New Page 1

J.A.I.L. News Journal

September 28, 2003

J.A.I.L. Absolutely Unique

(By Ron Branson, Author/Founder)

"I believe trial by jury is the only anchor yet imagined by man which can hold a government to the principles of its constitution." - Thomas Jefferson

Perhaps no man influenced the infrastructure of the foundations of our new experiment known as a Constitutional Republic in America more so than did Thomas Jefferson. American history is rife with quotes of him, the above being no exception. Jefferson has received praise from all walks of life, and statues have been erected to him, including the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. There are even those who proclaim themselves to be "Jeffersonians."

After the order of Thomas Jefferson, and our other Founding Fathers, two-hundred and nineteen years later, (April, 1995), J.A.I.L. ("Judicial Accountability & Integrity Legislation") has come into existence on the American scene. While not yet recognized for its full value, it is as important as our original Constitution itself.

Now while some of you are picking yourself up from the floor where you have been laying and holding your chest while gasping for air, let me explain. There is absolutely no competition between the U.S. Constitution and J.A.I.L., for neither can be complete without the other. I know some of you are saying, "These are hard words," while others murmur "Treason," noting that our country has existed for over 200 years without the existence of J.A.I.L., and so we have.

But the fact remains, unless you have been living on another planet, that our Constitution, after 200 years of existence, has been reduced to just a piece of paper given political lip service, cited as authority only when it serves one's political agenda. All government officials, in theory, give solemn oath to it, pledging to uphold and defend it against all enemies, foreign and domestic, while few of these people have ever read it in their life, and even fewer understand it.

Thomas Jefferson said, "Let no more be heard of confidence in men, but rather bind them down by the chains of the Constitution." Most politicians accept the idea, as adopted by many judges in our courts today, that our Constitution was intended by our Founding Fathers to be rubberized, and those links of "chains to bind them down," spoken of by Thomas Jefferson, are made of elastic.

In the quote of Thomas Jefferson above, "I believe trial by jury is the only anchor yet imagined by man which can hold a government to the principles of its constitution," we note that the intent of Jefferson's words was holding government to the principles of the Constitution. He said, "I believe trial by jury is the only anchor yet imagined by man, and in 1776, he was correct. But then came along J.A.I.L. two centuries later as "another anchor imagined by man to hold government to the principles of the Constitution!"

In the days of Thomas Jefferson, he had a limited knowledge of options, and based thereon, he determined that a trial by jury was the only anchor imagined by man to hold government to the principles of the Constitution. Had Thomas Jefferson then been enlightened to the concept of J.A.I.L., notwithstanding its current title, history would doubtless record Thomas Jefferson as the author of J.A.I.L.

In fact, even in his day, Thomas Jefferson, disappointed in the lack of a provision in our current Constitution, was searching for some Constitutional measure, such as J.A.I.L., that would result in judicial accountability of judges. He said, "At the establishment of our Constitutions, the judiciary bodies were supposed to be the most helpless and harmless members of the government. Experience, however, soon showed us in what way they were to become the most dangerous; that the insufficiency of the means provided for their removal gave them a freehold and irresponsibility in office; that their decisions, seeming to concern individual suitors only, pass silent and unheeded by the public at large; that these decisions, nevertheless, become law by precedent, sapping little and little, the foundations of the Constitution, before anyone perceived that invisible and helpless worm had been busily employed in consuming its substance. In truth, man is not made to be trusted for life, if secured against all liability to account."

In the founding of our country, and in the providence of God Almighty working in hearts of our Founding Fathers, the revelation of J.A.I.L. was not yet to be revealed. But now in this generation, God, according to the good pleasure of His will, has chosen to reveal the concept of J.A.I.L. to this, and other nations.

Above I stated that J.A.I.L. was equally as important as is the original Constitution itself. How so? you say. It was Thomas Jefferson himself that expressed the lack of a means of security of the very Constitution he had a part in writing, stating that he feared the politically motivated Judiciary Industry would completely undermine the Constitution until it became just a worthless piece of paper.

Thomas Jefferson warned us as surely as if it were printed in today's newspapers, "...the Federal Judiciary; an irresponsible body (for impeachment is scarcely a scare-crow), working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing it's noiseless step like a thief, over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped from the States, and the government of all be consolidated into one. ... when all government ... in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the centre of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated." -- Thomas Jefferson, 1821.

So, we arrive at the question, which is of the greater value, the preservation of the principles of our original Constitution, or the means by which it is protected? They are inseparable, and neither can exist without the other. As a practical matter, everyone should respect the existence of J.A.I.L. as if it were authored by Thomas Jefferson himself, and I believe he would have been delighted to have his name associated with it. I realize it is hard to conceive of a document outside of the Constitution that is so important as is our Constitution itself, but God has now brought to light the revelation of J.A.I.L. to this nation, and calls upon America to support it for its very future's sake.

There are many groups, organizations, political parties, and coalitions with their own agendas throughout America which pay little or no attention to J.A.I.L. This does not concern me in the least, for I know by the Grace of God, one of these days all these causes will have to reckon with the validity of the value of J.A.I.L. being equal to that of our Constitution itself, and in that day we will have the opportunity to move in unity for the restitution of the government envisioned by Thomas Jefferson.

(Back)