It isn’t a matter of whether the government bureaucrats and politicians understand the phrase “shall not be infringed” or not, but rather a matter of they don’t acknowledge the basic tenet of the Constitution or any of the Amendments in the Bill of Rights.

Barack Obama has called the Constitution a “charter of negative liberties”, meaning it was written as a bad thing not a good thing because it limits the authority of government.  He was referring to the redistribution of wealth at the time but has since applied this same demented opinion to every liberty guaranteed to We the People.  Obama sees himself as above the Constitution and the law of the land.  He sees himself as a dictator, giving and taking away at his discretion.

The 2^nd Amendment is under serious attack from both state and federal governments, on many fronts and by a diverse group of people.  It is no secret that the Democrats have long desired to establish their dictatorship by first disarming We the People.  This battle has been going on for years and isn’t anything new.  One new aspect, however, is the Veteran’s Administration sending letters to veterans stating they may not be mentally capable of handling their own affairs and therefore also not mentally capable of owning firearms.  There is an appeals process but that will result in the desired outcome; veterans “deemed” mentally incompetent and left without the means to defend themselves, their families, and their God-given rights, stripped of every right they fought to preserve for others.

What is frightening is the new allies of the Marxist Democrats.  House Republican Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-22) has come out and stated that gun control and immigration “can be done without help from Republicans”.  Odd, I thought McCarthy is a Republican, but says he will work with Democrats against Republicans. It seems as though neither political party much cares what the Constitution says, nor what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they wrote it.  Now we find the Republican Party establishment coming out in favor of various gun control schemes, all designed to ultimately render We the People as slaves of an autocratic dictatorship.

Several states, including Illinois, New York, California, and now Colorado, have come out with legislation that is clearly unconstitutional yet politicians on both sides of the aisle “deem” themselves wiser than our Founding Fathers and have decided they have the authority to make such decisions.  They will decide who can protect themselves and how that can be accomplished.  Some of the more prominent self-defense suggestions have been whistles, call-boxes, scissors, ink pens, wetting one’s pants, and it gets ridiculous beyond here.

As government officials at the federal and state levels seek to disarm We the People, they have ramped up the quantity, and lethality, of weapons possessed by such defense oriented agencies as the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA). YEP, that’s right! the group that forecasts hurricanes.  I am not sure why they need full automatic M-16’s and billions of rounds of ammunition but who am I to question the “elitists” in Washington????   Local areas are finding IED-proof armored cars popping up and helicopters flying over their cities firing machine guns.  The Department of Homeland Security (sic) just acquired 2700 armored vehicles, plus thousands of full automatic rifles, handguns, and several billion rounds of hollow point ammunition.  For the novice, hollow points cannot be used in war; they have been banned by the Geneva Convention.  And while there is some discussion about who these “Urban Rescue Vehicles” (with gun ports) actually belong to there is no question they are being fitted for urban warfare in American cities.

Much has been said and written about the eventuality that a Supreme Court case will once again decide if We the People can defend ourselves or not.  With the decision of John Roberts on Obamacare it is obvious the 2^nd Amendment is in danger.  Who can citizens depend on to stand up for the Constitution and the God-given rights it guarantees?  We know Democrats despise liberty and will stop at nothing to enslave us.  We are reminded quite often that the Republican Party is no better.  The Republican establishment would rather “get along” with Democrats than do their duty to “uphold, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States of America”.

I believe that the freedoms engrained in the Constitution are OUR freedoms, given by God, and only acknowledged as such and guaranteed by said Constitution.  Those who decide what the 2^nd Amendment means are We the People.   If We the People allow any governmental entity; the federal government, state government, any court, or any politician, to determine our ability to defend ourselves from evil we will find ourselves as slaves to those who make such decisions.

Rights are given by God to individuals.  Those individuals confer authority and responsibility to others to govern in the best interests of We the People.  When government, at any level, “deems” themselves the final authority over our lives we find tyranny, suffering, poverty, and slavery.  The rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights are MY rights.  The Constitution does not give rights to government, it sets limits.  It limits the action government is allowed to take and provides for the people to be the final arbiter of what is legal or not legal.  Those sitting in their ivory towers making rules for We the People to live by are stepping well across the line of Constitutional bounds in a number of categories.  They have decided they are wiser, smarter, and more worthy of deciding what is or is not permissible, and the Constitution be damned.

We the People must stand strong against this tyranny.  If allowed to fester, tyranny will envelop all it touches and grow a cancer that is fatal to a Republic.  When those seeking ultimate power are the ones who are judge, jury, and executioner justice will never prevail.  It is up to us, We the People, to stand up for the rights, values, and responsibilities given to us by Almighty God.  It is up to us to band together to preserve a liberty bought with the blood and lives of thousands of our predecessors.  It is up to us to preserve that liberty for our descendants.  If we cower in fear or dismiss the danger and allow this to go on unchallenged we will see generations of Americans living under the yoke of oppression such as has been seen in Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, Communist China, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, and other dictatorships.  I will not allow the Supreme Court, or any other government agency, to make me a slave.

