chipping away

 What are the cornerstones of freedom? Many scholars have written extensively about all of that. They have done so since the ability to write was created. In America we often cite our founding documents as the definitive list of those cornerstones, the foundation of a republic. Those documents do lay out the causes for seeking freedom, the method to achieve them, and the mechanism to preserve them. But just what are they? The answer is quite simple. Free speech and the ability to defend yourself. Those two alone are that cornerstone. It does you no good to able to speak, without being able to back up that speech. Free speech alone will gain you nothing that others aren't willing to surrender. The ability to defend that speech is imperative. The ability to do so by brute force alone is also a necessity. That is why they are number one and two in the amendments to the constitution. 

 The constitution of the United States was ratified on June 21,1788. It had taken ten months after that famous convention in 1786. To say a lot of thought and deliberation went into writing this document is a vast understatement. In June of 1789 after the congress had been established and our government began to function James Madison began arguments for a Bill of Rights. There were literally thousands of proposed amendments. In December of that year ten amendments were added. 

 Madison showed the need to protect the rights of the people against big government. That is the sole reason these amendments were proposed and passed. It wasn't only the federal government but the government in individual states. Already majorities in certain states were passing laws that infringed on the rights of minorities in other states. The same concept as the need for an electoral college. That was included in the Constitution. What was needed was a Bill of Rights for the people that the government itself could not violate. The right to speak freely tops the list. The right to petition the government for redress is also among those rights listed in that first amendment. It means you can complain to the government or ask the government for help without the fear of punishment or reprisal. 

 The second amendment which is under constant attack these days is necessary to preserve the first amendment! That is a simple fact that those founding fathers knew all too well from direct experience. When the government is armed, and the people disarmed, it isn't a good situation! The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed! In fact, the second amendment contains the second shortest sentence in the Constitution. It is a simple declarative sentence. It is also true that our constitution at 4400 words is the shortest written constitution of any major government in the world. The framers/writers or whatever term you wish to apply wanted to be as succinct in their meaning as possible.

  All of this, this is what they wrote but not what they meant is just rubbish! They wrote exactly what they meant, especially so when it came to the Bill of Rights. They appeared as amendments due to a compromise. It was imperative that our new nation have a constitution. That constitution wasn't getting written due to the arguments over the bill of rights, the rights of the people. It was decided that the main body of the constitution, how our republic would function, would be sent for ratification to the individual states. Individual rights would be debated and added later on, as necessary. After ten months of deliberations that is exactly what took place. It was important to put the horse before the carriage! Each state in the union has its own individual constitution. Each one of those is much longer than the National Constitution. The reason they are so long is that they include a great deal more detail about the relationship between the citizens of that state and the state government. Can you drink beer at 18 or 21? That's the sort of thing state constitutions deal with. Long winded affairs indeed. 

 Today I'm seeing the cornerstones being chipped away. You can't say this or that. You can't possess a weapon without permits and permissions. Those permits and permissions are right there in the second amendment! The removal of those rights is a punitive action, justified in many cases, but punitive. Any citizen that has not done anything to be subject to punitive action retains the right to bear arms! What needs to be understood is that those are rights guaranteed to me by the constitution of the United States. I should not be subject to any punitive measures for merely exercising those rights. That isn't to say I am not subject to punitive action for the misuse of those rights. Thing is, I have to misuse them first! Exercising those rights are not a misuse of those rights! That is the fallacy many would have you believe these days. It isn't what the constitution says. It says, shall not be infringed. Pretty clearly stated in my opinion.