By Christian Lutkemeyer
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January 30, 2025
Dear Friends, I shared recently that I became a US Citizen. As a legal resident I had to study the US Constitution and history to pass a test. I like to talk about what I love about the United States and especially about the Preamble of the Constitution: “ We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. ” I chose to become a Citizen because I love tranquility, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We see that the Founders felt that they did not have Justice when they were the subjects of the English King. Why is establishing Justice so important? I think there is an innate awareness in most people what Justice is, and how important it is for all the benefits and freedoms that the Constitution and Bill of Rights confer on US! Now I am an engineer and not a lawyer, so I am not a legal expert by any measure. Perhaps this can be an advantage as it provides a vantage point with a radical change of perspective vs. how lawyers see the legal system and society. One beauty in science and engineering that I love is the fact that the laws of nature are universal and do not change in arbitrary ways from country to country or from time to time. From my perspective it is noteworthy that the Founders wanted to establish JUSTICE, and not LAWS! I think human beings would be happy if the laws in their land provided similar universal fairness and stability as the laws of nature provide. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights as proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 (resolution 217A) probably comes closest to the spirit of universal fairness by setting out, for the first time, a common standard for fundamental human rights to be universally protected. How did humanity get to a point where we see an almost impenetrable forest of laws that appear to prevent more and more people from receiving Justice? Christians believe that there is the original sin that all humans are born into as the result of Adma and Eve disobeying God when they tasted the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge in paradise. We can see that the growth of knowledge and technology has gone hand in hand with the pervasive and sometimes invasive growth of laws. In the early stages of small human groups a few rules like The Ten Commandments were sufficient to maintain peace and order. Nobody had to worry about poisonous lead or forever chemicals in drinking water. Or that carbon emissions from the few cooking fires would end up throwing the global climate into a state from hell that might take millions of years to reverse. Humans’ innate desire to search for knowledge has propelled us on an explosive growth path where more and more rules were required to keep us safe and happy in a system that became more and more complicated. “Do not dry your puppy in the microwave”! “Do not use your cellphone next to your head for many hours”! “Get vaccinated”! … In democratic societies the productive people with critical skills to keep society happy and fed have outsourced the creation of such rules to politicians that are supposed to look out for us by enacting laws that are beneficial to all people. They should be our good shepherds. Unfortunately, many humans that go into politics appear to have an innate desire to exercise power for their personal benefit and accumulate riches. Greed propels their world. Politicians have learned that their position of power can be translated to money by inserting loopholes and special interest provisions into any new law that is created. Corporations and rich people have learned that it is cheaper to “petition” politicians than pay their fair share of taxes. Many regular people feel that the stewards who were meant to be our good shepherds have sold us out to the special interests. I believe there is a lot of truth in this feeling! With this background I can try to understand the recent, scary developments in the United States. We the people of the United States have entrusted our well-being to a hero, or super villain, depending on your political view, who has a proven, life-long track record of using money, the legal system, and its tools and agents as a powerful personal weapon and shield while showing amazing super power-like skills of avoiding accountability for actions that would have gotten anybody else behind bars a long time ago. In his most recent adventure, he has run out the clock to delaying justice to a point where justice is ultimately denied because some people in power, a while ago, decided to create a rule that sitting presidents will not be prosecuted. On the homerun to impunity, he even almost got killed! He, or his ear, dodged the bullet! What an amazing story we have seen here! Even if you do not love Donald Trump as an example for your kids, you must admit that if GOD is watching the soap opera that is playing out on planet Earth right now, HE must be anxious to see what will happen next. Will they fly to Mars? Will the Executive usurp power from the atrophied legislative branch? Both branches are awfully old and either side could snap under a little more weight. I see two paths forward. Or as former environmental savior recently turned political power player, or purchaser, Elon Musk would say: “A fork in the road”. The more likely path is one where the forest of all the laws will be burned down, together with the reasonably well-functioning society that we inherited from the backs of our hardworking ancestors. They worked in fields and mines while sacrificing life and health to provide resources to develop the knowledge and technology we enjoy today. On the foundation of their sacrifices, we built a hedonistic “bread and games” society where sports gambling, legalized drugs, value-less Crypto coin mining, and Crypto meme coins are the past time of the day. These activities do not create value to society as a whole and prey on our weaknesses. This model does not have much of a future in my view. An alternative path can be imagined where humans realize that we are on a road to climate hell and begin to strive to create a more perfect global and sustainable union. We, the people who voraciously consume much more than our fair share of the non-renewable resources that Earth can provide, must change our ways so that humanity can continue a sustainable path into our potentially amazing future. There is so much more knowledge to be gained if we can keep the appreciation of science and engineering up. Following the special interest’s slogan of “Drill baby drill!” to feed power-hungry AI datacenters seems rather unintelligent if all this artificial intelligence power will be used to further divide us into factions, cook us, and ultimately turn us on a road to HELL. Literally! Low corporate taxes and high personal income taxes create strong incentives to export jobs. There is no law of nature that corporate profits are taxed much lower than people’s income from labor! Many laws reflect backroom dealings that were done to favor special interests over the common good in return for other favors. Quid pro quo is the enemy of the people. Shining sanitizing light on the dealing under the table is critical to staying healthy. I believe that unjust laws in our society need drastic but careful gardening work. Let’s start some diligent raking in the legal forest to reduce the risk that it catches fire and the whole US burns down. The recent catastrophic fires in Eaton and Pacific Palisades are powerful reminders that money and status do not protect from catastrophic losses after an ignition occurs when hurricane force winds of change are blowing. Rich and poor suffer together. The artificial paradise on Mars cannot be booked yet on Expedia. We still have a chance to cut and prune a path back to: “ We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. ” Throwing grenades into the dry forest in all directions will only create a painful reset back to the Flint Stones. Let’s think about our children and posterity and work together to create a more perfect, sustainable Union! Christian Lutkemeyer, a concerned Citizen by Choice