A Legislative Christmas Wish List

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Jordon Greene

I have always viewed Christmas as a time of giving, based around remembering the greatest gift ever given to mankind, the gift of the Son of the God, Jesus Christ. In that spirit we buy presents and give gifts to others often times based on wish lists of the person’s wants. In that same tradition, with a little twist, I thought I would put out my wish list for legislative reforms for North Carolina in the coming legislative session that I believe would benefit our state and our freedom, a wish list that is more for others than simply for me.

While this may not be the most usual of Christmas wish lists, it is one I care about greatly because it is about preserving a better place to live for my family, friends and fellow North Carolinians. I will not attempt to put all of these wishes in any kind of order by importance, as it would be impractical and daunting to even try. However, I do believe that much of our problem lies in the lack of free elections, so I will start with what Thomas Paine called “the primary right,” the right to vote. Continue reading →

Constitutional Amendments for Liberty & Limited Government

Posted on December 2, 2010 by Jordon Greene

The following is a paper I wrote for a political science course that I thought may be of some interest:

Over the rather short history of these United States of America over 10,000 amendments to the United States Constitution have been proposed by members of Congress. Of those only a small portion have left the Congress to be considered by the States and even fewer, only twenty-seven, have been ratified by the requisite number of state legislatures to become binding constitutional amendments. Depending on one’s ideological perspective and frame, particular amendments to the United States Constitution are perceived as beneficial or improvements while others are perceived as harmful and sometimes with disdain, or as a subversion of original intent or to the philosophy of liberty. In the pages to follow I will attempt to bring to light certain Constitutional Amendments that I feel are either diversions of proper government structure or violations of what I view as a proper ideal of liberty and freedom. Those Constitutional Amendments not broached here can be assumed to be in my view beneficial or at least not directly harmful. I will also attempt to propose several additional amendments that I believe would benefit our nation if implemented as new constitutional amendments.

To start, there are two current amendments ratified within the past one hundred years that I believe should be done away with, and swiftly at that. The first is the 16th Amendment to the Constitution of these United States, establishing the “ability” to lay direct taxes on income without apportionment. The idea of taxing an individual’s income, the product of their labor or as I think John Locke would view it their property, is philosophically at odds with the ideals of liberty by taking away, without due consent, from the property of the individual. Income taxes as derived now are an involuntary, or forced, method of government revenue for the purpose of expanding government size and scope and cannot properly coincide with a philosophy of limited government that respects individual liberty and private property rights. The payment of income taxes may even be likened unto slavery, which was outlawed by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of these United States. As for the actual text of the amendment, I would propose that Amendment 28 read as follows, or close to the following: Continue reading →

UNC System Mandates Insurance and Abortion Coverage with Taxpayer Funds

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Jordon Greene

Just under a month ago in late July, the Students for Life of America discovered that the University of North Carolina system was requiring all students enrolled in any of its seventeen institutions to have some sort of healthcare insurance in order to attend school during that upcoming semester. In doing such, the UNC system provided an alternative, or rather mandated, that students who do not have their own health insurance or cannot afford to have their own plan must purchase the plan offered by the UNC system through Pearce & Pearce Inc, at comparably a lower rate than most any other private insurance company I have found.

However, the issue that the Students for Life of America discovered is that the coverage provided under the Pearce & Pearce Inc. plan, which students who cannot afford their own coverage must purchase, just so happens to cover up to $500 toward elective abortions and has an 80% PPO coverage rate for the same. Simply put, the UNC system first saw fit to mandate health coverage, and then they saw fit to take it a step further and force those who have to purchase the UNC system’s plan to fund the wicked and immoral act of killing the unborn child without regard to the student’s religious or political beliefs and conscience. After the Students for Life brought the issue to the front burner, the UNC Board of Governors took one-step in the right direction, and issued a statement that students will now be given the option to opt out of the abortion coverage and I applaud them for their decision. However, note that I said one-step in the right direction as it is far from solved in my opinion. Continue reading →

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness for the Unborn

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Jordon Greene

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” – Declaration of Independence, 1776

These immortal words of the Declaration of Independence hold such important meaning and consequence in many realms of life and politics, maybe even more so now than they did at their genesis over two hundred years ago. One of those important issues is that of the life of the unborn child. As many of you may already know, I am a constitutionalist, a member of the Constitution Party of North Carolina, a classical liberal and with that my views are often times close to some Libertarians.

However, this issue is one of several in which demands a separation from the Libertarian perspective for those who value the life of the unborn, as do the words of the Declaration of Independence as quoted above. Please do not misunderstand me; I respect the Libertarian Party’s ideals in many respects, however in this case too often the Party tends toward anarchy or simply takes its stand on limited government too far. The life issue however is of the utmost importance as it deals with our societies respect for others and the preservation of our very humanity. Continue reading →