The First Amendment gives the
guaranteed right of freedom of speech, the press, religion, the
people to peaceably assemble and to petition the government for a
redress of grievances. Five basic, God-given rights that the
government cannot take away from us as United States citizens. These
rights are not to restrict the people but to restrict the government.
Congress cannot legislate any law that would restrict our rights to
speak our minds verbally or written, it cannot restrict our right to
assemble in public as long as there is no violence, it cannot
legislate a certain religion over another, and it cannot keep us from
suing the government over things we feel that the government is doing
wrong.
This Amendment, ratified by the States
on 15 December 1791, made sure that the experimental government of
the new nation would not, could not, become a tyrannical dominion
over how the people talked, wrote, worshipped, assembled, and that
the people could go before the governing body and complain about how
they were governing. Those founders, all the citizens of the new
nation, had just fought a long and bloody war against the mightiest
country in the world to free themselves from a tyrannical government
that did restrict everything in their lives. Thousands died to free
the colonies from King George’s iron-fisted rule over them. Wasn’t
that why they came to the New World in the first place? To be free
from tyranny? To be able to speak freely, worship as they pleased,
and to be able to gather together without fear?
Flash forward to 2010.
Over the last 234 years, this nation has
become the world’s leading power. We have become the bastion of
freedom. Downtrodden people the world over want to come to the United
States so they can enjoy the freedoms that we took for granted. They
want to be able to speak their mind, write down their opinions for
the world to read, worship whatever deity they want without worrying
whether they will end up in chains, and they want to be able to
assemble wherever and whenever they want for whatever reason, even to
protest against the government that welcomed them in. America is the
beacon in the night for a world kept in darkness.
Barack Hussein Obama, the first
multi-racial President of the United States, promised ‘hope and
change’ for the nation that was the ‘hope and change’ for
millions of immigrants. He wanted to ‘fundamentally change the face
of the nation.’ In other words, he didn’t like it the way it was.
He didn’t like that America had the leading economy, that
individualism was what made this country wealthy, strong, and great.
He didn’t like that conservative voices spoke out against him and
his policies. He didn’t like that he had to go through Congress to
make his policies law. He didn’t like that law enforcement actually
upheld the law against any who broke the law, including his fellow
blacks. He didn’t like that when a young man, while robbing a store
at gunpoint or threatening the life of law enforcement, would get
shot and killed. He didn’t like anything about America; except that
he had the rights that everyone else did while becoming the leader of
the free world. Now that he had made it, he was going to change it.
Change it, he did. He legislated by
Executive Order because Congress wouldn’t pass his unconstitutional
laws. He turned his head from the violence against law enforcement
and rioting by minorities. He used his position against conservatives
and conservative companies by ordering his DOJ and the IRS to target
those people and companies. He went around the world apologizing for
America’s ‘crimes.’ He opened his arms to our enemies and
spurned our allies. He invited millions of ‘refugees’ from enemy
countries into the United States with little to no vetting. He
changed the face of the nation from a world power, respected by
everyone, to a weak, effeminate, disrespected country.
With disregard to the wants, and
safety, of the people, he allowed men into the women’s bathroom. Why would he do that? His political correctness changed our
vocabulary. His policy negated our freedom of speech and our right to
petition against government overreach. The press became his
propaganda agency. Christianity was all but outlawed. Our history
was being erased, one statue at a time, one picture at a time, one
book at a time. He refused to acknowledge individual greatness by
saying that it took everyone to create anything, no one person ever
created alone. He brought racism back in force by claiming that
minorities were still oppressed by the white population. It didn’t
matter that he, his partner, his pastor, his mentors, and his
colleagues that were minorities had achieved greatness because of the
privileges of this nation.
There are black, Hispanic, and Asian
people that have achieved great things because of what this country
is. People like Ben Carson, a man that was raised in poverty that
became a leading neurosurgeon and on to become HUD Secretary. General
Colin Powell. Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Representatives Kamala
Harris, Cory Booker, Maxine Waters, Frederica Wilson, Elijah
Cummings. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Athletic superstars
such as Magic Johnson, Mohammed Ali, Jackie Robinson, ‘Refrigerator’
Perry, Tiger Woods. All these people are modern, black Americans that
achieved greatness. Most were not privileged growing up. They
overcame their disadvantages to gain greatness because of what
America is, the greatest country in the world. Even those, such as
Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson, that speak against the
greatness of America can become great.
There have always been those that spoke
against the country, against the President, against governmental
policy, and that has always been their right. In days past, people
have protested policies and unfair laws. How were those protests
conducted? Peaceably. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. protested the way
blacks were treated. He blocked traffic by walking down the middle of
the street with hundreds, even thousands, of people with him. Were
stores looted, people beaten, fires started, or lawmen killed? Not
when he was there. Dr. King peaceably protested just as the
Constitution says we can. Were there riots and lawlessness during
those days? Of course, but Dr. King didn’t condone that behavior.
Once again flash forward to 2010 and
compare the way protesters conduct themselves. Fires, looting,
killings, and destruction of property are all a commonplace
occurrence for today’s protests. Our right to petition the
government and peaceably assemble has been taken to new levels.
