The Christmas Conspiracy!
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What is the fundamental character of America? Why have so many millions of people wanted to live in America? For nearly 400 years our prosperity and liberty have been the envy of much of the world. But prosperity is inseparable from our liberty. Take away freedom of speech, association, religion and "the pursuit of happiness," and our country would be neither free nor prosperous. And Liberty is inseparable from good character. John Adams said:
Unique among modern nations, the United States was literally conceived in liberty. The guiding philosophy of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, George Mason and our other Founders was the inalienable rights of the individual. As the Declaration of Independence states,
America's Founders had experienced horrible demonstrations of the power of unlimited government: destructive taxation, forcible invasions of homes by government agents, interference with free trade, government spying on citizens, corruption and debasement of the legal system, imprisonment and murder of dissenters, and government destruction of churches. To avoid these evils, our Constitution and Bill of Rights (the first ten Amendments) were created, as strict limitations on the power of government. The Bill of Rights protects freedom of speech, press, religion, and assembly. It guarantees our right to keep and bear arms. It prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. It guarantees due process in a court of law, a speedy hearing, and trial by jury. It prohibits excessive bail, fines and punishment. Most important, the Bill of Rights guarantees that rights not explicitly granted to the government, are reserved to us as individuals. The genius of our Constitution and Bill of Rights is that they limit the power of government, not the freedom of individuals. Our government was only to be a moral policeman, stopping force and fraud whenever possible, and otherwise leaving citizens alone to live their lives in peace. Today, over 200 years after its passage, the Bill of Rights remains the supreme law of the land, and neither Congress, nor the Supreme Court, nor the President have the moral or legal right to ignore it. Sadly, government now has strayed very far from the original vision of limited powers. Today there is no aspect of our lives - public or private - that government regards as exempt from its jurisdiction and control. Government now seizes over half our incomes in taxes; regulates every aspect of trade and commerce; censors books, movies and art; seizes our business records and bank accounts; confiscates our guns; taps our telephones and reads our mail and electronic messages; dictates wages and working conditions; regulates our sex lives; and imposes fines and imprisonment with little regard for due process or justice. The vision of government as the servant of the people, rather than their master, has been lost. Here is how the Bill of Rights is being destroyed: AMENDMENT I
The great events of the American Revolution were plotted in Churches. The King and Parliament were denounced from pulpits for their violation of God-given rights. The delegates of several states met to ratify the Constitution in Churches. The sermon was the most powerful agent for political change. Today the IRS dictates to churches what they can preach about. Any criticism of the government could result in loss of "tax-exempt status." Churches today have been neutralized, and are politically irrelevant. America's most fundamental charters attribute our liberties to God. A Supreme Court Justice admitted:
Today students are not permitted to engage in voluntary public corporate prayer in government-run schools. They are not allowed to see a copy of the Ten Commandments on a classroom wall. Schools which teach that America's values of liberty and justice are the best in the world are subjected to lawsuits and told that any curriculum which declares that America is better than a socialist dictatorship is "illegal." In the name of "national security", government employees have been censored for life. To combat pornography, federal and state governments have imprisoned musicians, seized the entire contents of bookstores and video rental outlets, and have even prosecuted museums and art galleries. To "fight crime," hundreds of communities have enacted curfews and "anti-loitering" laws. Children who refuse to attend government schools can be imprisoned along with their parents. Freedom of speech, press, religion, and assembly are under siege. Our right to vote and petition our government is increasingly subjected to computer systems in which the ease of manipulating our votes vastly exceeds anyone's ability to detect the fraud. AMENDMENT II
Our right to bear arms is being gradually destroyed as the federal government, the states, and communities enact ever more repressive "gun control" legislation. Law-abiding citizens buy guns to prevent crime, while law-breakers buy guns to commit crimes. Laws against guns are laws against the law-abiding, because law-breakers will ignore those laws. Gun control laws raise crime rates every time they are passed, to the benefit of law-breakers. California made criminals of over 700,000 of its citizens with the stroke of a pen by banning many popular semi-automatic rifles. Washington D.C. has strict control laws and snipers and murderers galore. To fight government and criminal violence, Americans need the means to defend themselves more than ever, yet we are being legally disarmed. AMENDMENT III
