North Star Institute
Copyright 2010-23 by North Star Institute
The North Star Institute
Founded in 1994 to become a resource for individuals with a desire to increase their personal potential. The North Star also known as Polaris has, from before the beginning of history, been used by travelers and Navigators to help them determine their position. It is a fixed beacon in the firmament. It is fixed in space above the North Pole and to the observer on Earth, the whole sky appears to revolve around it. We feel that there are in fact other fixed beacons or benchmarks by which we can compare our knowledge and perception about all things material and spiritual. In fact, man’s purpose appears to clearly be discover these.
End of the Enlightenment by Roger L. Emerson
Selected by G. Curtis Gibby
10 November 1999
The Enlightenment came to an end in western Europe after the upheavals of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era (1789-1815) revealed the costs of its political program and the lack of commitment in those whose rhetoric was often more liberal than their actions. Nationalism undercut its cosmopolitan values and assumptions about human nature, and the romantics attacked its belief that clear intelligible answers could be found to every question asked by people who sought to be free and happy. The skepticism of the philosophes was swept away in the religious revival of the 1790s and early 1800s, and the cultural leadership of the landed aristocracy and professional men who had supported the Enlightenment was eroded by the growth of a new wealthy educated class of businessmen, products of the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. Only in North and South America, where industry came later and revolution had not led to reaction, did the Enlightenment linger into the 19th century. Its lasting heritage has been its contribution to the literature of human freedom and some institutions in which its values have been embodied. Included in the latter are many facets of modern government, education, and philanthropy.
Roger L. Emerson, Software Toolworks Encyclopedia Rel 6
Sound Bites
Selected by G. Curtis Gibby
Government Existence
No government can exist without the cooperation of people who are governed.
Evil
All that is required for the forces of evil to prevail is for enough good men to do nothing.
(Can’t remember who is credited with saying this first, but it is still true)
Freedom
Until we are all free, none of us can be truly free.
(Various people)
Swift Justice…
Off with their heads!
The Mad Queen (Lewis Carroll)
Paranoia
Sometimes I think I’m too paranoiac. Other times I think I’m not paranoiac enough.
Attributed to Charlemagne in the play Pippin
Gift of God
I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.
That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil–this is the gift of God.
Ecclesiastes 3:12,13, NIV
Man’s Purpose
God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
Acts 17
Theory
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another which states that this has already happened.
Adams, Douglas, The Restaurant at the end of the Universe, Pocket books, Gulf & Western Corp, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, 1980, front flyleaf.
China
… The party and the government will not show the devil cult (Falun Gong) any mercy because any benevolence shown to such heretics will trample the human rights of other citizens.
The Peoples Daily as reported by the AP Oct 99
Good
“No more good must be attempted than the people can bear.”
Thomas Jefferson
References:
The following links enable you to directly access some web sites that will be of interest to the earnest patriot.
Famous Documents – Certain documents have become inextricably part of our culture. Others are antecedents. Other documents are perhaps mostly wishful thinking. Can you see a difference?
The Bill of Rights Also links to Declaration of Independence, Constitution.
Magna Carta Translation (notes)
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Civil vs Common Law
Civil Code: European Antecedents (Napoleon, Roman, Hammurabi) Check the paragraph that describes the difference between a “Civil Lawyer” and a “Common Lawyer”
Famous Thinkers
John Locke – Ideas in the Declaration of Independence The key elements in Locke’s political theory are natural rights, social contract, government by consent, and right of revolution.
Leviathan – Thomas Hobbes Man by nature is evil. In the state of nature there is no formal law, no order, no culture, and no hope. In other words, a state of total chaos where no man has any individual rights, and all men are at war.
Some Useful Definitions (from American Heritage Dictionary)
meg·a·lo·ma·ni·a n. 1. A psychopathological condition in which delusional fantasies of wealth, power, or omnipotence predominate. 2. An obsession with grandiose or extravagant things or actions. –meg·a·lo·ma·ni·ac n. –meg·a·lo·ma·ni·a·cal or meg·a·lo·man·ic adj.
par·a·noi·a n. 1. A psychotic disorder characterized by delusions of persecution or grandeur, often strenuously defended with apparent logic and reason. 2. Extreme, irrational distrust of others. [Greek, madness, from paranoos, demented : para-, beyond; see PARA-1 + nous, noos, mind.]
It was pointed out to me a long time ago by a mental health worker that most of what we recognize as mental illness is no more than the perfection in an individual of an otherwise normal personality trait. Perhaps it does take one to know one. We should take advantage of this knowledge.
com·mis·sar n. 1.a. An official of the Communist Party in charge of political indoctrination and the enforcement of party loyalty. b. The head of a commissariat in the Soviet Union until 1946. 2. A person who tries to control public opinion. [Russian komissar, from German Kommissar, deputy, from Medieval Latin commissarius, agent. See COMMISSARY.]
ol·i·gar·chy n., pl. ol·i·gar·chies. 1.a. Government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families. b. Those making up such a government. 2. A state governed by a few persons.
More Reading:
Online versions of the National Standards for History in the Schools.Vazsonyi is very critical of this. There are two versions both available at this site at UCLA. I have read neither, but present them to anyone who cares to investigate for themselves. If anyone does, I would like to here what you have to say about them. I have read 1984 by George Orwell and It can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. These give you an appreciation of the possible.
Study Guide for The Communist Manifesto with Access to On Line TextNotes by Paul Brians, Department of English, Washington State University, Pullman 99164-5020. I haven’t read this either, but it sure set the scene for a lot of human misery in our lifetime.
Democracy
If you want your government to work for you, you need to work it. Here’s where to find out, notify, advise, and check up on your elected officials.
Project Vote Smart, find out how your elected officials voted and how to contact them by e-mail
League of Women Voters Liberal tendencies but hard, honest work too. Check the chapter in your state or municipality to find out where candidataes stand on issues.
Center for Repsonsive Politics. Find out who’s paying your politician.
Federal and State Government Servers
We’re located in Houston, Texas. These are the links I use. You can find similar links for almost any place in the country.
Harris County Home Page
City of Houston
Lotto Texas Results See if you need to go to work anymore (slow posting!)
State of Texas Government World Wide Web server
Fedworld
House of Representatives
U.S. Senate
The Whitehouse Send e-mail to the Whitehouse which will be ignored
Federal Statistics www.fedstats.gov