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Chapter 7.

Maxims

and Meanings

Soon Alix saw Uncle Sam come walking toward him, "You can't think how glad I am to see you again. Here give me some hard taps on my back and let's see if I can't cough up some of that nasty green gloop that my cooks have been feeding me."

And with that, Alix patted his back rather fiercely and in a moment or two up popped a copious amount of that gloop, mainly in the form of green colored bubbles.

"Ah, that feels much better. Why thank you, you dear old thing!" said Uncle Sam as he tucked his arm affectionately into Alix's, and they walked off together.

Alix was very glad to find him in such pleasant temper, and thought to himself that perhaps it was only the green gloop that made him so savage when they met before.

"You seem to be in a much better mood today then when I met you surrounded by smoke and flying dishes," Alix said, by way of keeping up the conversation a little.

" 'Tis so" said Uncle Sam, "and there's a maxim in that, but I can't quite figure it out right now."

"Perhaps it hasn't one," Alix remarked.

"Tut, tut, child! Everything can be distilled to a maxim, if only you can find it."

"What exactly is a maxim anyway"?

"Why, 'it is a pithy expression of wisdom drawn from practical experience and serving as a rule of conduct.' Back in my youth my friends and I were very good at making up maxims and proverbs and epigrams. This habit of making pithy sayings came in handy when we begat the Constitution."

"Any more maxims?"

"Oh yes, here's a good one: "where's there smoke, there's not necessary fire, but one coughs nevertheless."

"I don't think it goes quite like that."

"It goes anyway I like, for I made it right up on the spot. Why, what are they teaching you these days: to always parrot the maxims of those babbling tele-yackers. No, one must be original."

"But one must at least follow the truth."

"Is the truth and originality in conveying it really that incompatible?"

"I guess not. You have any more maxims?"

"Oh, much more. 'O, 'tis tyranny, 'tis tyranny, that stops the world going round."

"Somebody said, not a little while back, that it's stopped by everybody minding each other's business!"

"Ah, well! Those words mean much the same thing and the maxim derived from that is

'Take care of the meaning, and the words will take care of themselves; take care of the words and the words will take care of us.' "

"That is very good; it sums up the creation of the Constitution in one small saying."

"But it only works if one has a care-full attitude all the way around in the process, for even choosing the exact words carefully is an important aspect of the whole procedure."

"How so?"

"Let me give you an example: which is better, the pithy expression, "Be all that you can be," or the more verbose expression which says much the same thing, "Never imagine that you do not have the ability to be otherwise than not only some parts of one selves taken all together to make what one is."

"I think I should understand that better if I had written it down; but I can't quite follow it as you say it. I am not even quite sure that they say quite the same thing."

"And that's nothing to what I could say if I chose," Uncle Sam said in a pleased tone.

"Pray don't trouble to say it any longer than that," said Alix.

"And that's what my friends kept reminding others when we begat the Constitution and its claws, the Bill of Rights. There were some people who always wanted longer and longer explanations and they didn't realize that the longer they wrote the sayings the more liable they were to be misinterpreted."

'I see your point. Now I see why the claws of the Constitution are so pointed and pithy."

"You're starting to understand it now.

"Yes," exclaimed Alix, "However, it all seems to hinge, as Mr. Loremouse said, on the concept of the Natural Law."

"Yes, my young friend, it certainly does; and what in the world what is it? Well, the Natural Law is a set of principles based on the permanent characteristics of human nature. That doesn't say much, so I'll let Mr. Loremouse give you a bit of its history."

And at that Mr. Loremouse was wheeled toward them in a wheelbarrow by the Mad Chatter and Dr. Split Hare."

"You promise to behave while Mr. Loremouse speaks," said Uncle Sam to the Chatter and Dr. Hare.

"Yes, we do," they both exclaimed, but Alix saw that they had their hands behind their backs; no doubt their fingers were crossed.

"Now, now, fellas. You must allow Mr. Loremouse his freedom of speech."

"But can't we just once take hold of him and..."

"Come now, my dear Constitution, make a perimeter around Mr. Loremouse," and as he said that, the Constitution, sitting on his perch, swiped many sharp nails at the two wayward boys. "Now, see that claw. That claw will make sure Mr. Loremouse is secure in his person against unreasonable seizures."

"Thanks, Uncle Sam," said the half snoozing Mr. Loremouse."

And Alix thought, "Perhaps the Red King is a little correct in his theories, for to allow Mr. Loremouse his freedoms, the freedoms of others must be curtailed. Of, course, this wouldn't be necessary if these two mad boys would act civilly as all people are naturally inclined."

