Common Sense

I don't like to talk much about Zen itself. Zen flees from the compartmentalization of language. So if I talk about some aspect of Zen, I'm just suggesting that's one way to look at things. With that in mind, I'll say that I think I'm more likely to use my common sense when my Zen practice is relatively strong. When I am composed, I can look at a situation more clearly and be more effective. So, I'm trying to have strong practice.

The term Common Sense has suffered some undeserved abuse. Still, it was the title of the pamphlet published by Thomas Paine in 1776. You can read the complete text by clicking the link above. In that pamphlet, Paine spoke plainly to defend the rights of the people on the new continent, and described some of the architecture of the new government being created. In noting the absense of a king within this framework, Paine offered:

But where, says some, is the King of America? I'll tell you. Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far we approve of monarchy, that in America THE LAW IS KING. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law OUGHT to be King; and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the ceremony, be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right it is.

The sense on which America was founded was that the law OUGHT to be King. This is common sense. From these 18th-century beginnings, we have arrived at the 21st century, and the law has been commuted. From warrantless wiretapping, to shameless lies, to signing statements, to blankets of secrecy, to dismantling any semblance of a functioning Department of Justice, and on and on, and finally to torture. I say finally, but this seems to have been nearly the first place the scoundrels took refuge, not the last.

I am calm. I am composed. I have meditated. But look -- compare the two paragraphs just above, and come back and talk to me about common sense. And now, just like icing on the cake, the administration that has turned its back on the law has:

1. commuted the sentence of its friend, who was convicted of the same crimes (albeit in far more serious circumstances) for which the last opposition president was impeached
2. thumbed its nose at congressional subpoenas, going so far as to entirely ignore the requirement of former Counsel Harriet Miers to appear before the investigating committee.

I saw a president assassinated. I've seen two presidents effectively impeached. I have never seen anything like this. So I appeal to our common sense. The law seems to have failed us, but it need not. In fact, it absolutely must not. There cannot be sanctioned disregard of the law, not by any branch of our government, for if there is, it will become precedent. In that case, I fear we will not be prepared for the complex and violent world we've helped to create.

Bill Moyers' Journal last weekend aired a rather breathtaking discussion on impeachment. The speakers were the liberal author and columnist John Nichols, and the conservative Constitutional law scholar Bruce Fein, who had served in the Justice Department for Ronald Reagan, and who had authored the first article of impeachment against Bill Clinton. Both guests argued passionately for impeachment, but they also argued, very often, with what I consider Common Sense.

Please click the link above and watch the broadcast on pbs.org. There is much that needs to be said, and I have many thoughts of my own to share as this drama unfolds.