Have we forgotten why the American Revolution was fought? I think many have, so let me refresh their memories. King George was slowly chipping away at the colonists' civil liberties. The Stamp Act was passed and required all legal documents, permits, commercial contracts, newspapers, wills and essentially everything else in the British colonies to carry a tax stamp of the king.
Next came the Writs of Assistance Act which gave officers of the king authority to search a person's property without any reason - in other words federal agents of the king were creating self-written search warrants. That was one of the last strings. Things like Thomas Paine's book "Common Sense" and Patrick Henry screaming, "Give me liberty or give me death!" gave our founders the courage to take arms and save themselves from complete servitude to the king.
These founders understood the full power of a centralized government so they created the U.S. Constitution to protect themselves from government. The Constitution made it very clear that the state is here to serve the people, the people are not here to serve the state. Unfortunately the important purpose of this document has not been preserved.
Our founders would be ashamed of us if they were alive today. It started with the Alien and Sedition Acts - people were not permitted to publicly denounce the president or his cabinet. Then came the Civil War where Lincoln censored the press in the north, threatened to throw Supreme Court justices in jail, instilled a draft and suspended habeas corpus.
During World War I, President Woodrow Wilson approved the Espionage Act of 1917- people were not allowed to publicly oppose the war - and the First Amendment was officially gone. We all know what happened during World War II; President Franklin Delano Roosevelt locked people up because of their race! Italian and Japanese Americans were picked up off the street with no charge, no trail, forget about them! In FDR's opinion they were security risks so they should be jailed.
Then came 9/11. It was a horrible day of carnage; evil monsters attacked us and our government was caught unprepared. Within two weeks of 9/11 the government proposed the most abominable piece of legislation ever made by a free people: the USA Patriot Act - in reality the most unpatriotic thing possible. Let me tell you something: if any piece of legislation has the word "liberty" or "patriot" attached to it, run for the hills and bring cash! Now federal agents are authorized to break into your home and place surveillance devices anywhere anytime they wish. Wait, I thought our founders fought a revolution over self-written search warrants?
Congress took away our First and Fourth Amendment rights without even reading the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act was on the floor for 15 minutes and is 315 pages long - trust me, it does not read like a novel. How could anyone have read it in that time?
The government sold the Patriot Act with words like "the terrorists are everywhere, in our cabs, at our gas stations, under our beds." But in reality it is now the Feds who are under our beds. Do you know how many jury convictions there have been for terrorism under the Patriot Act? You guessed it: zero!
We are in dark times today. Our government does not preach hope anymore, it preaches fear. It is amazing the satanic bargain people enter into when fear is constantly preached.
Here is how the bargain goes: (in a whisper) "Hey. Come over here. Give me your freedom and I will keep you safe." It is sad that people fall for the bargain over and over again. They end up giving up both liberty and safety.
It was once said that "Freedom lies in our hearts. When it dies there it will not be bought back, but when it lives and reigns in our hearts no government can take it away."
Freedom is alive in one presidential candidate's heart undoubtedly. His name is Ron Paul, and he wants to restore America's founding principles and our civil liberties. That is why his campaign has been named "The Ron Paul Revolution;" it is America's second revolution that will restore what our founding fathers fought for and died to achieve.
This revolution can be done civilly through elections. Please research his name and vote in the primaries.
Let me leave you with this: "People yearn for security, and they look to the state to provide it, but they are calling upon a wolf to guard the sheep."
Information from - mises.org
Article inspired by Andrew Napolitano's new book "A Nation of Sheep" and speech "Civil Liberties in Wartime."
