Saturday, November 1, 2008

How well do you know your rights?

Has anyone read the Constitutional Amendments I-X lately? Also know as our Bill of Rights, the amendments describe in great detail what rights we have a citizens of the United States of America. You know, the country we pay taxes to, support, and for some, die for! It states clearly in our IV Amendment that " The right of the people (us) to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated..."
Notice the word "effects" noting any and every possession a person might deem personal and of a possessive nature. IE. cell phones, computers, etc.
This means, from a practical sense, anyone listening, taping, transcribing or even looking at conversations between two US citizens in the normal corse of conversation is subject to criminal prosecution as described by our IV Amendment rights under the Law. Each count carrying its own separate judgment and consequence. So tell me, how many of us have been recorded by the current administration in the course of "securing our nation?" How many counts of constitutional abridgment can we claim when the smoke of this administration clears? Will that be somewhere in Bush's Presidential library?
I wonder if Republican judges interpret the law as written without attempting to change it or its original intent, why are we recorded in the face of this amendment? Why have we not overturned Roe vs Wade? If not expressed in the Constitution our forefathers clearly state in the Tenth and final Amendment, " The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."
This means if it ain't in there, let the states deal with it! Roe vs Wade, Religious activities in school, etc. are all issues designed for state consumption and not for the BIG GOVERNMENT to decide or even preside over! It is in these matters I find myself in ardent difference to the general concept of the Democratic party. While I will vote for Obama as the better of the two candidates in my opinion, I can only hope that we, as a country, begin to hold our leaders accountable to the document that afford them any degree of power at all. It may not have been written with me in mind but I'll damn sure understand it as a protection from ever losing the hard fought rights we enjoy today. Every man and woman in this country should know this document by heart, especially those of color and women that have only recently secured our rights to vote in the general spirit of the democracy. So I ask, have you read your rights today? Discussed them, thought about them, debated their meaning? If not, maybe you should. Maybe we all should.