond any need for self-defense or security: Israel’s army and settlers are occupying the homeland of the Palestinian people and denying the Palestinian people their basic rights, including their right to self-government.
In March 2013 while speaking to Israelis, President Obama said this about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
“Put yourself in their shoes—look at the world through their eyes. It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of her own and lives with the presence of a foreign army that controls the movements of her parents every single day. It is not just when settler violence against Palestinians goes unpunished. It is not right to prevent Palestinians from farming their lands; to restrict a student’s ability to move around the West Bank; or to displace Palestinian families from their homes.
“Neither occupation nor expulsion is the answer. Just as Israelis built a state in their homeland, Palestinians have a right to be a free people in their own land.”
I wish President Obama’s actions would match his words, but he probably would be impeached if he tried to end American support for Israeli aggression. Hopefully, someday soon the American people will give an American president the courage to oppose human rights violations wherever they occur, not just where it suits so-called American interests.
Part Two: The Earth and Nature
5. Mankind owns the Earth.
Most people consider the idea that mankind owns the Earth to be common sense.
However, man did not always believe he owned the Earth. In “Letter From the Earth,” in my first book, My Country Is Called Earth,3 Mother Earth points out:
“In your race to conquer the world, you trampled on the rights of native people. You looked down upon them, yet they understood these important truths your culture denied: That the gods dwell within nature. That man is part of the Earth. And that man must share this planet with other forms of life.”
And in my book Seven Truths for a New Age,4 I argue that we cannot with good reason act as if we own the Earth:
“How can anyone claim they own the land, the water, or the sky when the Earth existed for billions of years before our civilization began and may continue to exist long after our civilization has passed into history? We think we have the right to do whatever we want to the Earth, but before us billions of people have lived in communal and tribal societies who did not think the land, water, or sky was theirs to do with as they pleased. Instead, they saw themselves as caretakers of the Earth and humble participants in the web of life. As the Indian Chief Seattle said many years ago:
“‘The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky, the land? The idea is strange to us. Every part of this Earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, all are holy in the memory and experience of my people. We are part of the Earth and it is part of us.’”
I use a metaphor and a simile to make my argument more visual:
“We are just travelers on this sweet Earth, experiencing the pleasures, pains, and wonders of the journey, but passing through nevertheless in a short time by the standard of the age of the Earth. For us to believe the Earth is our private property is like a tourist who thinks he owns the city he is visiting.
“How would Parisians feel if I flew to Paris and told them I wanted to replace the Eiffel Tower with a shopping center? They would be outraged, wouldn’t they? Future generations will be outraged by our belief that we can do whatever we want to the Earth without regard for the consequences to others.”
6. Experiments on animals are justified because they prolong human life.
It is considered common sense by many people that death should be avoided at almost all costs, as if death were evil, and that scientific experiments on animals for the purpose of prolonging human life are justified. These people may think man has a more developed intellect and more of an emotional life than the animals or they may think man has a soul and animals do not.
I see two main reasons why experiments on animals should stop:
First of all, there is nothing wrong with death. Death is a natural stage of existence. As Capulet says in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, “We were born to die.” And without death, there would be no room for new life on Earth.
Second, we are not superior to the animals—we are just different. While our brains are designed so that we can remember the past and imagine the future, animal brains are designed to focus on the present. And who is to say that animals do not experience a rich emotional life too? On the question of who has a soul, there is no evidence that we have a soul while animals do not.
Part Three: Government and the Rights of Individuals
7. Two of the purposes of American government are protecting people from themselves and discouraging socially unacceptable behavior.
I think that, with the many laws in America that restrict personal and private freedom, it is obvious that most Americans believe government should be protecting us from ourselves and should also be discouraging socially unacceptable behavior.
However, according to the Declaration of Independence, the main purpose of American government is protecting the rights of individuals. As Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration wrote: “All men are created equal” and receive from God rights, including the rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” He added that men create governments to protect those rights.
A corollary of an individual’s rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is his right to live his life as he chooses as long as he does not interfere with the rights of others. This means that no U.S. government, whether at the local, state, or federal level, should be telling people what they can or cannot do with their bodies and especially what they can or cannot do to ease their pain or hasten their deaths. This also means no U.S. government at any level should be telling people who they can marry.
There are other things U.S. governments are doing that infringe on the rights individuals, including throwing people in jail for the cultivation, possession, sale, or smoking of marijuana. An added benefit of repealing marijuana laws and releasing the hundreds of thousands of people in prison as a result of those laws is that local, state, and federal governments will save billions of dollars in prison and court costs.
8. The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives people the right to own semi-automatic and automatic weapons.
The members of the NRA believes that the Second Amendment to the Constitution gives them the right to own semi-automatic and automatic weapons, also known as assault weapons.
Before we look at what the Second Amendment says, it is important to understand its historical context. At the time the Second Amendment was written, the United States did not have a permanent, professional army and relied upon local militias for national defense.
Now let’s look at what the Second Amendment actually says:
“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.”
 
; According to the Second Amendment, the right to keep and bear arms is based upon the necessity of a militia. In mathematical terms, the necessity of a militia = a constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Today, because we have, and have had for many years, a permanent, professional army, we don’t need a militia. So, no necessity of a militia = no constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
Now, I can see a valid reason for keeping a simple handgun or a shotgun in your home for self-defense against intruders, but there is no reason why anyone should be allowed to keep in their homes weapons that are only good for killing a lot of people in a few seconds.
There will come a day, hopefully soon, when the American people will wake up and realize what is already common sense to the rest of the world—that it is crazy to allow individuals to have weapons that can be used to commit massacres.
Part Four: Capitalism, Taxes, and Government
9. Capitalism is the best economic system.
In the United States, many people believe it is common sense that capitalism is the best economic system the world has ever known.
Capitalism is the best economic system—for the wealthy.
From about the time Ronald Reagan became President until now, the richest 1% of the people in the United States have increased their share of total U.S. wealth from about 20% to nearly 40%. This redistribution of wealth to the top 1% is partly due to declining income tax rates for the wealthy and rising stock markets. Another factor in this redistribution of wealth is that for decades the income of most American workers has remained stagnant in inflation-adjusted terms while the pay of corporate executives has skyrocketed. One other major factor in the rise of the share of U.S. wealth owned by the top 1% is the globalization of the world’s economy: It is easier than ever before for wealthy people to move their money around the world to find the best returns.
