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ON SECURING PEACE, HEALTH AND ECONOMIC STABILITY THROUGHOUT
THE WORLD
November 21, 2005
George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
To be perceived a great man requires marketing; to be known as a
great man requires timeless acts of clarity and justice. I am a
humble man; a Buddhist priest, visual artist, and teacher. I have
dedicated my entire life to the study of great leaders, in thought,
and the "human condition" since the age of seven. If you
are interested to know more in detail about my life experience,
I would like to entertain the possibility of our meeting, perhaps
after you have retired from the office you now hold and have some
quiet time for conversation. I merely want to convey that my words
are born of many years.
So as not to consume a great deal of your time, I will attempt to
state my points in brief and offer support latter. Please do not
take this form disparagingly, for I respect your position greatly.
As you have demonstrated, I believe you to understand that the responsibilities
of your office and, by extension, these United States, is to be
the foremost in the governance of human life. For this ideal, words
like freedom, mean nothing unless actualized in the systems of governance
providing economic stability, open speech and dialogue, protection
from invasion and most importantly, personal expression balanced
with personal practices. But what more can be said of this rhetoric?
Could not the people who terrorize the world claim these very words
as their aim? Truthfully, yes, they could. The problem therefore
is not "freedom". The problem therefore is not governance.
The problem of fact is the holding and expression of mistaken beliefs.
This may seem an oversimplification, but please read on.
I propose to you sir, that you can make a place for yourself in
the history of the world as a great man whose courage and insight
changed the course of mankind. At present, your reputation is one
of a man whose entire record is based on re-action. I propose you
shed this veil and discover your true identity as a great man of
action! The actions I humbly suggest are quit simply the actions
necessary to circumvent the mistaken beliefs and put the world,
this nation and all others by example, on the path to social and
economic health.
Remove all religion from the agenda. Religion or spirituality is
a personal practice! It should not enjoy parity with corporate or
any other commercial scheme. In the case of Iraq, education, free
of dogma, must lead the people to the creation of civil governance.
This country can lead by example by clearing up its most muddled
issues in this regard. Privatize Spirituality. Change the tax law
to approve a percentage of personal expenditure on specific religious
or spiritual expenses much as the childcare provisions do. Then
abolish all other manifestation of tax "breaks" concerning
religion. Remove and ban all reference to religion/spirituality
in all Law or Federal governance.
Proper, undiluted, clear and freedom embracing governance can only
occur through the guarantee of respect and protection of human individual
existence without fear of trespass. The government needs to get
out of peoples private lives, like family court, et al, and privatize
that realm as well. So long as government chooses to meander into
the dynamics of "family", individuals will play the government
gambit to bankruptcy. Let, no force, the people to resolve their
matters amongst themselves. The state of "law" in this
country and others has gone completely insane due to the failing
of this precept. Law does not belong in the household. Again, this
is a situation born of mistaken beliefs.
When it comes to the issue of governance of a group, there can be
no belief systems at play. There can only be apriorae, in the form
of a simple and clearly adopted set of concepts without burdensome
specificity, to be interpreted in specific situations, not by law,
but democratic consensual acceptance amongst those at hand who choose
to participate, regardless of status or position. This is true democracy,
and has never existed in modern America.
For instance, if on the occasion of creating policy on some specific
issue regarding invading a country to institute social reform and
stabilization through education, a website would be created to offer
all available knowledge regarding the time, cost, risk, and reasoning
for such an action, and a term of time be broadcast on television
and the web for the citizenry to review, analyze and respond with
online voting from home or library or other centers. The public
would be firstly more involved in the "We the people…"
aspect of government, secondly more apt to resolve their position
via dialogue and lobbying on a small and personal scale at the hearts
of the population all across the country rather than in only the
hallowed halls of Washington DC, and therefore the responsibility
of a vote collected in this manner would reflect on the populace
as government. The cost of publicity management and propaganda would
surely become more manageable as the policing of information would
be the primary concern.
You must remove the interplay of religious ideologies from the realm
of governance. You can begin the process in this country. You can
set the roadmap for the education of good governance as Aristotle
did. You could set this country on a course of true greatness as
a true leader of human "rights" not laws! Theocracy is
a personal matter. Just as the Amish in this country live their
beliefs without infringement on others, so too should all other
belief systems. Those, which can intermingle without conflict, simply
show themselves to be more humanistic and respectful. Those, which
choose war and destruction as their mode of engagement, prove themselves
to be irresponsible and inhumane. This is the only place where governance
belongs, to govern the interplay of the people. Those who choose
destruction must be re-educated and their mistaken beliefs broken.
Say it explicitly. There is no longer any justification on this
fragile and small planet for the random acts of fanatics without
respect for the sanctity of human life! It is exactly the same as
with individual behaviors of murder and violations against others.
In the courts it is matter of intent and further, the degree of
intent. Organized belief systems should be treated in exactly the
same manner. Should they transgress the charter of personal beliefs
and behavior to infringe upon the free existence of others, it is
absolutely no different that the infringement of private domain
in the case of a trespassing.
Many great men have addressed this issue of governance and Mistaken
beliefs, including Aristotle and one that comes particularly to
mind, Nichiren, a Buddhist Priest of the 13th century whose treatise
the, "Risho an Koku Ron" details the invasions and even
natural disasters befalling the country of Japan, and more to come
in his predictions, which actually happened, due to the adherence
of mistaken beliefs by the highly influenced Shogunate government
by the Nembutsu sect at the time. I know that you too are a man
of potential greatness. I know too that you are a man of "Western
faiths". I know too, that for you to become a truly great leader
of man, you must put aside your religious predilections and create
a truly free governance of man on moral and ethical grounds with
strict humanist goals grounded on earth and common sense.
With my great respect,
Sifu, Sylvain Chamberland
Threefold Lotus Buddhist Priest
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