Yesterday was an unusually productive day: 16 pages written in just over three hours on civil liberties! In preparation, I re-read several pertinent essays composed by the Framers themselves regarding the topic at hand. Among that number was John Adams 1765 essay, A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law. With every word, I was taken aback at how Adams work was wholly relevant to our contemporary times. A case in point: The poor people, it is true, have been much less successful than the great. They have seldom found either leisure or opportunity to form a union and exert their strength; ignorant as they were of arts and letters, they have seldom been able to frame and support a regular opposition. This, however, has been known by the great to be the temper of mankind; and they have accordingly been labeled, in all ages, to wrest from the populace, as they are contemptuously called, the knowledge of their rights and wrongs, and the power to assert the former or redress the latter. That passage sent shivers down my spine. How is it that nearly 250 years have passed since Adams wrote that passage; and, yet, we find ourselves facing the same dilemma? How was this regression allowed to reoccur … and why? It is truly a case of a nation that has not learned from its past and, pathetically, repeated it. Within the context of American constitutional government, civil liberties are the most intangible of all rights and privileges and, yet, the most imperative. They are the guarantee that individuals will not only to be secure in themselves; but, also, to engage in activities of their choice within the perimeters of the law. They embody our right to be ourselves—to hold whatever beliefs we choose; to conduct ourselves in any manner we see fit; and, to pursue our own definition of happiness without the intrusion or threat of either the government, or of other people. As such, personal liberties are the truest of blessings we possess under the Constitution. Liberty has never been a safe proposition. The founding generation engaged in a long, bloody war to gain our nations independence from Great Britain; and, we dishonor them with every new piece of legislation that circumvents the rights for which they gave their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to establish. If we, the people, continue to accept the blatant subversion of our civil liberties in order to preserve our domiciles, we all shall wake up one day to find the door has been bolted and our every move under surveillance. Then, and only then, will we realize the value of the freedom we have so thoughtlessly pissed away.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 12:38:58 +0000
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