Do you live in a free country? I think not

I am a U.S. citizen.  For my entire life, I have been told that I live in a free country. “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” “The Star Spangled Banner” “America the Beautiful” etc, etc.  Those songs are propaganda.

We do not live in a truly free country.

True freedom is doing whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want.

Of course, part of living in a civil society means surrendering some of those rights.  (I really don’t want to run down the street covered in green Jello anyway.)  I respect your property rights, and my right to swing my fists ends at the tip of your nose.  But what is truly happening?  I sense an erosion of those rights. George Orwell’s “Big Brother” is waiting to make his entrance onto the stage.

NSA wire taps, drones, police and Federal questioning of “why you’re here?” TSA searches of grandmothers with diapers, as well as 2 year-olds.  Homeland Security (boy, does that sound Nazi-ish or what?) conducting random searches in the Southwest (NOT at border crossings, mind you.)  All violations of the 4^th Amendment.

Born here or Naturalized… we all have the same rights.  Read the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. Learn them. Live them.

Here is my encapsulated version of the Bill of Rights:

1. Speak, listen, and read, worship if you wish… learn.
2. Protect yourself, your family, and your community.  Live your life without fear.
3. No military service member shall reside in your home without consent.
4. A big one… the right to be secure in your person, possessions, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizure. That is a big one these days. Should I censor myself on the Internet, simply because it can be an enduring and somewhat public record? No, but it is not an infinite right. Because this ties in with the 1^st.  I can say what I want, wherever I want… but it may be recorded if I say it openly. But the government (NSA?) should not be prying into my conversations where a reasonable expectation of privacy exists, such as the U.S. Post, e-mails, and phone calls.
5. When questioned by the police or agents of the government, don’t talk. Ever. You will never gain an advantage. If you are charged, you can state your case in court. But don’t volunteer evidence. I worked for the Census Bureau in 2010, and I now understand this even better. The anti-Federal “kooks” have a point.  And don’t even get me started on how, once acquitted, one can be charged for civil rights violations, or sued in civil court.  (aka, George Zimmerman case)  We’re not supposed to have double jeopardy, yet he potentially faces triple jeopardy.
6. The right to a speedy trial by jury with counsel. Not by the Pope, the King, or the local magistrate. It is not perfect… but it is better than a single person’s bias or hidden agenda.
7. Another right to due process, although I do find it amusing that the Fathers codified $20 into The Constitution.  Hell, I drop that into a slot machine without a second thought.  I assume none of them were economists.
8. Excessive bail and “cruel and unusual punishment.” We may wish for vengeance, to impose suffering on the guilty, but our system is imperfect.  We must rise above our primal desire for revenge, and strive for justice.
9. The 9^th does not deny rights to the people just because something is spelled out in The Constitution. Remember that.
10. And this is one of the most beautifully ambiguous of the Bill of Rights, and is worth quoting “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.”  If it ain’t in The Constitution, from where does the Federal Government derive its power? Power flows UP from the people, not DOWN from the tyrants those in power.

Our public schools no longer teach civics and rights… “No Child Left Behind” seems to have left our society behind.  It is now incumbent on us to ensure the mantle of freedom is passed to succeeding generations… otherwise the words of Benjamin Franklin are prophetic:

The story goes that as Benjamin Franklin emerged from Independence Hall at the close of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on September 18, 1787, a woman asked him, “Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”.

Mr. Franklin replied, “A republic, madam – if you can keep it.”

I intend to keep it.