The Bill of Rights is not the source of our rights. It is not even a complete list of our rights. This is because the Founding Fathers did not believe our rights stemmed from the Bill of Rights. Nor did they believe they came about as a result of being American, Christian, or from European decent. Our Founding Fathers believed everyone had these rights no matter where they lived. They called them Natural Rights. Where these rights were not allowed, they believed they still existed, but were denied.
It's a question as to whether or not our rights exist apart from government. In a country where children have no civil rights, do they still have a right not to be molested? Do women, who live in countries where they have a 'second-citizen' status have the right not to be abused by their husbands, even if the government won't protect them? Is it too much of a stretch for you to understand that the Founding Fathers believed everyone has the right to free speech, freedom of religion, the right to fair trials, the right to Self-Defense and to Bear Arms? It's a question as to whether the rights of the citizens in any Nation are at the pleasure of their government, or if they exist from the moment the person is born, but are being denied.
Not sure how it relates to Our Freedoms? Take it a step further. If the government passed a law tomorrow that said we didn't have the right to free speech, the right to free worship, or freedom of the press, would those rights no longer exist, or would they simply be denied? If the Constitution is amended depriving us of our rights, do those rights cease to exist? The answer, according to the men who set up this country, is NO. Rights can Never cease to exist, even when they are being denied. Rights are something that come with being Human. The Founders never believed Unalienable Rights extended from government. If and when the United States goes away, these rights will still be there.
Then why include a Bill of Rights, you may ask? You're not the first person to ask that. Men like Alexander Hamilton asked it. He and many others thought having a Bill of rights was dangerous. They were afraid that the existence of a Bill of Rights as a part of our Constitution implied that the government not only had the right to change them, but that any rights not listed there were fair game for the government to deny. And, as a matter of fact, that's exactly what has happened. The government seems to have set itself up to be an interpreter of our rights; it acts as if it is also the source of our rights, and whatever rights weren't mentioned in the Bill of Rights, the government has seen fit to declare exist only at its discretion. But have you ever read the Bill of Rights? Specifically, have you ever read the 9th and 10th Amendments? It's important to understand what they say and know why they are written the way they are because they tie in with how the Founding Fathers viewed our rights and how they expected us to view them. They were put there to quell the fears of men like Hamilton who were afraid that any rights not mentioned in the Bill of Rights would be usurped by the government.
The 9th says: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." This means that any rights not mentioned in the Bill of Rights are not to be denied to the people. The 10th says: "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." So any powers not specifically given to the Federal government are not powers it can usurp. It's enough to show that the Founding Fathers thought we had a right, for it to fall under the protection of the 9th or 10th Amendment. This means that the Founders didn't even have to specify we have the right to free speech, religion, jury trials, or anything else. To understand what they felt our rights were, all you had to do was show what they said our rights are. Any rights in the first eight Amendments are just redundant with what the Founding Fathers considered Natural Rights. Then why do we have a Bill of Rights, you ask? Because even though Hamilton and others feared having one, most of the Founding Fathers were sure that without one the government would eventually take all of our rights. They are presently in the process of doing this.
"That all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it." (THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE - Action of Second Continental Congress, July 4, 1776).
You seek a Second Revolution. That is doomed to FAILURE, unless first we WIN the Hearts and MINDS of every American. Awaken them to their Heritage. Educate them about Freedom, our Founders, and the Importance of our LIBERTIES. Open their eyes to the TYRANNY plaguing us! Let us put to action the First Amendment, our Freedom of Speech, before we resort to the Second Amendment! Do this, and a second ARMED revolution will be Unnecessary!!
Stephen Byers, Sr.
© 2001 NorthWoods
----- Original Message -----
From: CNYWP@webtv.net
To: editor_rmnews@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2001 10:35 AM
Subject: [EDITOR_RMNEWS] Constitution.
The Constitution is GONE. Get that through your heads! Hey, I
know....you can use it for toilet paper when you run out.
You guys sit there and re-write crap when you know deep down what needs
to be done.
Yours for a SECOND revolution,
Tina L. Higgins
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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