Mr. Loremouse began, "I Proceed or more accurately the Constitution proceeds; and what does it proceed from? Well, the Constitution proceeds from the Natural Law. And what then is the Natural law? First some classical theories:

'Heraclitus spoke...of a common wisdom that pervades the whole universe, “for all human laws are nourished by one, the divine.”...According to Stoicism, the whole cosmos is rationally ordered by an active principle variously named God, mind, fate (see Logos). Every individual nature is part of the cosmos. To live virtuously means to live in accord with one's nature, to live according to right reason." ¹

"So Natural Law is derived from our reason studying our own unchanging natures, instincts and inclinations," summarized Alix.

"Good summary, Alix. Continue, Mr. Loremouse."

And Alix could see that the two mad boys were indeed behaving themselves as they eyed the fiery eyes and sharp nails of the Treasure Cat.

"Next, Christian concepts of the Natural Law. I proceed:

'Christians found the natural law doctrine of the Stoics quite compatible with their beliefs. St. Paul spoke of Gentiles who do not have the Mosaic law doing “by nature what the law requires” The 6th-century Spanish theologian St. Isidore of Seville affirmed that natural law is observed everywhere by natural instinct; he cited as illustrations the laws ordaining marriage and the procreation of children...St. Thomas Aquinas called the rational guidance of creation by God the “Eternal Law.” The Eternal Law gives all beings the inclination to those actions and aims that are proper to them. Rational creatures, by directing their own actions and guiding the actions of others, share in divine reason itself. “This participation in the Eternal Law by rational creatures is called the Natural Law.” Its dictates correspond to the basic inclinations of human nature. Thus, according to Aquinas, it is possible to distinguish good from evil by the natural light of reason.' ²

"So this Natural Law, which is a participation in the Eternal Law, is written into the hearts of men through their natural inclinations," summarized the incisive Alix.
"Yes," said Uncle Sam.

"But what if one's natural inclinations are evil?" asked Alix.

"But don't you see: natural inclinations are never bad. What is bad are your unnatural inclinations."

"Ah, I see."

"Like the unnatural inclinations of Chatter and Hare to dip Loremouse into a pot of coffee, although that is based, somewhat, on the natural inclination toward mirth and merriment."

"Ya, they are funny sometimes. On the whole they are good, only a little bent at the edges."

"Who's bent at the edges," said an insulted Mad Chatter, "I just got my suit pressed the other day. I look fine, don't I?"

"Well," I said smirking," that depends if it was a solar day or some other kind of celestial day. I think the other, for your suit seems to have been pressed eons ago."

And at that the whole party started to laugh in convulsions, even the Mad Chatter, who was big enough to let himself be belittled.

"Well, now for the modern theories on the Natural Law. I proceed: The Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius went a long way to making the modern world believe that the natural:

'...law would have validity even if there were no God or if the affairs of human beings were of no concern to God.' ³

"So one can believe in the Natural Law even if he is not a Christian," said the trenchant Alix.

"Yes, it seems so," confirmed Uncle Sam.

"Then anyone in the Land can believe in it."

"Yes."

"Now, let us see how it entered into our Constitution." said Alix to bring relevance to the whole proceed-ings.

"Yes, let's. Mr. Loremouse."

"I Proceed. The seventeenth century philosopher, John Locke was a believer in natural law:

'Locke, however, was...optimistic about the nature of human beings. He described a state of nature in which people tend to respect one another's natural rights to life, liberty, and property. The assumption that human beings are inherently and naturally good is at the heart of what has come to be called Lockean liberalism. However, Locke acknowledged that conflicts will inevitably arise over property and that the occasional thief will disregard the natural rights of others. Therefore, Locke maintained, individuals consent to be governed. ⁴

In brief, Locke argued that sovereignty did not reside in the state but with the people, and that the state is supreme, but only if it is bound by civil and what he called “natural” law. Many of Locke's political ideas, such as those relating to natural rights, property rights, the duty of the government to protect these natural rights, and the rule of the majority, were later embodied in the U.S. Constitution...he advocated a system of checks and balances in government. He also believed in religious freedom and in the separation of church and state.' ⁵

'Locke... [asserted] ...that the people, having consented to be governed, can change government if it interferes with the natural rights of those who contracted to obey it, or if it fails to protect individual natural rights. Locke's description of the people's power to change governments was embodied in the Glorious Revolution in England in 1688 and later enlisted by Thomas Jefferson during the American Revolution in the argument of the Declaration of Independence. (1776) ⁶

"Well," said Alix, "there you have it all in a nutshell: from the divine law, the Logos, or the Way, proceeds the natural law embedded in our hearts, and from the natural law proceeds our Constitution imbedded in our land. Wonderful! How can anybody be against all this?"

"Well, have you interviewed the Mock Crier yet?" asked Uncle Sam.

"No, I don't even now who the Mock Crier is."

"Come on then and the Mock Crier shall tell you its sob story and how this may endanger our Constitution. Just step this way"

And Alix stepped that way which was over a brook and suddenly Uncle Sam, and everybody else, was gone to be replaced by a person who could be none other than George Orwell, the author of the book, Nineteen-Eighty-four.

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Footnotes:

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.