In the Name of National Security

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Every U.S. President has taken this oath with their hand on the Holy Bible. The oath, as you can see is short and sweet and is primarily concerned solely with the President’s endeavor to preserve, protect, and defend the U.S. Constitution. Then why have the Presidents of recent past done so much to abandon the Constitution and rip to shreds the protections and rights that such Constitution affords Americans?

Nowhere in the U.S. Constitution will you find an exception to the enforcement of these Amendments. Nowhere does it say that the Bill of Rights is in effect, except if we are suffering the threat of economic collapse, attacked by terrorists, or it’s believed to be politically expedient to ignore these rights. And yet in the name of these very issues our rights have been trampled and disregarded by the very officials that we have put our trust and faith in to uphold them!

The most abused rights we’ve suffered as Americans are protected under the First and Fourth Amendments. Among other rights, the 1st Amendment protects our freedom of speech, religion, and the ability to petition our government for redress of grievances.

The 4th Amendment offers us protection against threats against our security in our homes and elsewhere and specifically protects us against unreasonable search and seizures.

Yet, as Americans, we have failed to put up any resistance to such blatant disregard for these rights.

The so-called Patriot Act has exposed all Americans to unreasonable search and seizure, a stay of habeas corpus, and the absence of “probable cause.” (See http://www.bestwebinformation.com/NationalSearchLetter.html) While you may think that this is perfectly acceptable treatment of a known terrorist, consider the ramifications of this abuse of power being inflicted upon you, your family, or your loved ones. If it can be used on your enemies unjustly, it can be used on you. If we cannot uphold the laws of America among our enemies, then for what purpose do these laws exist?

Obama is now secretly attempting to pass legislation that will permit government agents to tap into your personal computers at will. (See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHzKxtwuGzo) Guess the PC is no longer “personal.” No probable cause is necessary. No evidence. It’s soon to be legalized voyeurism now, folks.

When you are issued a “National Security Letter” you are not permitted to tell anyone about it, even your own attorney, in an effort to right any injustice that may be incurred by the issuance of such a letter. That’s right. You aren’t allowed any legal protection. It’s just you against the government in that case.

If you are labeled (justly or not) by the executive branch or one of the military tribunals as a “terrorist” or an “enemy combatant”, your Fourth Amendment rights are ignored perpetually without any evidence against you. If someone in power has an ax to grind against you, they can make your life miserable simply by putting you on a list of “suspected terrorists.” Think the government doesn’t make mistakes in this regard? Think again.

The so-called Transportation Security Administration is permitted to search you simply because of how you look, talk, or because you just so happen to be the “lucky number of the day.” And in a blatant violation of the Fifth Amendment, the TSA can unconstitutionally seize your property without due process of law or compensating you justly. Yet, millions of Americans tolerate this human rights violation every single day, sometimes many times a day to the same person, all because someone attacked our cities. It’s interesting to note that it was during a time of real war within the United States that such rights for protection were being spelled out by our Founding Fathers. A real war still did not deter them from sanctioning the value of human rights in all cases.

The simple flash of a camera on a freeway or at a city intersection automatically constitutes your guilt of the infraction of a traffic law, in spite of the fact that you are entitled to due process of law. They take your picture, you are issued a citation, and regardless of the extreme cost you may have to incur correcting such a wrong, you are guilty until proven innocent. Should you ignore such unconstitutional actions, a warrant is issued against you, in violation of the Fourth Amendment. In such instances and contrary to the Constitution, the burden is now on you to prove your innocence. (Note: Despite the fact that the UK has more surveillance cameras than any other country, the 2005 subway bombing was not stopped or thwarted in any manner.)

In spite of your right to properly defend yourself in a court of law against your accusers, the courts have sided with the government on countless occasions in preventing you from seeing their case against you, all in the name of “national security.” In other words, when an affidavit from a government official, void of any evidence or details, is sufficient to support their claim that divulging their evidence against you may compromise the security of our nation, then you can be tried and found guilty of their accusations without even knowing what you’re fighting against. Ironically, it is the ability of the government to abuse this sacred privilege that truly compromises the security of our nation.

Countless “Executive Orders” have been put into place which clearly trample our sacred rights under the Constitution, yet none have held the Presidents responsible. Why do we allow this to continue? Are there any willing to stand up and boldly state, “No, Mr. President, we will not allow you to continue to abandon our Constitutional Amendment Rights under any circumstances and corrupt our peace and security in our homes.”

Understand that these rights are not given to us by man. They are UNALIENABLE, and given to us by God. Man has merely reinforced those rights in writing within the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In fact, the need to put to writing those unalienable rights was such a moral affront to Alexander Hamilton, he vehemently opposed the drafting of such in the Bill of Rights, naively believing that all men already knew and understood such rights.

But in light of our shredded freedoms, this question has merit. Have the brave men and women all died with our founding fathers? When are our freedoms insignificant enough that we cease to fight for them? Shall we relinquish our protection to talk show hosts, newspaper journalists, and power hungry government officials who are no more true to freedom than Evil is to truth?

Shall we have a second revolution? Yes, but it must be a revolution of VIRTUE. Hate and evil will not win this war. Only bravery, truth, justice, diligence, and fairness will hold out victory over this kind of opposition. As such, the question now stands, are we even worthy of a revolution? Or shall we fight merely to hand over our government to yet another tyrant? Are there enough men and women of virtue in our nation to govern us justly? Or have they all hidden themselves away in apathy and ignorance?

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.