What are your rights? Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, according to the Declaration of Independence. There are all of those rights listed in the Bill of Rights. We talk about rights to privacy regularly but few people can point to what exactly those rights are. More importantly, what guarantees those rights? What guarantees us that our rights will not be infringed upon? The answer is... nothing!
George Carlin often spoke about the illusion of our rights, punctuating this idea of illusion by inviting anyone to Google "Japanese internment." The Supreme Court even upheld that this action was constitutional. Whether it is World War II or the "War on Terror," Americans simply abandon all the freedoms that we claim define our American society based on what is convenient at the time. Just as in the stock market, the phrase "this time it is different" needs to be heard with extreme caution.
The Patriot Act allows the FBI to obtain, without a warrant, "any tangible things" as long as the FBI can convince the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that the information they want is relevant to antiterrorism work. So much for any "right to privacy! It is tough to imagine writing a more obvious blank check to the government to do whatever they want, whenever they want. Every loyal American wants our country to be safe, but conservatives and liberals alike need to be united in not allowing the government unfettered access into our private lives.
What about the "right to assembly," or more precisely, "right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances"? This sits firmly in our Bill of Rights as the First Amendment. Hundreds of peaceful protesters found out recently in NY that this right is not guaranteed. You can be penned in by police, pepper sprayed while already contained and even arrested for protesting peacefully. Whether you agree with the protesters or not, every American should defend their right to protest government actions peacefully without being harassed, attacked and even arrested by the police.
What about the right to a fair trial? This sits firmly in our Bill of Rights as the Sixth Amendment. From the extended incarcerations without trials of Americans, Jose Padilla and Yaser Hamdi, to the recent assassination of American Anwar al-Awlaki we know that the right to a fair trial is not at all guaranteed for citizens.
Of course I want America to be safe. Of course I want terrorists to be stopped. Of course I want a government and nation that is strong.
But I also want more. I want rights. I want rights guaranteed. I want the rights that we claim are the foundation of American society. I want the rights that we claim are guaranteed by the laws in the land. I want the rights we claim are protected by our courts.
So let's stop pretending to our children and ourselves that famous pieces of paper are anything more than items that can be torn, burned and discarded as long as society allows it to occur.
I only get these rights if everyone else gets these same rights at all times, not just when it is convenient for the government or the majority of society. So, let's also agree on what rights we actually believe in as a society, rights which under every circumstance are upheld and let's call that the basis of American society instead of the mythology we keep passing along from generation to generation.
Follow Howard Steven Friedman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/howardsfriedman
The first is that the right to petition the government for redress of grievance: "petition" is the old term for bringing up something in court, and the "government" refers to the judiciary. In other words, this fairly sacred right, is misconstrued as the right to collect and present signature, and actually refers to the very wonderful right for any individual to bring up in courts, issues, that cause a grievance to the individual.
Secondly, and equally misunderstood is the right to peacably assemble. This does not mean gather in the streets in protest. Peaceful Assembly is a time-honored, classical system for local decision making. A local issue is offered out to the peaceful assembly. The peaceful assembly registers its opinion through ayes and nays. Thus local officials making decisions for the community, abridges the right to peacefully assembly, as peaceful assembly is where local decisions are made by the people, not representatives. Think about it: representative democracy makes sense over a large region, not a community. Where cities are large, there would be several or many peaceful assemblies, each one having one vote on the local issue.
I hope these remarks are seen in an educational and defensible light. vicfedorov.wordpress.com
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The Declaration of Independence was not to give rights to Americans it was to sever ties with the king - as for our right and privileges under the Constitutional Republic are all those rights not given to the Federal government under Article I section 8 enumerated powers.
Here is all that we the people retained of our natural rights and powers -
Amendment 10 - Powers of the States and People. Ratified 12/15/1791. Note
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Amendments 1-9 are individual rights meant to protect citizens from the government and are, in theory, rights and powers retained by the individual. One of most important is Amendment 9 which says "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."
"As I discussed in my article, the fact that while these Amendments are written very clearly on paper, in practice the government can override them whenever it chooses provided its citizens allow this to happen"
There is zero language in the constitution that would permit the actions you have described above - All current use of the so called Clauses are in fact usurpation of the Constitution with no support except in the Court of FDR when he blackmailed them into submission with the "SWITCH IN TIME SAVED NINE". The Constitution is a limitation on government nor a document empowering them to do anything outside the powers stated and spelled out in article I section 8.
the notion of a living document that can be modernized is total bunk and is not supported in words or deeds of the Founders/Framers/Ratifiers. There is only one way to change, alter, modify the Constitution and that is using a Article V amendment process.
The people, the Congress, the President, the Supreme court, nor any group of them can change the Constitution without passing an amendment. So, your statement about the government can override them at will if the people allow them - wrong and in violation of the Constitution a usurped power. Clearly all laws passed with usurped powers are null void as if they never existed at all - quotes from many of the Founders works and papers. If I recall even the courts have held this the correct Constitution action.
The nullification issue is now before the Supreme court int he health care issue. The use of Clauses will also be an issue. the Founders intended the Constitution to say what it means in simple language that common people of the 1770s could understand. They also intended it to mean what it said - no exceptions were allowed.
There is no support for the Progressive changing of the Constitution written in the document. All permissions usurped have used twisted meaning of words and applying preambles and limiting clauses out of context. the people have had their rights stolen by the government.