Early America adopted English common law and a long history of cherished rights, including the right to trial by jury – which dates back to 1215. In that year, Pope Innocent III issued an order validating a person’s right to a trial by peers. That same year, at Runnymede in England, King John was forced on a battlefield to sign Magna Carta – the ancient pact he made with English Barons, including a stipulation to man’s right to “the lawful judgment of his peers”. These are the events that first set rule of law above kings.

A kid gunned down a health insurance CEO as he walked a busy Manhattan sidewalk into a shareholder’s conference. In America, there’s a certain passion surrounding guns and the Second Amendment. The Surgeon General issued an advisory about an epidemic of gun violence and deaths resulting therefrom. U.S. Surgeon General Issues Advisory on the Public Health Crisis of Firearm Violence in the United States

Firearms are the leading cause of death for American children and adolescents. HHS Report on Firearm Violence in America

At the same time, Americans have lost respect for our justice system in record numbers according to Gallup. Trust in court system at record low: Gallup

There are many reasons for both of these trends. They aren’t all related. But here is what I propose. We need a movement similar to the #2A movement to promote jury trials, a right guaranteed by the Seventh Amendment to our Constitution. And we need to invest time and money into improving our court systems and their rules so they can demonstrate their importance to our system of governance.

Self-defense and a well-regulated militia should be a last resort. There wouldn’t be a need for violence if we took our jury trial rights as seriously as our gun rights. Project 7A is designed to start that process.

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The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present … fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.

Abraham Lincoln (1862), on the imperative of winning the Civil War

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The best way to predict the future is to create it.

Abraham Lincoln, #16

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The Roman romantics “were drunk. They were naked,” Noel Lenski, now a religious studies professor at Yale University, told NPR in 2011. Young women would line up for the men to hit them, Lenski said. They believed this would make them fertile.

NPR: The Dark Origins of Valentines Day

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“He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression.”

Thomas Paine was an England-born political philosopher and writer who supported revolutionary causes in America and Europe. Published in 1776 to international acclaim, “Common Sense” was the first pamphlet to advocate American independence.

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Yield not to misfortunes, but advance all the more boldly against them.

Virgil

Like all else, misfortunes are temporary but not fleeting. They are often not necessary or destined. Many are preventable. Those that could have been prevented are often caused by negligence. Rather than submit passively to them like a victim, fight them boldly. There’s a reason we call it a trial.

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Truth is proper and beautiful in all times and places.

Frederick Douglass

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Burns Night honors the iconic Scottish poet Robert Burns, who wrote the New Year’s Eve anthem Auld Lang Syne. Many Scots host a Burns supper on January 25, the poet’s birthday, although they can be held throughout the year. Some of the suppers can be grand affairs; others less formal. The events will often feature a bagpiper or traditional Scottish music, and the Scottish pudding, Haggis, is served.

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Yahoo News provides an important reminder.

American Founders Knew: Right to Counsel Is Fundamental

The right to counsel is a core American principle pre-dating the establishment of American jurisprudence. Our founding fathers experienced the tyranny of a king whose decisions couldn’t be questioned and a justice system that employed the death penalty to eliminate his political opponents. To avoid such abuses of power, they established the right to a defense lawyer in the 1660s as one of the first checks on governmental power. This long standing right is essential to making sure everyone gets a fair trial.

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