From Here & Back Again
By Jim Coufal
(Cazenovia, NY – Feb. 2013) The NRA, its lead officer Wayne LaPierre and many gun advocates constantly cry that their Constitutional rights are being taken away. In fact, they are railing about a right which they have had and do have, and which most gun control advocates do not want to see taken away.
At the same time, they – and most of us – ignore the many Constitutional rights that they, and we all, have lost to the Patriot Act, the threat of terrorism and the rallying cry of homeland security. Painting a common enemy and drawing attention away from deeper problems is a common tactic of those who do not have a strong case to make.
Many Americans also ignore the lost rights, probably because of lack of information and not having been personally touched by the loss.
The following brief narrative looks at some of the freedoms in the Bill of Rights and what has been lost.
1st. Speech, Association, Access:
The Patriot Act (PA) expands the definition of terrorism such that domestic groups engaging in civil disobedience can be labeled terrorists. The peaceful OCCUPY protesters were often treated as such. Librarians and other recordkeepers can be prosecuted if they reveal that the government has requested information on an individual, thus individuals are kept in the dark even as they are being investigated.
Without any suspicion of criminal activities, the government can monitor religious and political institutions regarding formerly protected rights. Of course, they do this selectively, just as J. Edgar Hoover surreptitiously investigated Martin Luther King and others. The government can also infiltrate such institutions. This is a return to domestic spying on law-abiding groups. Members of advocacy groups can be so investigated.
The federal government actively encourages all levels of government to resist or limit access to government records through the Freedom of Information Act. Immigration hearings once open to the public are now held behind closed doors. Many immigrants have been deported in secret.
2nd. Guns:
None, Actually, gun-owning rights have been expanded in several cases and states, such as letting the ban on assault rifle ownership lapse. Having a gun without also having freedom of privacy, assembly, free speech and others will lead to chaos.
4th. Unreasonable Search & Seizure:
Law enforcement may conduct secret searches and wiretaps, even in your home, without showing probable cause. All they must do is assert – not prove – their search is for “intelligence-gathering.” They may also monitor your Internet activity, including e-mail. They may demand personal records held by your doctors, employer, accountant or library.
Judges are involved in approving the search, but the magic word “terrorism” is usually sufficient to get approval. And those wonderful cell phones and electronic mapping devices are great tracking bugs. Don’t forget the cameras on so many street corners.
5th. Due Process
Any of us can now be jailed without a formal charge, without the right to confront witnesses or see the evidence against us, sometimes with indefinite confinement. Even if eventually freed, such unlucky people usually do not get so much as an apology.
6th. Legal Representation, Speedy and Public Trial
Tied to No. 5 above, people held as described have been and are being held indefinitely as they are denied access to and advocacy of a lawyer. This has been especially true in military prisons. The government may also monitor conversations between attorneys and clients in federal prisons.
8th. Cruel and Unusual Punishments
The U.S. government has taken individuals identified as “material witnesses,” sent them cross-country and held them in solitary confinement without charges or contact with their family. It has also sent some individuals asserted to be “terrorists” to their home country where it is known they will be tortured (so-called “rendition”). The U.S. Justice Department admits to using “physical and verbal abuse.”
14th. Equal Protection
Many Arab, Muslim and others have been registered with the government under the “Special Registration Program.” Over 13,000 are in deportation proceedings. None have been charged with terrorism.
It is so easy to give up freedom for temporary safety. Benjamin Franklin long ago warned that, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
History indicates they often lose both. The NRA shows that when riled up, a group of citizens can have a large impact on government policy and everyday life. It is very unfortunate, even hypocritical, that they focus on a right they haven’t lost, one concerned with killing, to the exclusion of so much else.
Another of our founding fathers, James Madison said, “It’s proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties. We hold this prudent jealousy to be the first duty of all citizens, and one of the noblest characteristics of the late revolution. The free men of America did not wait till usurped power had strengthened itself by exercise, and entangled the question of precedence.”
Some will say that is exactly what the NRA is doing about gun ownership. I suggest many of our rights have been more than experimented with: they have been usurped much more than gun rights. Focusing on gun rights is much too simplistic.
The fullest expression of our constitutional freedoms doesn’t lie in the words of the Bill of Rights, but in our willingness and ability to understand and support these rights. If we want to keep them, we must stand up for them…
All of them.
Jim Coufal of Cazenovia is a part-time philosopher and full-time observer of global trends. He can be reached at madnews@m3pmedia.com.
United States Bill of Rights
Preamble
Congress of the United States begun and held at the City of New-York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine
THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.
RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz.
ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.
Amendments
First Amendment – Establishment Clause, Free Exercise Clause; freedom of speech, of the press, and of assembly; right to petition
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Second Amendment – Militia (United States), Sovereign state, Right to keep and bear arms.
A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.[54]
Third Amendment – Protection from quartering of troops.
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Fourth Amendment – Protection from unreasonable search and seizure.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Fifth Amendment – due process, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, eminent domain.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Sixth Amendment – Trial by jury and rights of the accused; Confrontation Clause, speedy trial, public trial, right to counsel
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
Seventh Amendment – Civil trial by jury.
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Eighth Amendment – Prohibition of excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Ninth Amendment – Protection of rights not specifically enumerated in the Constitution.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Tenth Amendment – Powers of States and people.
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.