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Power and Civil Liberties
"The Framers of the Bill of Rights did not purport to "create" rights. Rather, they designed the Bill of Rights to prohibit our Government from infringing rights and liberties presumed to be preexisting." -- Justice William J. Brennan
We are born free, and contrary to the government or popular thought, we continue to live this way until our death. The contradiction lies in our choice, in the faithful submission to fantasies of history and truth. A veil of tradition and security has obscured our reason and survival instincts. We once chose to form a government that would protect civil liberties and promote the growth of a stable, democratic society. The founders understood the connection between greed and power. They were forced to create specific, central laws to protect man from himself. A free society allows citizens to own weapons so that they can defend themselves from the state, not external foes. We were given free speech to prevent the silence of minority opinions and ideas. A government that begins to destabilize these laws, which are basic to human life and should not have to be written, is literally destroying the humanity of its population. We have to remember, we have chosen to be a part of this society, to give up some rights in exchange for the allowance of others, and to believe what we are told because it's what they are willing to tell us. Change will not come through the choice of politicians, it must be sparked by the people.
We have to understand that the ideals and motives of society are what get passed from generation to generation. It is not the individual genes or people that matter. It is their thoughts and conscious work that live on as the human constant. You can kill leaders and disrupt economies but it is the system of beliefs that will continue to create behavior. Do you think we live in a society or time that has destroyed the belief processes from our previous wrong doings? The men's names may have changed but their intentions are consistent. This country decimated the Native American population and took their land. It enslaved Africans to it's economic benefit. This country is only 250 years old, these are recent events! Do you think the greed and lust for power of man has evolved that much since then? That personal gain does not appeal to the bankers and politicians in power? We believe we live in a civilized age only because we have the perspective of now. The past is behind us and the future hasn't happened, so by virtue of now, we are the best. Only the luxury of memory and time have allowed us to say we are greater now than we were then. We have falsely assumed that time and the good of man always move forward. They understand that the same abstract values of tradition and patriotism, which they use against us, is a false and unreasonable weakness. They have created a symbol and defined it to their advantage, so that the belief creates weakness which can be manipulated.
This fear of security, the terror, is beginning to weigh against civil liberties. The standard defense for the loss of rights is "if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear," and it would be true if both sides followed the principle. The disheartening reality is that removing or undermining civil liberties is a one way street. Power does not give up, it is increased or taken. Democracy and the right of personal freedom are in place to contain and balance power, so that it does not run wild in the streets. The people must choose to embrace their personal freedom without directing energy or blame to the state. The power of government is limited by the population it controls, and how well they are controlled. The more humanity relies on the government the more freedom they give up. The people always have the power to choose action over apathy, belief over indifference, and personal responsibility over blame. A society that wishes to do otherwise will always fail.
"Sometimes the law defends plunder and participates in it. Thus the beneficiaries are spared the shame and danger that their acts would otherwise involve... But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives it to the other persons to whom it doesn't belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish that law without delay ... No legal plunder; this is the principle of justice, peace, order, stability, harmony and logic." -- Frederic Bastiat
-- Joseph Aguirre, 1/11/08
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