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From the Other Side of the Edge…..       
The Bill of Rights, ….an “Inconvenient Truth”
By Joe Facinoli

Al Gore may have had it right after all.  

Right pew, that is, …just the wrong church.

Climate change is not the largest roadblock to individual, corporate, or even governmental growth and wellness in this country, …not nearly. 

Carbon emissions, ozone depletions, and melting icecaps have nothing on the real hindrance to our society moving forward, or even “back” to the future.  

Nope, …not even close.   

Quite simply, it’s the insidious, relentless, clandestine but transparent, …deterioration of our individual liberties, and personal freedoms, which were outlined so faultlessly, and guaranteed so fervently, by our Founding Fathers, …in the “Bill of Rights”.   

This irreproachable document is, for all peoples, …simply Natural Law.   Not “given” by any one, nor any group, nor entity. 

These Rights, these natural “Laws”, ….just are.   

Yet in today’s culture, and for the past few decades, American leaders and politicians (those two things, …not always being synonymous) have spent considerable time and effort to first diminish the importance of these inherent freedoms, and then to try and usurp them entirely.   

These individual liberties are sacred, and as enumerated by the Founders, and many other good men before them, …are wholly inviolable.   

But present day Americans, whether too fat from success and status, …too drunk on modern excesses, …or too dependent on government handouts and “entitlements”, …have allowed these cornerstones to democracy, and even to civilization, to be taken from us, …and right in front of us.  

A strict (as it was intended), and quick reading of the Constitution, shows only limited powers given to the central government, with specific reference to it NOT having the power to do anything which wasn’t expressly designated for it.  

The Bill of Rights clarifies all of that, …and limits even more specifically, the powers granted to this newly created “national” government.   

However today, this grand and righteous listing of what all humans deserve, and freely, without limits possess, …is simply ignored, by those who know they can, while slowly seizing the control which this “contract with humanity” is supposed to prevent from happening.  

But thankfully, for those of us who still care, and so “inconveniently” for those who don’t, ….it’s still there, …and not going away.   

They still try though, to minimize, and even quash it.   Do they ever.   

The bloated, overbearing, face-in-our-trough federal government, and all those who aspire to ride that wild hog, never miss a chance to take a little away here, some more away there, big chunks from this, other bites from that, …until all 10 of those precious gifts from whomever put us here, are but a shell of what they once were.   

This goes back a long way, even through the brief respite that was Ronnie Reagan’s time, but let’s discuss a few current particulars. 

The T.S.A. can’t just search people at the airport, without their permission !!

It’s ILLEGAL, …under the 4th Amendment, which guarantees no “unreasonable searches and seizures”, and certainly none without a warrant, issued after a “probable cause” has been established.

The NSA and the FBI can’t just listen in on whomever they want to, nor can they read our emails and track our cell phones, muchless store any of that information, for future use !!  

It’s ILLEGAL, …under the 4th Amendment (see above), and the 1st as well (that annoying free speech thing), and probably the 5th, for grabbing our private “property”.   

The Congress, nor any state for that matter, can’t just pass laws limiting our right to keep, or carry, firearms, ….in public or anywhere !!

It’s ILLEGAL, …under the 2nd Amendment.   This one’s a no-brainer, based on the simple, direct language used here.   But it’s also the one that most Americans give up on, the easiest. 

One sentence, 27 words.   Couldn’t be more clear.    Especially the second half of this very plain, but most essential phrasing:   “…the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall NOT be infringed.”  

But dozens of states have passed restrictive laws in the face of this fundamental right of man.  

And in my state, liberal to the “Nth” degree Maryland, one would have to be mugged, shot, stabbed, maimed, and left bleeding out in the gutter, while on their way to make a bank deposit, …before we would even be considered for a right to carry permit.  

Even then, it would still probably take three years to get a decision.   “Bleeding out” usually makes that moot, anyway.  

And still, we let this insanity, and these illegalities, happen.  

Obamacare, while easily the most aggravating, is not even the most egregious of all the things rammed down our throats, past all our Constitutional birthright stomach parts, and out the other end, before we can even say “obamonoscopy”.  

We won’t open that old wound, not on this day, but suffice to say that this turkey oversteps just a few of the “protected” items on our list, including the 4th and 5th Amendments, and maybe even the 10th in a most basic way, not to mention the “commerce clause”, in Article 1, section 8, of the full Constitution.

Don’t tell BHO, or Pelosi, but it’s ILLEGAL for the government to make us buy something, whether they think it’s good for us, or not.

Ever heard of the NDAA?    The National Defense Authorization Act?    Don’t worry, most people haven’t.  

But while you weren’t paying attention, for the last few years, this one quietly slipped under the Bill of Rights, hiding behind a bunch of budget items, and mundane rules. 

Seems among all those line items for furniture, and parking allowances, they carefully snuck in a couple paragraphs about Indefinite Detentions, and Warrantless Intrusions and Wiretaps, which they knew we’d never notice. 

Sounds like an episode of “Scandal”, but much scarier,…’cause it’s real.   Several more Amendments take a healthy beating, from this totally ILLEGAL mess.  

But the Grand-daddy of all these affronts to our personal liberties, the Big Kahuna of power grabbing abuses, is the good ol’, “W” Bush-started, Obama-re-upped:   Patriot Act.   

Books have been written on this little beauty, and TV shows and movies talk about it all the time.    So I’ll pass on all the specifics, as you can look ‘em up, no problem (except for that NSA guy watching your computer history, especially when you’re checking out their favorite, ILLEGAL, program).   

In summary of it though, this one only stomps on the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th amendments.    Don’t know how it missed the other four.   I guess we’ll just have to wait ‘til next year.  

The original intentions of the Founders, in writing both the Constitution, as well as the Bill of Rights, was to be mindful of what can happen when a government has too much control, or say, over the people.  

Most of them had just lived through that nightmare, ….and some of them did not. 

Barack Obama, by contrast, has clearly violated his Oath of Office, specifically set forth in the sacred documents he so often spits on.  

He’s not the only President to do this, …but he’s the one at the wheel right now.  

Benjamin Franklin said:    “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Ronald Reagan said:    “Man is not free, unless government is limited.”

And he went on to say:   “As government expands, liberty contracts.”

The forced-upon-us choice between security and privacy is bogus.     Because, …there is no Privacy without Security, …and we can never be Secure, unless we can also remain as Private as we choose.     So a balance needs to be struck.  

The Bill of Rights, on the other hand, is the core, and the very substance, of the Great Experiment which is our American nation. 

It is the foundation of our ideals of liberty, of our individual rights, and of limited government.    And for true and honest “Law”, to rule the Land.  

At the same moment, it’s also designed to be an impediment, …to be such an “Inconvenient Truth”, …to those who are quick to ignore, and abuse it.  

And to those who attempt to use its power and majesty, …only for themselves.  

Keep a copy of it close, …it’s pretty good reading. 



Joe Facinoli
--Joe can be reached at:   joefacinoli@gmail.com  
Intelligent Response Encouraged !!
© Copyright 2014, Joe Facinoli


 
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