December 15, 1791 marks the most momentous day
in human history. On that day, the first ten amendments
to the then-new United States Constitution were
ratified, placing severe limits -- for the first
time in in thousands of years -- on the power
of government over the individual.
Those amendments are commonly called the Bill
of Rights. Despite what lawyers, judges, politicians,
and policemen would prefer that you believe to
the contrary, they are the highest law of the
land. They are the result of a compromise agreement
between two distinct groups within the ranks of
America's Founding Fathers, the Federalists, led
by Alexander Hamilton, who wanted a "strong
central government" and, led by Thomas Jefferson
and Patrick Henry, the Anti-Federalists, who didn't.
To give you an idea of where the lines were
drawn, Henry is most famous for saying, "Give
me liberty or give me death". Jefferson wrote
the Declaration of Independence, kicking the King
out of America. He also said, "I have sworn
upon the altar of God eternal hostility against
every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
Hamilton, on the other hand, is said to have wanted
to call George Washington "Your Majesty".
Go to: http://lachlan.bluehaze.com.au/lit/jeff04.htm
And: http://libertyonline.hypermall.com/henry-liberty.html
It's very important to understand that the Bill
of Rights was the absolute condition upon which
passage of the rest of the Constitution depended.
Several states, in fact -- Massachussetts, New
Hampshire, Virginia, New York, and North Carolina
-- mentioned that in black and white in what amounts
to their provisional articles of ratification:
no Bill of Rights, no Constitution. And because
that "strong central government", of
which the Federalists were so enamored, derived
its authority from the Constitution, no Bill of
Rights meant no government altogether.
That's what it still means, today.
It's almost equally important to understand
clearly that nowhere do the first ten amendments
claim to generate rights or to bestow them upon
anybody. Instead, the articles recognize the existence
of natural human rights that greatly predate both
Constitution and Declaration, and prohibit the
newly-formed government from violating them. This
means that Congress could repeal the First Amendment
and yet it would have absolutely no moral impact
on the existence of freedom of speech, of religion,
or of assembly, since those rights are older than
the Constitution.
The Supreme Court could declare grandly that
no individual right to own and carry weapons exists,
yet that right would go on existing, exactly as
it did for tens of thousands of years before America
was born.
For more on what the framers of the Constitution
intended, be sure to see the historical and little-known
Preamble to the Bill of Rights at: http://www.jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/billrights.htm
Why do we say the Bill of Rights is the highest
law of the land? Because amendments are only made
to change the document in question, and to supersede
whatever there is in the main body that contradicts
them.
Thus, if the Constitution recognized slavery
as a legitimate institution in American society
(which, in effect, it does) passage of the 13th
Amendment -- which forbids "involuntary servitude
of any kind" -- clearly renders null and
void whatever was said earlier about it.
Go to: http://preview.tinyurl.com/27slxj
search for "three-fifths"
Also: the 13th Amendment at http://preview.tinyurl.com/yo9zxp
And if the Constitution raises treaties to the
same legal level as other laws and the Constitution
itself (which it does), they are still inferior
to the Bill of Rights and must comply with it
or be null and void.
That's the nature of amendments, after all.
See: Article 6, paragraph 2 at http://preview.tinyurl.com/24z777
These were all brand new ideas at the end of
the 18th century, but they are what America was
based on, and what made America great. To any
extent that America has been failing or falling
part more recently it's because the Bill of Rights
has deteriorated under abuse and neglect.
Naturally, over the past couple of centuries,
many power-hungry individuals and groups have
tried to get around the guarantees and protections
afforded by the Bill of Rights. The first was
probably the Alien and Sedition Act, but the Lincoln
Administration did horrible damage during the
War between the States, suspending habeas
corpus and illegally imprisoning thousands
of dissenters. World War I saw creation of the
Federal Communications Commission, inappropriate
to a nation with a First Amendment in its Constitution,
and the beginnings of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
a secret police organization unauthorized by the
Constitution. During World War II, Americans of
Japanese, German, and Italian descent were sent
to concentration camps. Ans perhaps hardest of
all on vital concepts expressed by the Bill of
Rights was the condition of eternal "cold
war" that soon followed.
Go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_and_Sedition_Acts
Since September 11, 2001, the catastrophes at
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the
so-called global "War on Terror", have
been used by government as another excuse, in
essence, to switch the Bill of Rights off, and
to resume treating people -- foreigners and Americans
alike -- the way they were treated by kings before
the Revolution.
It is time -- long past time, in fact -- to
put an end to all this dangerous authoritarian
nonsense, and reestablish the Bill of Rights to
its proper legal and moral place as the highest
law of the land. There are many ways of doing
this, but perhaps the easiest and most effective
is to celebrate December 15 each year as "Bill
of Rights Day".
Widespread Bill of Rights Day festivities will
fun -- and a whole new way of kicking off the
holiday season -- but they will also chill the
enthusiasm of the worst among America's leaders
for violating the rights of their constituents.
They will demonstrate to the Supreme Court and
other judicial entities that they do not have
the final say when it comes to rights. They will
not be permitted to weasel-word and wiggle-worm
the rights of Americans away while we all stand
and watch helplessly.
So before you deck the halls with boughs of
holly, or light up the Menorah, be sure to decorate
said halls with nice portraits of Thomas Jefferson,
Patrick Henry, and even James Madison, a Federalist
who nonetheless made an honest, good-faith effort
at reconciliation by writing the Bill of Rights
himself. Don't forget Thomas Paine. Fly a snakey
Gadsden Flag from your front porch. Buy yourself
a tricorn hat. Hang up pretty pictures of 18th
century cannon, flintlock rifles, and powder horns
-- you might even try the real thing -- and don't
neglect the modern teeth and claws of Lady Liberty,
the semiautomatic pistol, high-cap fighting shotgun,
and what is best called the "sport-utility
rifle".
For more ideas about celebrating Bill of Rights
Day go to: http://preview.tinyurl.com/ytfvv2
For those who are concerned about newcomers
arriving here from other lands who may not know
our language or appreciate the values -- expressed
in the Bill of Rights -- that comprise the very
heart and soul of what it means to be American,
the celebrated document itself is here, in sixteen
languages: http://www.jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/bor.htm
Or show them with the JPFO video, _Bill of Rights
or Bust!_ at: http://shop.jpfo.org/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=17
Light off some fireworks while you're at it!
If you won't defend your rights, don't complain
when you lose them.
Happy Bill of Rights Day!
Four-time Prometheus Award-winner L. Neil Smith
has been writing about guns and gun ownership
for more than 30 years. He is the author of 27
books, the most widely-published and prolific
libertarian novelist in the world, and is considered
an expert on the ethics of self-defense. His writings
may be seen on the following sites:
