Our Battered Bill of Rights
The French Revolution of 1789 and the Russian Revolution of 1917 aimed to free the masses of oppressive regimes (think Deep State). But the American Revolution of 1776 was very different. Had the Colonists been afforded the same freedoms and fair treatment enjoyed by their English cousins, 1776 might be just another date on the calendar.
The trouble began when King George III and Parliament attempted to balance their budget by taxing the unrepresented Colonists. The Stamp Act taxed every document -- public or private -- even playing cards and newspapers. American lawyers and newspapers threw such a fit, the Stamp Act lasted only one year. Next, came the Townsend Acts taxing glass, lead, paint, tea, and, once again, paper. Taxing paper got the lawyers and the newspapers literally up in arms. Apparently, about paper, the Brits were slow learners. Tea was another no-no. You know the rest of that story.
Once rid of the Red Coats (until the War of 1812), Americans got serious about being a real nation. By March 9, 1789, the United States was under its new constitution. Still angered by the brutish treatment they suffered under the Red Coats, on December 15, 1791, they tacked on a Bill of Rights: Ten constitutional amendments designed to make sure such outrages would never happen again. Good luck with that.
Let’s look at the Bill of Rights after the eight years of Obama and two years of Biden*: 1st Amendment: Freedom of speech and religion are on life support. Allied together to protect the Deep State, the MSM and Social Media have run roughshod over freedom of speech and religion, (trying to force Nuns to buy condoms). Censorship of conservative speech and assembly on college campuses is routine. Selected individuals are banned from Social Media.
2nd Amendment: Every act of gun violence is met with attempts to take guns away from the people who don’t shoot other people.
Third Amendment: While we aren’t forced to quarter soldiers in our homes, open borders means our nation is being forced to quarter illegal aliens in enclaves selected to alter the outcome of future elections.
Fourth Amendment:. Searches and seizures, often unreasonable, are an FBI specialty. Even the home of a former U.S. President was ransacked. Personal items were taken.
Combining Amendments 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9: Many January 6th detainees were denied the process of law, held incommunicado, denied the rights of accused persons, denied the right to a speedy public trial, denied bail outright or even reasonable bail, and imprisoned under cruel and inhuman conditions.
Tenth Amendment: The rights reserved to the States are often ignored, sometimes by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The U.S. Constitution decrees the conduct of elections to be the province of the States. Some States do it fair and square. Other States allow political partisans to stuff ballot boxes, and shower residents, legal and illegal, with ballots to harvest and cast. Still, by and large, our elections have a way of shaping up and restoring our representative republic to be the envy of the world. Very soon, that assertion will be put to the test.
Suggested reading: Paper: Paging Through History by Mark Kurlansky, 2016. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, 2004.
©2022. William Hamilton.
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