Stop Trying To Keep Me Safe

I am sick and tired of hearing that the first duty of a president is to keep Americans “safe.” I must have missed it, but where is that duty spelled out in the Constitution? In the name of keeping Americans safe, our government has launched the “War on Drugs” followed by the “War on Terror,” both of which, in reality, have been a War on Liberty. The government’s effort to keep us safe has eviscerated our Constitution, and like most jobs the government does, the results have been counterproductive.

I am sick and tired of hearing that the first duty of a president is to keep Americans “safe.” I must have missed it, but where is that duty spelled out in the Constitution? On the contrary, the first duty of government is to protect our God-given liberties. Speaking for myself at least, I have a word for the government: STOP TRYING TO KEEP ME SAFE! In the name of keeping Americans safe, our government has launched the “War on Drugs” followed by the “War on Terror,” both of which, in reality, have been a War on Liberty. The government’s effort to keep us safe has eviscerated our Constitution, and like most jobs the government does, the results have been counterproductive. Consider: The federal government is spying on us 24/7 – every phone call, every text message, and every Facebook post is monitored, and if you say the wrong thing, even though it’s completely legal, you could get visited or arrested for simply exercising your free speech rights. If you don’t believe it, read what happened to this veteran, as just one of many examples. Is your personal e-mail safe from government spying? Ask General Petraeus! The drug flow to our communities goes on unabated, and we have more people than ever that want to kill us. We can’t get on a plane without getting molested by the TSA, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the TSA have expanded their reach to train and bus stations, as well as the random frisking Americans on city streets. They are buying billions of rounds of hollow point ammunition (illegal under the Geneva Convention to use in war) and training thousands of young people to use them to handle domestic “disasters.” In other words, not only are these Wars on our liberties not working, they are actually giving the government unconstitutional powers that will result in an even greater threat – tyranny. If you think terrorism is a greater threat to our country than tyranny, think again. Rudolph Rummel, a political science professor at the University of Hawaii estimates that in the 20th Century alone, six times as many people were killed by their own government than those killed in all of the wars of the 20th Century – as many as 262 million! Clearly, you have more to fear from your own government than a foreign invader. If this doesn’t set off alarms in your head, then it should.

The War on Terror all started with G.W. Bush in the aftermath of 911. It seemed to play well politically, so it kept being used by candidates and presidents right up to the present time. One problem - It is NOT the president’s duty to keep us safe. I’m all for national defense, but not at the expense of our liberty. See the above statistics. Mr. Bush announced shortly after the 911 attacks, “We will not allow this enemy to win the war by changing our way of life or restricting our freedoms.” That promise was quickly broken. Obama, Congress, and the courts have since shredded what remained of our rights. The scary thing is that many Americans are OK with this.

The U.S. Patriot Act, which no congressman or senator read before its passage (just like Obamacare and the Stimulus), has trampled on the Constitution of the United States. Portions of the Act have been ruled unconstitutional several times, and there would have been others if the government had not dropped its opposition to several more cases before they reached the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, this Act still lives on with even more ambiguous language. Passage of this Act emboldened Congress to pass other, even more restrictive legislation, such as the National Defense Authorization Act, supported by both parties and signed by Obama, who has since given himself extraordinary powers via executive orders that would make Josef Stalin proud.

As for the War on Drugs, the courts long ago gave the police absolute power to seize cars and homes used in drug dealing, giving them all the incentive they needed to use their power unjustly. In the vast majority of drug busts, the charges are ultimately dropped, yet the property remains in possession of the police to be sold, with the proceeds going into their budget. If this doesn’t invite corruption, I don’t know what would. In the meantime, this War has turned our streets into battle zones, our young people into burglars and robbers, and our foreign allies into corrupt dictatorships where every honest official is in fear of their lives.

I’m not sure how many reading this have a firm grasp on just how much freedom they have lost as a result of these unconstitutional acts by our elected officials, but let me give you a glimpse. It is now 100% legal for a president and his top national security officials to determine, by themselves, that you are a threat. You may be a legitimate national security threat, but you may also be just a citizen activist whose outspoken political views threaten the reigning political party. Doesn’t matter – if the president and his henchmen want you assassinated, you’re gone. No arrest, no trial, no due process, no mess, even though you are an American citizen on American soil. Take comfort though. The president says he won’t abuse this power. Now doesn’t that make you feel all warm and fuzzy, and most of all, SAFE! But suppose instead of assassination, they simply choose to snatch you off the street and hold you indefinitely without a trial at a secret location just to silence you. They can do so legally, and they don’t even have to tell your family anything about your status. You just disappear. Kinda makes you long for the old days of the KGB in the Soviet Union, doesn’t it? You never thought it could happen here, but it has.

So let’s review: We’ve lost much of our First Amendment right to freely speak out against the abuses of the government without fear of retribution. We’ve lost the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures and to be secure in our houses and personal possessions. We’ve lost our Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment right to due process if we are suspected of a crime, as well as the Constitution’s Habeas Corpus provision to appear before a judge to hear the charges against us. The Sixth Amendment’s right to a jury trial and legal counsel are also history. And Obama intends to override the Second Amendment with his signing of the United Nations Small Arms Treaty.

If this hasn’t shown up on your radar screen yet, because you were too busy watching Entertainment Tonight and Dancing with the Stars, I issue a dark warning for you from Pastor Martin Niemoller who lived through the hell of Hitler’s Germany: “First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a communist. Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a Catholic. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me-- and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

If you don’t speak out, you may be next.

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