Jews For The Preservation of Firearms Ownership, Inc.
P.O. Box 270143
Hartford, WI 53027
Phone (800) 869-1884
Fax (425) 451-3959
The Answer to a Corrupt Justice System: Embrace the Bill of Rights
When the U.S. Supreme Court took the coward's course earlier this week and refused to hear the key Second-Amendment case, Silveira v. Lockyer (http://KeepAndBearArms.com/Silveira/denied.asp), they took a big step in the direction of destroying respect for law.
It was an outrage to shove a vital constitutional case into the judicial wastebasket. But it was no surprise. The Supreme Court—in fact, most of the U.S. judicial system—has been rapidly making itself irrelevant for years.
When the Justice Department wants a rubber stamp on government abuses, the Supreme Court is right on the spot—as they were this week with their unanimous decision that masked police can kick down your door if you're in the shower, asleep, tucking in your child, or dealing with an emergency and can't answer their knock within 20 seconds. ([very long URL]).
But on crucial constitutional issues (especially the crucial gun-rights issue), the justices dodge, weave, and stick to technicalities. Since lower-level trial courts now refuse to allow constitutional issues even to be raised, anyone who cares about the highest law of the land is in a pickle if they expect the court system to help them.
Lower federal courts are no better. As William L. Anderson writes for the Von Mises Institute, a federal judge has just decreed that nearly everybody can be sued for failure to prevent the 9-11 hijackings—except the federal government, whose policies and failures helped set the stage for catastrophe. (http://www.mises.org/fullstory.asp?control=1387)
The law has become a cruel hoax, backed up by a corrupt and unprincipled court system. The powerful exempt themselves from justice at every moment, making it clear that only private individuals and companies must suffer. Why should anyone respect such an institution?
As a purely pragmatic matter, we must care about what the Supreme Court and other courts do. After all, we have to live with their decisions. But when it gets right down to it, it's foolish to imagine that any handful of individuals (even better, more courageous individuals than these) have ultimate power to determine your rights.
Your rights come from G-d!*
Amid all this bad news, there's some very good news.
Around 200 communities have passed anti-Patriot Act resolutions, pledging their governments to refuse to enforce unconstitutional portions of that law.
One of those communities, Mendocino County, California, also passed (just this week) a resolution declaring December 15, 2003 Bill of Rights Day. The Mendocino effort was spearheaded by no less than District Attorney Normal L. Vroman. And we're proud that the language of the resolution came from JPFO.
Nassau County, New York, also passed a Bill of Rights Day resolution, using language written by our own Richard W. Stevens. We owe a vote of thanks to JPFO member Alan Chwick for making this happen.
These resolutions are more than mere acts of symbolism.
In every country, when people begin to realize the laws are corrupt, and that the people making the laws are the criminals, the regime is doomed. Sometimes the collapse of law leads to chaos. In America's case, because we have a historic grounding in liberty, the fall of a corrupt system could bring about a rebirth of a Bill of Rights culture. These Bill of Rights resolutions signal that the American people are gradually marshalling to take their own country back.
And they're looking in the right direction—not to courts, elections, or conniving politicians, but to the fundamental, inalienable, G-d-given principles enshrined in the Bill of Rights.
We urge you to support Bill of Rights Day in your own community, to note it on your Web sites, to tell your friends about it (and give them copies of the Bill of Rights, which you can find in many languages on the JPFO Web site—http://www.jpfo.org/bor.htm).
Don't waste your energy complaining about or trying to "reform" a system that is basically untouchable. Put your efforts into restoring the freedom-loving culture of America from the grassroots up: Start honoring Bill of Rights Day. And work toward the time when the Bill of Rights will be honored every day of the year.
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To learn more about how to promote Bill of Rights Day in your area, see http://www.jpfo.org/bord.htm.
If you've got friends or relatives who refuse to believe how close to a police state the U.S. is becoming, give them copies of The State vs. the People by Claire Wolfe and Aaron Zelman. (http://www.jpfo.org/tsvtp.htm) This important book shows what historical police states have been like, then compares their features to those of contemporary America.
* We spell it G-d because in Judiasm it is considered
disrespectful to spell out the Creator's name in non-sacred
settings.
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