WTF is “Natural Law”???

Posted on by under Global Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

Mike Pompeo is the nation’s Secretary of State.

Mike-PompeoCreated in 1789 by the Congress as the successor to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of State is the senior executive Department of the U.S. Government. The Secretary of State’s duties relating to foreign affairs have not changed significantly since then, but they have become far more complex as international commitments multiplied. These duties – the activities and responsibilities of the State Department – include the following:

  • Serves as the President’s principal adviser on U.S. foreign policy;
  • Conducts negotiations relating to U.S. foreign affairs;
  • Grants and issues passports to American citizens and exequaturs to foreign consuls in the United States;
  • Advises the President on the appointment of U.S. ambassadors, ministers, consuls, and other diplomatic representatives;
  • Advises the President regarding the acceptance, recall, and dismissal of the representatives of foreign governments;
  • Personally participates in or directs U.S. representatives to international conferences, organizations, and agencies;
  • Negotiates, interprets, and terminates treaties and agreements;
  • Ensures the protection of the U.S. Government to American citizens, property, and interests in foreign countries;
  • Supervises the administration of U.S. immigration laws abroad;
  • Provides information to American citizens regarding the political, economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian conditions in foreign countries;
  • Informs the Congress and American citizens on the conduct of U.S. foreign relations;
  • Promotes beneficial economic intercourse between the United States and other countries;
  • Administers the Department of State;
  • Supervises the Foreign Service of the United States.

In addition, the Secretary of State retains domestic responsibilities that Congress entrusted to the State Department in 1789. These include the custody of the Great Seal of the United States, the preparation of certain presidential proclamations, the publication of treaties and international acts as well as the official record of the foreign relations of the United States, and the custody of certain original treaties and international agreements. The Secretary also serves as the channel of communication between the Federal Government and the States on the extradition of fugitives to or from foreign countries.

That is the official job description for the position of Secretary of State, taken from the U.S. Government’s own website.  Please note that NOWHERE in all that verbiage does it say that the Secretary of State is in charge of setting the moral guidelines for the citizens of the United States!

Without the usual pomp and circumstance that usually accompanies announcements by the Trump regime, yesterday the State Department quietly announced the formation of a new committee to be called the Commission on Unalienable Rights, to be headed by Mike Pompeo.  According to the notice, the “nature and purpose” of the commission is …

“The Commission will provide the Secretary of State advice and recommendations concerning international human rights matters. The Commission will provide fresh thinking about human rights discourse where such discourse has departed from our nation’s founding principles of natural law and natural rights.”

Ponder on this one for a moment, if you will.  “… departed from … founding principles of natural law”???  What is “natural law”?  One definition is …

“Natural law is a philosophy asserting that certain rights are inherent by virtue of human nature, endowed by nature—traditionally by God or a transcendent source—and that these can be understood universally through human reason.”

Mike Pompeo is one of those evangelicals who are anti-everything … anti-abortion, anti-women’s rights, anti-LGBTQ, anti-Muslim … and the list goes on.  On April 3rd, Brunei legalized the stoning to death of LGBT people.  Most of the western world was appropriately outraged.  Actor George Clooney called for a boycott of hotels owned by the Sultan of Brunei.  The governments of the EU and UK publicly called on Brunei to abandon the law.  Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo were silent. When pressured by the media to comment, Pompeo finally said he was “concerned”, but neither he nor Trump condemned the brutality.

And now, Mike Pompeo, the evangelical, the man who is only ‘concerned’ about the brutal murder of people in the LGBTQ community, is in charge of a commission on ‘natural law’.  Be afraid, people … be very afraid.

In recent weeks, we have seen numerous states infringing on women’s human rights by passing draconian laws banning a woman’s right to an abortion, even if to save her life.  We have seen laws repealed that prohibited the discrimination of LGBTQ people in almost every area, including health care.  In short, we have seen that this regime does not respect the rights of either women or the LGBTQ community.

The State Department already has an entire bureau devoted to the issues of human rights.  Human rights advocates and activists are worried that the true purpose of this commission is to strip both women and LGBTQ people of protections against discrimination.

The most worrying part, to me, is that term “natural law”, which is typically associated with religion.  The United States is a secular nation.  Some will claim it is a ‘Christian nation’, but that is not the way the Constitution, the framework for our government, is designed.  We welcome people of all or no religions to practice whatever religion … or none … they choose, but … BUT we do not design our laws in accordance with Christianity or any other religion.

For Mike Pompeo, who holds strong and narrow-minded religious views, and a group of his choosing to have input into the legal processes of this nation is a dangerous proposition … it poses, in this writer’s view, a distinct threat to the concept of separation of church and state, and it poses a threat to women and the LGBTQ community at the very least.