Government does not need to quarter real live troops in your home if it can place your entire home under electronic surveillance. With cameras at every street intersection, it's no longer difficult to imagine a video camera on your front lawn, placing your home under 24-hour government surveillance. In Puerto Rico, National Guard troops have been permanently stationed in 54 apartment buildings. Government also destroys our privacy by wire-tapping our telephones, seizing business records and keeping extensive files on most citizens. AMENDMENT IV
Recent Supreme Court decisions have given the police nearly unlimited power to search houses, businesses and cars - in many cases without a warrant. In Florida, courts have refused to stop police from boarding buses, blocking exits and searching passengers. RICO laws and "anti-drug" laws have given government the power to seize all the assets of an individual or company without indictment or trial. Strip-searching persons arrested for even minor traffic violations is becoming more and more common. Courts and legislatures now consider virtually any government search and seizure "reasonable." AMENDMENT V
The Founding Fathers believed that no one should be indicted without a hearing. Today the IRS can seize your bank account, the FBI can take your computer, the Coast Guard can take your boat, and welfare authorities can take away your children, without any hearing or indictment by a Grand Jury. Increasingly, fundamental legal restraints on the power of government agencies are being abandoned. When local juries refuse to convict their neighbors for violating unjust state and local laws, government prosecutors will launch a second prosecution under identical federal laws, in violation of the right to be free from "double jeopardy." Private property is routinely seized by the government without compensation, often in the interests of "environmentalism." Federal, state, and local government property already accounts for 42 percent of the total land area of the United States. AMENDMENT VI
The United States has adopted the totalitarian practice of imprisoning defendants for long periods before trial. As a growing list of personal behavior and technical errors are criminalized, the court system is being impossibly over-loaded. It now takes years before most serious cases ever get to trial. The growing power of prosecutors, and government seizure of attorneys' fees, are destroying the ability of those accused to defend themselves. AMENDMENT VII
Less than 3% of criminal defendants now get a trial. Pre-trial detention is growing and some people have been imprisoned for over two years without trial. In direct violation of the Constitution, the Supreme Court has ruled that you don't even have to be given a jury trial if you face less than six months in prison. And if you have a dispute with the IRS, EPA or any of a dozen other regulatory agencies, your case will usually be heard by an administrative law judge employed by the same agency you are disputing. Judges routinely deny the traditional right of jurors to judge the law, as well as the facts of a case, and vote their conscience. Judges and prosecutors exclude any juror who won't agree to convict in advance, stacking juries to ensure convictions. These are precisely the sorts of abuses our Bill of Rights was designed to prevent. AMENDMENT VIII
By calling penalties "civil" rather than "criminal," government can seize all of your assets without trial or any other form of legal proceeding. Bail has been abolished for virtually all federal crimes, including crimes that didn't even exist as recently as ten years ago, such as "money-laundering" and "structuring." Punishments are becoming increasingly harsh. Teenagers are getting years or decades in prison for minor drug offenses. Businessmen are receiving long prison sentences for technical violations of incomprehensible tax laws and securities regulations. Ordinary citizens are being imprisoned for possession of banned literature, guns, and even medicines. AMENDMENT IX
The Constitution and Bill of Rights were intended as strict restrictions on government power. Those powers not explicitly granted to government were retained by the individual. Today the Constitution has been stood on its head. Courts are now saying anything the government wants to do is permissible, unless explicitly prohibited by the Constitution. Government now has nearly unlimited power, and the American people are losing control of their own lives, property, and destinies. AMENDMENT X
Power has shifted from the individual to the states, and from the states to the federal government. Federal aid to states has meant federal control of the states. By including the entire economy under the Constitutions "interstate commerce" clause, the Supreme Court has given the US Government control over every aspect of society. Your freedom is in danger. When government violates its own laws, it becomes the enemy of justice and freedom, rather than their protector. It is still possible to stop our descent into tyranny, but time is running out. To preserve our freedom we must passionately defend our moral and legal rights - by speaking out, educating others, and supporting pro-freedom groups - and demand enforcement of the highest law of the land, the Bill of Rights. Another version of this essay by Jarret B. Wollstein can be found here. Click here for the ISIL Store. next: The Oath of Office |