During the Obama Administration, law enforcement was made a target and
the President did not say a word. Whole neighborhoods were destroyed
by such groups as the Muslim Brotherhood, Black Lives Matter, and the
Black Panthers and nothing came from the White House against these
people. Why? Because they had the right to assemble, petition, and to
say what they want. I really don’t think the Founders had this
behavior in mind when they guaranteed those rights.
Before we became an independent nation,
before the Constitution was written, before our rights were
guaranteed by the government, we were controlled by a tyrant across The Atlantic Ocean. King George never set foot on American soil, yet he
ruled us, by proxy, with an iron fist. The colonists, once taxed
beyond what they thought was fair, went to Boston Harbor and rioted
by destroying a shipment of tea. Why would they riot and destroy
property? They did it to get the King’s attention. They had tried
everything they could from letters to personal appearances before the
King to petition their grievances. The King ignored them. They had to
do something drastic.
That is one of the reasons that the
First Amendment is first. We can go before the government and
petition against policy and law. Are we always successful? Of course
not. There are plenty of laws on the books that are unfair,
unnecessary, and even unconstitutional. But, for over 200 years the
people’s representatives actually represented the people. If they
didn’t, they were voted out and others replaced them. Power
corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The liberal left has always deemed it
their mission to subvert our freedoms. They fought against freeing
the slaves. They organized the Ku Klux Klan to intimidate those that
were freeing the slaves and to keep slaves indentured. They have done
what they could to limit our rights and freedoms; and they have done
this discreetly behind our backs, a little at a time so as not to be
too conspicuous about it.
In the 50s Senator Andrew McCarthy went
full steam against communism. A lot of innocent people lost their
livelihoods and freedom because of an accusation of being communist.
America had fought a war alongside the rest of the world to combat
the threat of a communist take-over. Why would an elected official do
such a thing? Why would the government limit what the people could
talk about and believe in? It was because of the threat against our
rights and freedoms. Communism directly goes against everything that
America was built on. Was Senator McCarthy right in doing what he
did? Some would say he was. Was it necessary? Some would say it was.
Was it conducted in a non-tyrannical way? Absolutely not. Presumption
of innocence was thrown out the door and the accused had to prove
he/she was innocent; for that reason, he was wrong on all counts.
Now, flash forward to 2015 and on to
the present year of 2019. Donald J Trump stood at the top of the
escalator in Trump Tower to announce his candidacy for President.
There were a lot of candidates on the Republican side, well-known
people that had served the nation as elected officials and had done a
fairly good job for the people. Why did Trump feel as though he
needed to give up a billionaire lifestyle to serve as the leader of
the free world? He did it because he loves this country and could see
the corruption in government, and he wanted to clean it up. It was as
simple as that.
What was the Democrat’s reaction to
his announcement? “There’s no way that Trump could win. He won’t
even get the nomination.” The nomination he got. The Democrat’s
reaction to that? “He can’t win against Hillary Clinton.”
Election night, 2016, the results coming in as fast as they can, and
Trump is winning. The Democrat’s reaction? “Impeach him!” The
“Impeach him” rhetoric has not stopped since.
The Obama DOJ used false information,
bought by Hillary Clinton, to obtain warrants to spy on the Trump
campaign, the Trump transition team, and the Trump Presidency. For
over two years the Democrats had an investigation going to prove that
Donald J Trump and his campaign colluded with the Russians to win the
2016 election. Our government, that guaranteed our rights and
freedoms against such actions, unlawfully spied on Americans. The
presumption of innocence was gone. The mainstream media, throughout
this whole ordeal, continually ‘reported’ on the lawlessness of
the Trump Train.
Freedom of the press (which today
includes newspapers, television, radio, and internet social media)
failed the country. The mainstream media did not report the news. They
did not verify any information. They just reported rumor and opinion
as the news and truth. Even Bernstein and Woodward did their best to
verify what Deep Throat told them about Watergate. Not today. But the
Constitution guarantees the right to a free press and freedom of
speech. They could say, write, and report what they wanted. They have
the Constitution behind them.
Political correctness is another form
of limiting speech. With the sexual revolution of the 21st
century, there are now about a million different ‘genders’ and
each one has its own name. Far-left liberals are demanding that
anything connected with men can no longer be spoken. Just recently I
heard on The Wilkow Majority that some university in the North East
has declared that using the word “guy,” or “guys,” is
offensive and is no longer allowed. Across the country there are
many, many terms and phrases that cannot be spoken because of being
offensive to some people.
With the freedom of speech comes the
freedom to offend. It doesn’t matter whether a word or phrase is
offensive to some minority, it is the freedom to speak your mind.
Without freedom of speech, the right to speak your mind, there is no
debate, no sharing of ideas, therefore there is no differing
opinions. You are limited to one way of thinking. When government
begins to limit speech, it is time to take a closer look at that
government. Maybe it is time for a new revolution. With political
correctness as the form of speech in today’s world, and this is not
just in the United States but worldwide, the people are becoming
more and more controlled.
How do we stop this limiting of speech,
the irresponsibility of freedom of the press, rioters using the
freedom to protest to destroy property, needing a permit to have an
assembly, and the freedom to worship taken from public places? We do
it with the Second Amendment.
