April 6, 2009 - If someone were to drive up to your home, knock on your door, and as soon as you answered, barge in and begin taking your television, or your computer, how would that make you feel? Most likely you would be pretty pissed off and you would do something to try and stop them. After all, those items belong to you, and how dare they try to take them from you.

Think about that scenario for just a moment. Those items are mere possessions, they are something you bought with the money that you earned. Although no one has the right to come take them from you, they could still be replaced if need be.

How anyone could get upset over someone taking something that can easily be replaced, yet sit back and shrug their shoulders when their rights are being taken from them is beyond my comprehension? Rights once taken, are extremely difficult, if not impossible without bloodshed, to get back.

It is obvious to me that very few people in this country understand just how precious their rights are. Otherwise why would they sit back and let someone take them away without even a whimper? Worse, why would they vote for anyone who has made it clear that they intend to take them away.

Let’s get one thing clear from the beginning, government does not grant us rights. Our rights come from God, that is why they are called unalienable. In a letter to John Cartwright, Thomas Jefferson said, “Nothing…is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man.”

That sentiment was one of the very reasons our nation went to war with Britain, to secure rights which King George had infringed upon. That is why the Declaration of Independence states, “…that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness…”

Our government was established to preserve those rights, as clarified in the Preamble to the Constitution, “We the people of the United States, in order to…secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…” In a letter to James Monroe, Thomas Jefferson reaffirmed that when he said, “Natural rights [are] the objects for the protection of which society is formed and municipal laws established.”

Therefore, if our rights are derived from God, the only thing our government can grant us is a privilege, and a privilege is something that can be taken away at their whim.

Why in the name of God Almighty have we entrusted people to safeguard our rights, to do just the opposite and strip them from us? Our government has become so brazen in their disregard for these rights that former President Bill Clinton made the following statement, as quoted by USA Today, “We can’t be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans.”

You may not think your rights have up and vanished, but if you are of that opinion, you are either ignorant, or a fool.

Rights were so important that many states would not ratify the Constitution until some sort of Bill of Rights was written to safeguard them from the very government the Constitution was to establish.

If you still think our rights remain intact, allow me to give you just a few examples of how they have, in fact, been severely trampled upon by our government.

The First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” While this may sound like a legal technicality, the Supreme Court has done just that in banning virtually all type of religious material from schools and government buildings. It was not Congress which passed this law, but in making these rulings, the Supreme Court has overstepped its’ authority and legislated from the bench.

If I were to go to my son’s school and begin handing out religious material I would be run off the campus because it is considered illegal to force religion upon anyone in this country. It would not matter if a majority of the students actually wanted the material I was distributing, the law says I cannot hand it out because I might offend just one person.

What about the language of the kids in these schools? Do I not have the right to not have to hear the profanity that spews forth our of their mouths? What about the music they listen to when they drive by my home on the way to school? The songs, if you can call them that, are laced with obscene lyrics which degrade women, calling them all kinds of disrespectful names. Is it their right to subject me to these indecencies, yet I cannot talk about God on a school campus?

The First Amendment also states that, “Congress shall make no law…or abridging the freedom of speech…the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Once again, this is a technicality, but the courts have once again infringed upon our right to redress our government. There is a substantial number of people, myself included, who have serious questions about the eligibility of Barack Obama to hold the office of President. To settle the issue numerous petitions have been filed to require Mr. Obama to produce a copy of his birth certificate. A simple matter that would settle the issue once and for all. Yet he steadfastly refuses to do so. Not only that, the courts say that we the people have no standing on the matter.

Whether or not you agree with the concern that Obama is ineligible to hold office, it should be of great concern to you that the courts say that you, as a citizen of this country, have no standing to question things concerning the Constitutional legality of something our government does.

The Second Amendment states that “…the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” What part of shall not be infringed do people not seem to understand?

The Second Amendment was written not to give people the right to hunt, and not even to protect their home from would be criminals, although those are some side benefits of the right to keep and bear arms.

The Second Amendment was written so that the people could protect themselves from their government, as explained by Thomas Jefferson, “The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”

As I previously stated, these rights are unalienable, they cannot be taken from us, or regulated, restricted, or infringed upon. Yet why do we have to pass a safety test to be allowed to purchase a firearm? Why do we have to register our firearms? Maybe these rules are okay with you, but it certainly does not sound like a right to me, it sounds more like a privilege, and one which they are trying their best to revoke.

Our government has a proven track record, for anyone who cares to look, of infringing upon our rights. Our freedom of speech is under attack, as our government tries to pass some sort of Fairness Doctrine, which would prohibit the dissemination of certain ideas and beliefs.

Yet during arguments for Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, Justice Anton Scalia said, “Do you think that there’s a possibility that the First Amendment interest is greater when what the government is trying to stifle is not just a speaker who wants to say something but also a hearer who wants to hear what the speaker has to say?” It seems someone still gets it.

Yet with all the fear of terrorism, our rights to say certain things now will end up finding us labeled as subversive, or a domestic terrorist. Our communications are being monitored, infringing upon our Fourth Amendment right, which states, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures…”

I wonder, how would our government react if Thomas Jefferson were alive today, and he uttered, “I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.” Would Jefferson find himself in shackles and on a plane bound for Guantanamo?

Our rights are under constant assault, from politically correct people who are ignorant as to their purpose and intent, and from those whom we have elected to safeguard them.

Americans, in general still consider themselves a free people, endowed with an abundance of liberty. However, without rights, do we have liberty? The antonym of freedom is slavery. If freedom is defined as the ability to freely exercise our rights, I ask of you, are we really free?

In a letter to his wife Abigail, John Adams once wrote, “Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.” We, as a nation, are well on the way to losing the liberty that is our birthright, and was secured for us at the cost of much bloodshed and toil by our founders.

Have we become so complacent, so cowardly, that we refuse to stand up and fight to protect these sacred gifts of God? Is you precious television more important than your liberty?

I ask you to think about the early Christians, who faced certain death at the hands of the Romans, if they dare stand up for their beliefs. What kind of people are we in comparison to those early Christians, when we cannot pull ourselves away from our trivial enjoyments to defend our rights, yet they faced certain death for their beliefs?

I would much rather live life with the mindset of former Indian Chief Sitting Bull, who said, “If we must die, we die defending our rights.” If that labels me a terrorist, or subversive, so be it.

Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning,
Satan shudders and says “OH SHIT!!…. HE’S AWAKE!!”

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?“

~ The Author ~
Neal Ross can be reached for comments at bonsai@syix.com. Visit Neal’s Blog at http://www.zombie-slayer.com/neal

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