Civics 101

Besides being extremely physically ill today I am emotionally tortured by what has become of America. I am sickened by how quickly a Country can turn from a place admired by the rest of the world to a Country feared, despised and ridiculed. We were admired – not because we were so superior, as the Nationalistic blind followers want to proclaim – but because we were a Nation of laws, not of men. We were a Country that was governed by the people. We were a shining example of a Representative Democracy, where the government derived their powers from the consent of the people.

The rest of the world had faith that we the people would never stand for a brutal and out of control Executive. How disappointed the rest of the world is…we have let them down, we have not stood up against this Administration, we have not stormed the streets and demanded accountability, we have proven them all wrong – we are no longer a Representative Democracy. We are a tyranny, and by default, we have consented.

It is the rule of law that made our Country great and now that rule of law has been squandered, slandered, beheaded and neutered. What are we teaching our children if we say to them that it is OK to break the law, just change it and make the changes retroactive?

Even more disturbing is that this Congress is changing the law to allow for the torture and the illegal imprisonment of people. To the blind followers: these are not “dangerous terrists”, these are people. They have not yet been convicted of anything and most have not yet even been charged.

There are a couple of great posts at Digby and at Balkanization about this. Unfortunately, there is not very much information at our Democratic leadership’s sites or at any of the campaign committee sites. They seem to have nothing to say about the sellout of America’s humanity.

America was founded on the ideal that we would no longer put up with tyranny.

"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security."

The men who signed their names to this document, our Declaration of Independence, knew that they were committing an act of treason with the stroke of their pen. They knew that they had put their own lives in danger and their families. They knew that they could be hanged and they understood that their personal futures were bleak. Most of them died penniless and in hiding. It did not matter to them because the ideal of the future that they were creating, for their posterity, far exceeded the personal danger that they faced.

The power and hope in the few words of this declaration are unmatched. They are unmatched because this was the beginning of a thinking society. A period of enlightenment, an age of reason, where we would throw off the shackles of superstition and irrationality and move forward with reason and study and bold new frameworks for existence.

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

"That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;"

This passage declares that we all have rights. It does not exclude terrorists – or those proclaimed terrorists by this villain sitting in the Whitehouse. America threw off the noose of a king when those men signed this document. We remained free until the 2000 election. America was hijacked then, a coup took place and we did nothing.

Eleven years after this Declaration was signed we held a Constitutional Convention, a very well studied and discussed deliberation where we decided what we would accept as the governing framework of our land. In response to a growing concern that the Constitution, as it stood, allowed for too strong a central government, and without further restraints would lead to tyranny, The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments were adopted.

I am quoting all of them, in full. It has become clear that Americans need a reminder of what these are and what they mean to us as a society.

I - Freedom of Speech, Press, Religion and Petition

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

II - Right to keep and bear arms

A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

III - Conditions for quarters of soldiers
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

IV - Right of search and seizure regulated

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

V - Provisons concerning prosecution

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.

VI - Right to a speedy trial, witnesses, etc.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

VII - Right to a trial by jury

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

VIII - Excessive bail, cruel punishment

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

IX - Rule of construction of Constitution

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

X - Rights of the States under Constitution

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 IV, V, VI, VII and VIII are violated with this proposed legislation. There is no discussion of the seriousness of this by our elected Representatives and we are not taking to the streets and demanding that this be stopped.

I wonder what it will take for Americans to stand up. I just hope that it is not too late.