MM#277--Ohio's Issue 1--Question By Question, Socratic Style

Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now here's your host, david Kaiser.

Hello, I am David and welcome back to another Mojo Minute. Over the last couple weeks we talked about the Socratic Method and how, through putting that methodology of questioning and then being an active listener and then questioning again based on the answers we had just heard, we can put ourselves on the pathway to truth, to the discovery of truth. And if you want to see this play out in rapid fashion, watch and listen to an enraged parent discover that their child did not or did something that they shouldn't have, and watch how the parent, with an intuitive sense of how the situation actually played out, will question their child and for the answer. Hopefully, unless parents, unless you parents, are getting so enraged that you don't listen, which is not a good thing for you but the parents will question the child and then listen distinctly for the answers and then question again based on those given answers. Slowly and surely, with a methodical approach, they will get closer and closer to the truth of what happened and who's to blame and the amount of punishment that is warranted. Now we are smiling to ourselves as we listen to this, because we have seen this play out in all of our lives. In fact, we were kids once. We were on the receiving end of this deliberate type of questioning and that dreaded pressure to come up with the right answer or else we would face a severe grounding and restriction of all of our freedoms that were surely coming If we yes, if we were actually lucky I was not always lucky so that deliberate series of questions and answers, followed by more questions and more answers, can be applied throughout our lives to help us get to the truth. It's a good thing to ask good questions, to get to the facts, to get to the ultimate truth of things. Now, recently, one place where I saw this applied with wonderful precision is on our upcoming Ohio Ballot no 1 issue. Now, if you don't know, in the state of Ohio coming up in two weeks, on November 7th, there is a proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution. That amendment is a meager 232 words and it will attempt to establish the right to quote reproductive decisions for all Ohioans. Now, for the good of society and for a desire to build up the common good, we have done some research on this proposed amendment and in doing so we came across this wonderful legal analysis done by the American Policy Roundtable, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, independent organization founded in Ohio way back in 1980. Now let's be honest with ourselves. Most folks, ohioans included, live in a post-Christian world, in a post-Christian United States. We have for probably the last 25 years for sure, maybe even longer. So when these hotly contentious issues come up, especially around abortion, most people tune out, thinking that the conservatives and the religious people will be on one side and the liberal and anti-religious people will be on the other side, at least anti-religious in the sense that they don't want any religion to supersede government authority. So we get that. We understand. We can all agree on that framework. But that is why I found this wonderful website so compelling. The website seethelanguagecom is very compelling. It offers a series of questions to the written amendment, then applies those answers from the language of the amendment to ask further and deeper questions to those answers. It was wonderful to watch this happen because it's the Socratic Method philosophy in action. What we have just been talking about, and this is the Theory to Action podcast. So anything that puts theory and then puts it into action, or proposes a theory rather, and puts it into action, we are a fan of here at the Mojo Academy and it was fascinating to go through this and the questions are coming not from a religious point of view, but from a strictly legal point of view. Actually, I would urge you to go to the website and see for yourself, especially if you're in Ohio, because this applies to you and for all my listeners who are not from Ohio. I think this is a good exercise for all of us to go through, especially as polarization happens across the country and especially as critical thinking skills diminish year by year, and especially if you're a parent or a grandparent with a child, and especially if you're in the state of Ohio, because this has a double effect on you and your grandchildren. Now, the one place they do this very well. This Socratic Method, philosophy of asking questions, deliberate questions and then waiting on the answers and then asking more questions is in a six minute and 30 second explainer video. And who doesn't have six minutes and 30 seconds to devote to becoming more educated on what we will be voting on in the next couple of weeks? And that would be doing the responsible citizen thing and educating yourself on the facts of the proposed amendment to the Ohio State Constitution? Now I'll put a link in the show notes for that video so you can very easily go through it. And again, this website does the research from a legal point of view which I found so compelling. This is not the same as the the religious versus the non religious fight. And in fact let me just provide three examples from the questions they ask. And the very first point of the amendment in Section A reads like this going to the amendment Every individual has a right to make and carry out one's own reproductive decisions, including, but not limited to, decisions on number one, contraception. Number two, fertility treatment. Number three, continuing one's own pregnancy, number four, miscarriage care and number five, abortion. Whoa, that was a mouthful for the proposed amendment, and there is already a lot there in that first sentence. So the round table then applies its legal hat to begin asking questions, socratic style questions, of these words. In the beginning it says every individual. What is the definition of every individual? If all residents of Ohio is what you mean by that definition, then all persons of any age could be given these rights. And these rights again are from that list contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one's own pregnancy, miscarriage care and abortion. So if any age again Socratic Style question we then have to ask the question. That would imply any child would have a right to these five areas, wouldn't it? And that right would not be superseded by the parents' decisions or a parent's notification. Hmm, that seems kind of extreme. It seems kind of radical. Well then we ask a final question, socratic Style. This is the parents who have been given the responsibility to care for and to feed and protect and educate the child into a full adult. They don't have any decision over the child, or to guide that child, or to help that child make a decision. Well, the only place we know to go for the answer is in the text of the amendment, and it says quote every individual has a right to and here we're gonna focus on these very words who make and carry out one's own reproductive decisions. So again, socratic Style, we have to ask some questions. What does it mean to make and carry out these decisions? By implication, without precise words or wording of this proposed amendment, we have to say there is no parental consent for minors. Minors aren't even given a definition, and that's almost always included in these vital pieces of legislation. Now, if we're honest with ourselves and with others, we know that this language, if passed, will be challenged in the courts, most likely for the next decade and beyond, and if we put ourselves in the seat of the Ohio Supreme Court Justice where all this will eventually end up. The justices themselves will have to go through and read the law, like we are doing here, and a proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution supersedes everything, supersedes statutory legislation, supersedes pretty much anything else, so the Ohio legislature cannot come back and make changes to this. The law is the law based on the wording of the proposed amendment. So a proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution will supersede everything, if passed, and it will supersede all prior statutory legislation, and so that would put in question all the legislative laws that are on the books right now in these particular areas. So this proposed amendment, as written, is quite broad and sweeping in the amount of power it gives. So, whoa, holy smokes, holy smokes is right, that is a lot of power. That is a lot of power in a very vague and poorly written amendment, especially for the common good. When power is to be used, it should always be used in a narrow fashion, in with precision. That makes for the best government for all peoples. Narrow and with precision, that's good government. So in today's mojo minute, let's apply the Socratic method to our lives and learning how to get to the truth of the matter, question by question. And if you are an Ohioan, and most especially if you are a parent or a grandparent, please watch this 6-minute and 30-second legal explainer video. Again, I'll put a link in the show notes. And let's be a good, responsible citizen and this can be part of your own research before you go into the voting booth. By reading the language and watching the video, you can consider whether or not you want this specific language to be placed in the Ohio Bill of Rights. The video will go through the language of the amendment, socratic style, and that is one of the best ways to get to the truth, question by question.

Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this theory to action podcast. Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your mojo on.