John Stewart Mill wrote that the only time that compulsion is justified by a government is out of self-protection. This means that laws are never justifiable unless they involve actions harming another individual. So, when someone takes pot, say, in their own homes, the government has no business intruding on that person’s rights. The government does have a right to tax it for revenue. But it does not have a right to tell people what is appropriate and inappropriate solely based on moral grounds.
This election is a struggle between those who would protect our freedoms and those who would take them away. There are many different ways the Republicans are working to take away basic liberties. They do so through laws, religious coercion, thuggery, intimidation, and scaremongering.
To attack our freedoms is a complete repudiation of what we have stood for as a country over the last 225 years. Through sins of omission and sins of commission, the Republicans have violated every single one of our Constitutional amendments. You know about how the Republicans use scapegoats such as gays, Muslims, and immigrants to scare people into voting for them. But here is a complete summary about how they violate or ignore every single amendment of the Bill of Rights:
First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
From day one, the Republicans have engaged in a systematic effort to establish right-wing fundamentalism as the law of the land. Some fundamentalist dominionists have gone so far as to call for the total establishment of old testament law, such as the death penalty for same-sex couples and the return of flogging as a punishment. And the Bush administration has always engaged in the suppression of free speech through their systematic attempt to dictate the subject of the day. They have engaged in scapegoating and demonization of people exercising their constitutional right to protest against the war and totally ignoring any petitions for the redress of grievances..
Second Amendment:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
This is frequently understood to refer to national guard units as well the individual right to bear arms. The Bush administration has denied people of their right to protect themselves in the event of natural disaster by systematically underfunding the National Guard. And furthermore, part of the reason there was so little help in the immediate aftermath of Katrina was the fact that many Louisiana and Mississippi national guard units and all their equipment was off in Iraq. And many of the other guard units’ equipment that was left over was substandard; for instance, a guard unit from Missouri took three days to make the 800-mile trip from Missouri to Louisiana.
Third Amendment:
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Back in the 1980’s at the height of the threat of nuclear war, there were plans by the government to seize all businesses and use them to quarter people in the event of a nuclear attack. There were plans to relocate millions of people in the event that the CIA were to declare that the Soviet Union was about to attack us within 72 hours.
This sets a dangerous precedent – it would not be surprising if the Bush administration would flout the Third Amendment by having soldiers going from house to house looking for evidence of so-called terrorism in such an emergency. And furthermore, there is the possibility – however slight — of the Bush administration or some future administration issuing a phony anthrax alert, say, and using it as a pretext to take away our freedoms.
Fourth Amendment:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Bush-appointed SCOTUS judges have continued to erode away at the Fourth Amendment by allowing police to enter houses without knocking without resultant evidence being suppressed.
Fifth Amendment:
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Bush himself weighed in on Guantanamo by claiming that he wanted nothing more then to close Guantanamo, but that the fact that the detainees were such evil men that he had no choice. But the Constitution and the Fifth Amendment make no such exception, meaning that Bush is guilty of selective interpretation. This is a typical pattern of behavior from the Bush administration – throw away parts of the Constitution that are not convenient for them.
Sixth Amendment:
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
The Bush administration has wilfully flouted the Sixth Amendment by the indefinite detentions at Guantanamo as well as the extraordinary renditions to Eastern Europe and Morocco.
Seventh Amendment:
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
The Bush administration refuses to allow doctors to negotiate as a group for lower malpractice insurance rates, driving up the cost of medical bills. If doctors are caught doing so, they can be either forced to turn over documents and sign lawsuit waivers or face massive lawsuits for “collusion.” Under current law, doctors cannot contest FTC complaints in court as mandated by the Seventh Amendment.
Eighth Amendment:
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
The torture at Abu Girhab and Guantanamo constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment as well as the renditions to other countries for torture in boiling water and other such barbaric methods.
Ninth Amendment:
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
This is the amendment that is used to justify the right to privacy. Essentially, it states that any right based on other rights stated by the Constitution can be used to enumerate new rights. It gives great flexibility to the courts; this is why, for instance, judges in the past have justified a right to privacy based on a penumbra of several different amendments. On the other hand, the NSA, the Patriot Act, and other such acts are systematic attacks on our right to privacy.
Tenth Amendment:
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.
This is what the Constitution states. On the other hand, Bush claims that any powers not specifically granted to other branches of the government are delegated to him, based on the fact that he has issued 750 different signing statements saying why he didn’t have to obey the law in question.