I, for one, will not stand by and let this happen.  We the People have seen the greatest nation to ever exist slide into disrepair due to our neglect of our responsibilities to insure liberty for future generations.  WE have been asleep at the wheel as tyranny has been implemented slowly.  Now that We the people are awake it is incumbent that we act to preserve what liberty is left and fight to restore that which has been lost

I submit this in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, in faith, with the responsibility given to me by Almighty God to honor His work and not let it die from neglect.

Bob Russell

Claremore, Oklahoma

March 12, 2013

“We brothers in equality cannot be content, no matter how high or low the standard of living, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one thousandth or one millionth — is independent and self-reliant, and therefore, unappreciative and resistant to change.

This Social Democracy had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain government-granted rights—among them the right to non-offensive speech, a servile and uniform press, a speedy trial in the court of public opinion, and the security that comes from non-stop surveillance, random searches, and confiscatory seizures. These were the privileges of our servitude and obeisance. And all was well — for a while.

As the people declined in pride and vigor, however—as our hollowed-out economy mysteriously imploded, no doubt due to saboteurs —these guarantees proved inadequate to ensure the equality so vital to our prosperity.

We have come to a clear realization that social freedom cannot exist without government dependence and thus, democratic empowerment. Independent men are not free men. People who hunger for freedom and a life outside the dictates of government are the stuff of which fascist reaction is made.

But we understand now that some people are getting anxious that the dream of our progressive forefathers might go unfulfilled. Lest anyone should doubt that government can deliver the goods, the following pledge is being made to the citizens of the world.

In our day, these economic truths have become self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a Third Bill of Rights under which a new basis of service and security can be established for all—regardless of station, race, creed, sexuality, gender, ethnicity, girth, skin tone, or transgender status.

Among these are:

The right to an unproductive job in one of the many departments or services or offices or bureaus or agencies of the government;

The right to earn enough to eat Chinese take-out every night, if that is what one should so desire, or to buy an expensive overcoat, or to spend 90% of one’s time being entertained;

The right for every bureaucrat to regulate the labor of the citizenry as he or she should see fit, in order that the goals of equality and efficiency can be attained;

The right of every policeman to carry out his or her duty to the state in freedom from resistance;

The right of every community to commandeer and enlist every child in the service of the public good;

The right of doctors and nurses to provide medical care to anyone with any illness without rationing and without respect to cost in terms of time, manpower, and technology;

The right to open-ended insurance to gird our good citizens against old age, sickness, accident, unemployment, and death, regardless of what each citizen puts into the economy;

The right to a state education adequate enough to inform the citizen of his or her own self-interest.

All of these rights spell happiness. And after our war against inequality is won, and all the casualties of human opposition removed from our eyes and the history books, we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of servitude and sacrifice.

We must be prepared to give up our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor, and even our country itself, to ascend to our rightful station as a first among equals; and to realize the honor the world for whom we sacrifice for has prepared for us, and to march forward, in harmony with the all-knowing and all-good State, to the very end of history.

Author’s note: The above is satire. It is a fictionalized account intended to elucidate certain ideas and principles by taking them to absurd lengths. It is not intended to be taken literally.

Kyle Becker blogs at RogueGovernment, and can be followed on Twitter as @RogueOperator1. He writes freelance for several publications, including American Thinker and BeatObamaPac, and is a regular commentator on the late night talk show TB-TV.

In order to justify and defend these actions, progressives argue that President George W. Bush made far more recess appointments than has the current White House occupant. While that may be true, it’s completely beside the point. The issue isn’t that occupy Oval Office made recess appointments. It’s how and when he made them. The present occupant acted just one day after the Senate held a session and a recess of at least three days is required before the chief executive has the power to make recess appointments.

As he said Wednesday while speaking before an audience in Shaker Heights, Ohio, “I refuse to take ‘no’ for an answer. When Congress refuses to act and as a result hurts our economy and puts our people at risk, then I have an obligation as president to do what I can without them.”

Quite understandibly, Senate Republicans were not pleased by this action. Republican Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, declared that the move “arrogantly circumvented the American people.” Yes, it’s easy for members of the Senate to express outrage at this arrogant power grab; one in a long series of steps taken by this White House to marginalize Congress.

But where were the high and mighty principles when you passed H.R. 1540: the National Defense Authorization Act, which expands the battlefield to include the United States and gives authority to the president to militarily detain U.S. citizens indefinitely without charge or trial, on the mere suspicion of being a terrorist? Did passage of this bill not also symbolize where someone “arrogantly circumvented the American people”? This law, which “puts our people at risk”, is a violation of the Fifth (“nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”) and Sixth (“the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial”) Amendments.

