Saturday, February 23, 2008

You Don't Have The Right

Do you think you are a free individual? Do you think America is a free country? Think about it for a second before you rush to answer. While it may be true you are not locked up in a cage, you would be hard pressed to answer with any certainty that you are truly free.

The cavemen were free, the American Indians were free, that is before we came along and took their land and their freedom. No person who has granted authority to others which allow them to make decisions that affect their life can say that they are truly free.

James Madison once said that "The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse." When the Constitution was ratified by the several states it was a compact made between the states and those to whom would be granted certain specified powers to represent us in the government. It was never intended that they would become our masters.

That compact granted the newly formed central government the minimum amount of power which the founders believed were necessary to hold the Union together. At the same time it contained a Bill of Rights which contained certain rights that were considered off limits to any governmental legislation and therefore free from abuse.
The Preamble to the Bill of Rights states quite clearly, that "The conventions of a number of the States having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best insure the beneficent ends of its institution."

Notice the phrase '...further declaratory and restrictive clauses...' That term, by use of the word further, implies that there were already restrictions placed upon our government, that the Bill of Rights was supplemental to those already in existence.
If you will take the time to read through the Constitution you will see that it grants the President no power whatsoever to create law, that power belongs to the Congress alone and it is limited by the terms found in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. Any laws passed which are not authorized by that section of the Constitution are a violation of the compact between our government and the states, and the people themselves. Any laws which violate, or infringe upon those rights defined in the Bill of Rights is a violation of the compact as well.

What can our Congress enact laws upon? There are 18 clearly defined areas that the Congress can act upon. Any laws passed by them which step outside those clearly defined, or which violate our rights as defined in the Bill of Rights are ILLEGAL!!!!
Article 1, Section 8 states that our Congress has the power to:

-Lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

-To borrow Money on the credit of the United States

-To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes

-To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

-To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

-To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

-To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

-To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

-To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

-To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

-To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

-To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

-To provide and maintain a Navy;

-To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
-To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

-To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

-To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And

-To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

That is it, those are the only powers granted our government. However from the time of the ratification there has been disagreement over that last clause, the necessary and proper clause. Alexander Hamilton felt that that was flexible and granted the government certain unspecified powers. On the other hand, Thomas Jefferson felt that the term was self explanatory, that necessary meant only the powers that enabled the government to fulfill the other 17 clauses in Article 1, Section 8.

This clause has been the justification for all those who believe that our Constitution is a living document, subject to interpretation according to the current needs of society. It has also been the clause which has allowed our government to overstep its limited authority to the point that our government is no longer our servant but our master.

Our government no longer represents us and they have overstepped and abused their powers for so long that we have, at least most of us have, become accustomed to it. To prove my point I would like to provide certain things the government has done, or is talking about doing and I would like for you to see if they have been granted to that power by the Constitution.

The Congress gave the power to create our currency to a consortium of privately owned and operated banks known as the Federal Reserve Bank. These banks issue our money then loan it to our government, at interest, upon which we are taxed to pay back.

To sell our infrastructure to foreign investors who then charge American citizens tolls and fees for using them.

To send our children off to fight and die in undeclared wars? To use our military to defend other nations borders while leaving ours open to invasion. To force feed the world a system of government we no longer adhere to ourselves.

To snoop through your personal records, listen to your phone calls, monitor your e-mail, and monitor your financial transactions without a duly signed and executed search warrant.

To grant corporations tax breaks when they move their business overseas, hiring cheap foreign labor and displacing American workers.

To restrict your right to defend your home, your property or your family by attempting to take away your 2nd amendment right to keep and bear arms.

To enact government run health care so that every American is covered by health insurance.

To determine what our schools can and cannot teach our kids.

To take your income and give it away to other nations in the form of foreign aid, or to others within this country who are less fortunate than you are.

I could go on and on, but the point is that our government is no longer our servant, they are our masters. We have allowed them to legislate and regulate nearly every aspect of our lives. Americans no longer know what it means to truly be free. Our government has gotten away for so long that we neither know how to stop them or care to even try to stop them from continuing to overstep their authority.
Each step they take, every law they pass which is outside their granted powers takes us one step closer to complete government control of our lives. Soon it will be too late for you to stand up and tell your elected official that they have no right to do these things. Instead they will tell you that you have got it all wrong, it is you who have no rights anymore. Then my friends you will finally realize that you are not truly free, you are a slave.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree with you on the infringement of our rights. However, the government regards our rights as privileges, and, as such, they are granted by the government. Read the infamous 14th amendment carefully and you will clearly see that our lawful status has diminished from the time of our Founding Fathers. We our no longer a people with allodial rights to real property. We our tenants to the land. Even worst we our debt slaves to the banksters. Paul

The Zombieslayer said...

Shoot. I lost the comment I was going to write on this.

I think it's time we start reclaiming freedoms. I'm going to start listing things one by one that we need.

Anonymous said...

boy all those laws and rules & regulations are too confusing...

i think i'll get some unpasturized beer this weekend and see if the electronic mind control wears off.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful article! This part upsets me the most.
"To grant corporations tax breaks when they move their business overseas, hiring cheap foreign labor and displacing American workers."
This was twice brought up in the Bush-Kerry bebates by Kerry. Bush was silent on this. The voters should have reallized their president was not representing them but the corpoarations.