The founders knew what they were doing
way back in 1789. The knew what government could, and would, do if
left unchecked. The Constitution set up the way the government would
be run. The first ten amendments, The Bill of Rights, limited the
power of government and guaranteed the basic rights that the Creator
gave to all men. The American government has been whittling away at
those rights for decades. It is just in the last 10 years that the
Left has not even tried to hide that fact. Believe me, it is not just
the liberal Democrats that are doing this. The conservative
Republicans are just as guilty, they just continue to hide what they
are doing.
As the First Amendment gave us freedom
of speech, the press, to worship, petition the government, and
peaceably assemble, the Second Amendment guarantees our right to keep
and bear arms. This is no small thing. This amendment is not just so
that Americans can go hunting every fall. This amendment guarantees
that the citizens of this country can protect themselves against
tyranny and take-over from enemies, whether foreign or domestic. The
Founders knew that without an armed citizenry, the government could,
and would, turn tyrannical. The people would be subjugated once again
as they were under the rule of King George. The Second Amendment is
also the only one that states clearly that it ‘shall not be
infringed.’
Once a country is unarmed, it is unable
to protect itself from anything. If only the government has weapons,
then the government can do what it wants to the people. Without the
right to keep and bear arms, we, the people, the rightful owners of
the country, cannot protect ourselves from the government. Washington
DC could, and would, do as it pleased. Just as with political
correctness going against the freedom of speech or taking down and
not allowing any Christian symbols on public property, the rest of
our freedoms will go away.
Listen to the 2020 Democratic
candidate’s policies. What do they want to do with the country? In
a nutshell, they want to do away with the capitalistic, free market
economy and make it socialistic and controlled by government. They
want to open our borders to all comers regardless of who they are.
They want to tax the rich into poverty and redistribute that wealth
to the poor. They want to pack the Supreme Court so that they can get
more liberal Justices. They want to allow abortions up to, and even
after, birth. They want to eliminate the Electoral College. They want
universal everything from healthcare to education to income. They
want to eliminate the Second Amendment and limit the First Amendment.
This is not just an opinion. These are policies coming from the
mouths of the candidates; all of them.
What does that say to you? When a
government wants that much control over a nation, what kind of
government is it? Is it a limited government that is bound by the freedoms of the people? No. It is a dictatorship that wants total
control over the people. It is what happened in North Korea,
Venezuela, China, Russia, and a host of other nations that went to
socialism and then on to communism. The Democrats espouse the virtues
of the Scandinavian countries that have socialism. What they don’t
mention is that those countries are taxed to the point of very little
private ownership, limited speech, and no right to petition against
the government.
It is known by the State of California
that everything they don’t like should be against the law in the
rest of the country. Thankfully, it is known by the rest of the
country that California is full of morons. Let’s be honest, just
this month the State of California outlawed plastic straws and
declared the NRA a terrorist organization. They have safe places for
addicts to shoot up; the homeless are defecating and urinating on the
streets, there are used hypodermic needles laying everywhere; the
homeless are sleeping in doorways and entering businesses begging for
handouts; and tent cities are abundant. San Francisco and Los Angeles
are beginning to look like third world countries and the State
decides to outlaw straws instead of taking care of the major
problems.
To give the devil his due, the State of
California is a sanctuary state for illegals and those illegals are
given free healthcare, free food, and housing; and they don’t have
to worry about being deported by ICE.
What am I saying here about California
and what does it have to do with the rights and freedoms of the
citizens of the United States? The State of California cares more
about illegal aliens and THEIR rights than about their own citizens
safety and rights. It is just this type of government that makes the
Bill of Rights necessary; especially the Second Amendment. What
California is doing is usurping its power. Granted, what isn’t
specifically enumerated in the Constitution as powers granted to the
Federal Government is left to the several states. That doesn’t mean
that those states can take away the rights of the citizens guaranteed
by the federal Constitution which is the Law of the Land.
The State of California and the State
of New York are the two most populated states in the Union and have
the most representatives in Congress. Because of this these two,
far-left, states have a lot of say in legislating. Thank the gods of
every pantheon that regardless of what the House of Representatives
try to pass, it only takes a 51 vote against any bill in the Senate
to keep it from becoming law; and the Senate has only two votes per
state so each state has an equal voice. That doesn’t mean that
California and New York don’t try to push their far-left ideology
on the rest of the nation; they do.
If you look at
these two states and what is happening there you can see just how
much of a failure the far-left’s ideology is. People are leaving
California and New York by the hundred because of high taxes,
regulations, and crime. These people are moving into mostly Red
(conservative) states where the taxes are reasonable, crime exists
but not prevalent, businesses thrive, unemployment is low, and people
are happy. The only problem with this is that these Californians and
New Yorkers take their liberal ideology with them and do their best
to turn that Red state Blue. Simply put: they do their best to turn
an economically prosperous, business-friendly, low crime state into
what they just left.
There will come a day when the
socialists gain enough support in Congress to change the nation from
our Constitutional Republic into a socialist/communist state. I just
hope that that day does not come in my lifetime.