In the Senate, 46 Democratic Senators and 40 Republican Senators, including Senator McConnell voted in favor of this violation of the Bill of Rights. For the record, let it also state that in the House, 93 Democrats and 190 Republicans also voted aye.[1][2]

The NDAA is an open assault by government on the Liberties of U.S. Citizens. The very Liberties secured and protected by the document they swore to defend upon their inauguration, the United States Constitution. At this point, every Citizen of these United States of America is clearly obligated to take the government to task for this flagrant violation of their Rights. Each and every House Representative and Senator who voted in favor of this unconstitutional slip into tyranny should be voted out of office.

By the way, this bill was signed into law on December 31, 2011 while the golfer in chief was in Kailua, Hawaii enjoying his family’s 17 day, $4 million dollar vacation.

Happy New Year.

sources:
[1] Senate Web Site: http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=112&session=1&vote=00230
[2] http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll932.xml

December 10, 2011

Sen. Coburn, Sen. Inhofe, Rep. Boren,

I am writing about the National Defense Authorization Act (S. 1867/H. R. 1540). This legislation authorizes the President of the United States to order the military to arrest and detain American citizens for “suspected” terrorist activities or sympathies. It also provides for indefinite detention, at sites either inside or outside of the United States, without charges being preferred against said citizen. Apparently, according to a White House statement, Obama objects to the alien detainee provisions of this legislation. That is just great, our esteemed leader objects to alien detention but not citizen detention! That tells me a great deal about the design and purpose of this legislation. All that is necessary to enact the provision of this legislation is for a neighbor to denounce a citizen as a “possible terrorist”. History is full of denunciations; the French revolution, the Salem witch trials, the Russian revolution, Nazi Germany, China, Cuba, North Korea, etc.

By passing this legislation you are effectively negating the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America. This legislation has also begun the active search for private companies to staff the FEMA camps that have been built as a result of S. 645, passed in 2009 I believe it was. At the time I protested the building of these camps, designed just like the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. The response was that these camps were built for housing victims of natural disasters. I didn’t buy that lie then and I don’t buy it now. These camps are for the subjugation and imprisonment of American citizens who will not bow down to a tyrant.

If the government intent is housing victims of natural disasters, why the razor wire and barbed wire? Why the double fence with a guard and dog run between the fences? Why the huge iron gates with the massive locks and chains? Why the guard houses outside the compound? Why the machine gun capable guard towers? Why the proximity to railroad tracks, just as in Nazi Germany? Am I to understand that civilians being housed after their homes have been destroyed have to be fenced in like animals? Sounds like Bovine Scatology to me.

And why all of a sudden does Congress and the Obama regime begin staffing these camps? This new legislation comes out, after the camps being around for 3 years, and suddenly it is important to begin staffing them right before the 2012 elections? Would this have anything to do with Governor Beverly Perdue (D- North Carolina) calling for the suspension of elections? Would this have anything to do with Rep. Jesse Jackson (D-ILL), and others, calling for the suspension of the Constitution so Barack Obama can “do what he needs to do” to “transform this nation”? Is this in preparation for those who disobey martial law provisions?

Would this have anything to do with the provision in Obamacare providing for a civilian “defense force” equal to or greater than the United States military, equipped as well or better than the United States military and pledging their loyalty to Obama? Has this happened before in history? I seem to remember Hitler’s Brown Shirts, the SS, and the Gestapo. I remember the KGB and their terror campaign against anyone who spoke up for freedom, or was even suspected of thinking about freedom.

If the government is concerned about ”homegrown” muslim terrorists it doesn’t need FEMA camps divided into 10 districts with hundreds of camps scattered throughout the nation. There aren’t that many muslims, much less muslim terrorists in America. Of course, with the current regime not acknowledging muslim terrorism that can’t be the reason for the camps can it?

And what does the current regime, and many in Congress, consider the threat to America? Let’s take a look at what the Department of Homeland Security considers a threat: Military veterans, especially combat veterans and those with special operations training, white males, Christians, NRA members, people missing fingers (?), those who are against abortion on demand, TEA Party members or supporters, anyone with extra food and water in case of emergencies, gun owners, and on and on. Need I go on with the list?
That our government is targeting American citizens with this bill is plain enough. The Obama regime, along with the Democrats and RINO’s in Congress, has been targeting conservatives for several years and now we see this being brought into a clearer focus.

It is bad enough that these things are happening but to see the votes be 93-7 in the Senate and 406-17 in the House is staggering, and frightening. Now I understand that the versions are being forged into a single bill behind closed doors. Once again We the People see our government doing things behind closed doors, subjugating us by subterfuge. Transparancy? Not in Washington D. C.

