Give Me Liberty not Security

Let me start by stating that I love the United States of America. I believe with all my heart that is the single greatest nation to ever grace the pages of history on this planet. I believe God Himself ordained and did establish this great nation through Godly men. Those men we call the Founding Fathers of the United States.

They were not perfect people. Yet they created a nearly perfect human governance document called the Constitution. Now when it comes to politics many would say I am a Conservative Right Wing Christian Republican. That is not true.

Yes I am a registered Republican and I usually vote for a Republican in local, state and national elections. However, I do not tow the party line. Yes I am a Conservative. Yes I am a Christian. But truth be told, I am a Contstitutionalist. I believe in the fabric of the Constitution of the United States.

I would defend that document, this nation and any man woman or child legally in this land to my very death. However, I must take great issue with some of the laws coming down the pike especially since September 11, 2001.

Now President Bush has decided he and his predecessors will have the power and authority to open up and look through mail without a search warrant. This is in direct violation of the Constitution. I don't care how you justify it. Benjamin Franklin's words of “those who give up liberty for security deserve neither” never rang more true. I believe there is more to that statement and it goes something like this: “Indeed for they shall quickly find they have neither.”

White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore, though, told the Daily News that “in certain circumstances – such as with the proverbial 'ticking bomb' – the Constitution does not require warrants for reasonable searches.”

This was reported in the Thursday January 4, 2006 edition of USA Today. Now a statement like that totally bothers me. What stops them from saying that every word in the Constitution is null in void in “certain circumstances” and who determines what those circumstances are?

Even the Police have oversight. The police have a check and balance. But when you have officials in high office that decide through strokes of the pen that the Constitution doesn't mean what it says, then we all need to look out because they will be coming for you and me and our families. Never for an instant believe that if you give them an inch they will stop at an inch.

When has the government, local, state or federal, ever stopped at an “inch”? They never have, they have always gone forward and taken a foot, then a yard. Now the Bush Administration is advancing and taking a rod. (A rod in measurement is five feet for those of you who are Rio Linda in the head)

If we give them the room and ignore this slight of the Constitution, our government will move forward and take a mile. At that point it will be too late. You will have lost your liberties in the pursuit of security. What America needs to do is stand up and say “NO” to this intrusion on our liberties. We need to elect people who will stand up for the Constitution. People who will not pervert the good work of the Founding Fathers.

This nation has been secure for over 200 years by following the Constitution. It can be secure for another 200 years by following that same document. Those words were written for a reason. They are not arbitrary. They are real, purposeful and living and breathing, like every man, woman and child who call this great nation home. Follow the rule of law and you will be secure with your liberties in tact. Subvert that law and you quickly slip into a Communistic, Fascist and/or anarchist society. Man was meant to live free. President Bush, I implore you, do not destroy the very nation you seek to protect by subverting the very document that gives you power.

There are other words that ring true, “As for me, Sir. Give me LIBERTY or give me death!” Because life without liberty is worse than death. And that is the view from a Conservative, Christian, Right Wing, Constitutionalist.