Few facts are available about what the commissions goals and processes are to be, and the State department refused to provide further details to the media, but this is something to keep an eye on, folks.  This may well go the way of Trump’s “Voter Fraud Commission” in 2017 and simply fade into oblivion, but what if it doesn’t?  Think about it.

43 thoughts on “WTF is “Natural Law”???”

    • My pleasure! I just took a quick peek at your blog and I like what you’re doing there. A couple of your posts tie in nicely with some of my themes, such as the one on Norway’s zero emission car model, so I will check it out more thoroughly when time permits. Thanks for dropping by!

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
    Secretary of State: Mike Pompeo … a position too big for his butt!! … ‘NOWHERE in all that verbiage does it say that the Secretary of State is in charge of setting the moral guidelines for the citizens of the United States! … ‘Commission on Unalienable Rights, to be headed by Mike Pompeo. According to the notice, the “nature and purpose” of the commission is … “The Commission will provide the Secretary of State advice and recommendations concerning international human rights matters … Ponder on this one for a moment, if you will. “… departed from … founding principles of natural law”??? What is “natural law”? One definition is …
    “Natural law is a philosophy asserting that certain rights are inherent by virtue of human nature, endowed by nature – traditionally by God or a transcendent source – and that these can be understood universally through human reason.”
    Hey … anyone remember: separation of CHURCH AND STATE?

    Liked by 1 person

  4. ‘Natural Law’ is obviously a meaningless term that can be interpreted as anything someone wants it to be – most likely through the eyes of religion. It is scary, yes. It reminds me of the saying ‘It’s strange how people who claim to know what God thinks seem to think it’s exactly what they think.’

    Liked by 2 people

  5. well that commission is obviously unconstitutional..so therefore McConnell and his minions will have zero problems with it. The SC will have no problem with it. The shit hit the proverbial fan on jan 1 2017 and it hasn’t stopped flinging its stinking self all over us.

    Liked by 2 people

  6. The influence of the religious right is really obvious in this administration. And it is so far away from anything I consider even remotely “Christian,” it’s scary.

    Liked by 2 people

    • It is obvious and dangerous. Trump uses his executive privilege in ways that far exceed what was intended, and he is working hard to turn this country into a theocracy. It is scary … and maddening!

      Liked by 1 person

  7. Hello Jill. Grand post. For those asking natural law was championed by Saint Aquinas. His view was we could tell what was moral and there for what the laws should be by looking at the “natural use of something” as created by his god and understood during his lifetime. So women had a natural use , children had a natural use, plants, animals, all things provided by god had a natural use as they understood things way back then. This is the method of decided what should be legal and morally OK these people want to promote today, the standards of what was thought to be natural way back then. It has nothing to do with, and in fact discards modern understanding or science. So you can see why the LGBTQ community is really worried about this. To them we are totally unnatural and therefore an insult to the order their god proscribed. Females also have a natural function, to be sexually complaint incubators for their owner males offspring. Notice the age of consent is really low during that time and the ability of a woman / girl to say no simply doesn’t exist. The thing is when they get done coming for our rights, they will also then be coming for the rest of yours. Hugs

    Liked by 3 people

    • Thanks for the enlightenment, Scottie! The thing is, though, life evolves … times change. Just as the Founding Fathers could not possibly have imagined AR-15s when they wrote the 2nd Amendment, and just as they could not have imagined the Internet and globalism when they wrote the 1st Amendment, St. Thomas Aquinas could not have imagined our world today. But we adapt, we alter our thinking to encompass our new reality. The world changes, it is not static, but is ever evolving. Sadly, a part of society has found themselves, in their ignorance, unable to accept the changes that have taken place in the world, and thus they would take us back to the days of St. Thomas Aquinas, to the days where women were mere chattel and homosexuality wasn’t even a word. I’m ashamed of and disappointed in society today … ignorance and bigotry go hand in hand, and it seems they would rid the world of the rest of us. Sigh. Hugs, my dear friend.

      Liked by 1 person

  8. If you think Mike Pompeo “holds strong and narrow-minded religious view,” wait until Mike Pence becomes Pres (when and if, by some miracle, Trump is impeached out of office).

    Liked by 3 people

    • Hello Mistermuse. The thing about Pence is while it is true he is an evangelical purist he also is deeply disliked politically. He has none of the tRump ability to buff and storm his way through situations. He had flamed out and was at the end of his political career in Indiana until tRump basically rescued him. He had created so many enemies in Indiana that even being a rock hard for Jesus Christian couldn’t save him. If he became president he would flounder and fail. He would be primaried and may not even get the party nomination. If he did the Democrats would walk all over him. So I would rather have him than tRump. tRump has sold his cult following a bill of goods that doesn’t exist but they really believe it does. Pence won’t be able to do that. Hugs

      Liked by 3 people

      • You’re probably right, Scottie, however Republicans have a way of “letting bygones be bygones” when it comes to supporting their leader. Remember, when The Donald was running for Pres, how his rivals (such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio) for the GOP Presidential nomination tore into him and accused him of being the disASSster he has turned out to be? Amazing, isn’t it, how all that was forgotten when the A-hole secured the nomination and then won(?) the election? But I agree that Pence would go down to a huge defeat if he got the nomination for President.

        Liked by 3 people

        • Hello Mistermuse. I think I know what turned Cruz around. After he gave his speech at the Republican convention telling people to vote their conscious he went to a stadium and tried to enter the skybox of the wealthy GOP donor Mercer. Mercer had supported Cruz and given him lots of money. Imagine his surprise when he was refused entry. He was then cut off publicly from several other big money donors. Showing that being a politician in the Senate was more important to him he crawled back into their good graces by becoming a hard supporter of tRump.

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    • I do know that Pence is the ultimate homophobe. I have friends in Indiana who couldn’t wait to get rid of him. He disgusts me beyond belief. But … if Trump is impeached (fingers crossed) and Pence takes over, it will be for only a year at the most. Pence on his own could never win an election because, a) he is very unpopular, and b) he has the personality of a lettuce leaf.

      Liked by 1 person

  9. Since they have looked to find ways to refuse services to these groups and encouraged the courts to pass judgement saying it ‘s OK to be refusing hotel beds, wedding cakes and various other things. And for the States notably under Republican majorities to pass laws refusing a woman the rights to her own body it would appear the Republican party are in the business of persecution claiming these things are against the (Evangelist) Christian faith. Yet such laws cannot be passed by the Christian faith in a secular Nation. I suggest they go back to their crude imagery in Church and leave the laws to the progressive lawmakers and humanitarians of the Democrats.
    Cwtch

    Liked by 2 people

    • A law is only as strong as those who enforce it. We have a Constitution that says religion and government must be separate, but … it is the job of the president of the country to enforce the law, and we currently have no president. We have a thing in the Oval Office who pretends to be a ‘man’ and pretends to be a president, but rather than enforce the law, he panders to those who have promised to keep him in power and have given him money. And as long as they keep doing his bidding, he will do theirs. And frankly, with the bloody mess our Congress is in at the moment, the only thing that stands a chance of stopping this madness is the courts. However, just yesterday the Justice Department defied a court order in the Flynn case. If this is allowed to stand, if the courts can be defied by the executive branch, then … where is the oversight? Where are the checks and balances called for in the Constitution? Where is … where is that infamous “justice and liberty for all”? 😥
      Cwtch

      Liked by 1 person

  10. The religious right is trying to take over the country and turn us into the Arab World of Islam controlling every aspect of life and law…it will be our Christian Sharia Law. I think these nutcases want the “end times” to arrive, so their self righteous little asses can go to heaven to try to run things up there (figuratively). No blacks, immigrants or gays there either, you know.

    But seriously, we could end up, in time, like the Muslim world did back in the 11th century, when religious extremism took over. They have never recovered and I doubt if they ever will. And so will go the way of the US.

    But, hey, climate change be may do the trick long before all this comes to fruition and their pious little asses will be burned up or flooded and dead for good just like everyone else. Such idiots some men are!

    Liked by 4 people

    • I share your fear that the religious right, ie the evangelicals, have a goal of turning the U.S. into a theocracy, and Donald Trump is their tool for doing so, for in his ignorance, he is pandering to their whims. I have no use for religion that attempts to impose itself on others, and that is increasingly the tactic of ‘Christianity’. The interesting thing is that Christianity is actually losing followers and has decreased in this nation to only about 69%. Yet, they are vocal and rigid in their belief that they should set the rules for us all. These are maddening times and … I find that these days I think perhaps the best thing would be to rid the planet of the human race, for we have learned nothing in the thousands of years we’ve occupied this planet. We seem to think that everything on this planet, plant, mineral and animal, was put here solely for the convenience and pleasure of the human species. We have destroyed gorgeous animals, beautiful forests … all so humans could grow fat and lazy. I hope those religious freaks enjoy their epiphany or whatever the heck they call it. I am coming back next time as a wolf … I’m sick of people. 🐺

      Liked by 1 person

  12. The latest developments in US Government policies and laws are worrying. I am unable to keep up with all this inhumane approach to life. I find it truly sickening when people are singled out for what their genes bestowed on them. What the hell are natural laws anyway? Everything constantly evolves, including us. I can only hope that humans evolve beyond this annihilationary thinking.

    Liked by 5 people

    • It is sickening, and like you, some days I just have to flip on past a story, for my heart has had all it can take for a day. You are right … everything evolves, times change, and for Pete’s sake who’s business is it who I or anybody else choose to love? Who’s business is it how I feel about my body, my sexuality? NOBODY’s but mine and my partners. But, sigh, the evangelicals are so damn superior that they think they should make the rules for all of us. Sorry … late + tired = angry. Sigh.

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