All of a sudden Lindsey Graham and John McCain come out and say they didn’t realize that this bill provides for the repeal of sodomy and bestiality regulations in the military. It is bad enough that these regulations are taken out but for two of the leading proponents of this to now say they didn’t know what is in the bill is appalling once again. Do they, or you, know what else is in the bill? Is this “we have to pass it so we can find out what is in it” legislation again? Does anyone read anything in Washington or does everyone go on talking points by those who write such tripe?

This is what Operation Fast & Furious was all about wasn’t it? Manufacture an excuse to abolish the 2nd Amendment and begin the systematic confiscation of all firearms. Adolph Hitler did this as a prelude to his massacre of millions, Stalin did this as a prelude to his massacre of millions, and guess what, every other despot who desires to subject his citizens to tyranny first rounds up any method of self-defense before slaughtering citizens wholesale.

You have essentially declared war, in the normal back room manner, on We the People, the citizens of the United States. I believe Congress and the administration either don’t understand the gravity of what you are doing or don’t care. Our nation was forged when farmers and woodsmen who desired to live in freedom stood up against a tyrannical government and won their freedom from King George and England. We the People will not be subjugated again. Our forefathers have fought war after war against tyranny, first to stop the tyranny, and many more times to prevent it from returning.

The Revolutionary War won our freedom, the War of 1812 preserved it. The Civil War won freedom for slaves, black and white. World War II preserved the freedom won in the first wars by stopping the tyranny of Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo. And now while our brave soldiers are fighting tyranny in foreign lands their government is busy subjugating their families back home.

This will not be allowed to stand. You can kill thousands of us, you can imprison millions of us in the FEMA camps but you will never be able to subjugate the will of the American people. We have known freedom for too long to let it go by the wayside now. Americans are not going to give up their guns and passively walk into the gas chambers as the Jews did in Nazi Germany. We the People will not stand idly by and see our freedoms taken by despots, regardless of which political party they belong to. You will have to fight us in the streets, the country, and wherever you find us. There are millions of us ready to defend our freedoms, and the freedoms of our fellow citizens, with our lives. We will not surrender to tyranny peacefully.

Congress needs to scrap this legislation and go back to the drawing board. In the first place, these “comprehensive” bills have more trash than substance in them because no one reads any of them due to the length and the fact that reading legislation takes time away from “more important things”. Any provision that allows citizens to be treated other than provided for in the Constitution should be summarily tossed into the garbage can. Our national defense can be provided for without subjugating the American people to summary arrest without charge, without trial, without just cause.

The same Republicans who gave us the Patriot Act are now tightening the screws even more. I assume this will continue until we fight back. I don’t condone violence and don’t wish to see it come to that but We the People can only take so much before we won’t back up any longer. The TEA Party arose out of abuse by government, choosing to peacefully protest government tyranny. Unlike the Occupy Wall Street clowns, TEA Party people rallied in peace, without assaults, without vandalism, without rapes, without attacking police, without arrests. That should prove the patriotism of TEA Party minded people and show government that we expect to be heard without resorting to violence.

Don’t misunderstand and take the peaceful rallies of conservatives as a lack of resolve. Peaceful doesn’t mean cowardly, it means willing to work within the system to make changes. Peaceful doesn’t mean we will willingly march to the slaughter house.
I look forward to hearing that this situation has been resolved and that We the People are not going to be forced to fight a second war for independence.

I submit this in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, in faith, with the responsibility given to me by Almighty God to honor His work and not let it die from neglect.
Sincerely,

Bob Russell
Claremore, Oklahoma

Anyone who’s listens to Sean Hannity’s radio show for any length of time knows that one of his taglines is, “three hours a day, every day, that’s all I ask.” This is, of course, because he wants to promote his radio show, as does any other entrepreneur regarding their own business. So what am I asking of you when I ask for 22 minutes per year?

Twenty-two minutes applies to many things. It is the average commute time for most Americans to go to and from work. It is the amount of actual content you get out of an average 30 minute television program. It is also the approximate time that the average adult reader requires to read 6,600 words. This is the approximate length of the current Constitution of the United States, for which today marks the 224th anniversary of the day it was signed.

Put it to you this way; in the time it would take you to enjoy your favorite sitcom, you could read through our entire Constitution.

Now, ask yourself what kind of America would we be living in today if every citizen sacrificed one episode of their favorite sitcom per year and read through the actual Constitution of the United States? What is the percentage of people who have never read through the Constitution all the way? It’s probably similar to the percentage of people who run around screaming about their constitutional rights being violated. The old saying says, “You can’t fix stupid.” However, you CAN fix ignorance.

Is our constitution worth it? Is our country worth it? These are rhetorical questions but necessary nevertheless. How can you truly understand your First Amendment rights if you’ve never read the First Amendment? And judging by the amount of people who actually think that there is a separation of church and state in our Constitution, one can easily guess that many of these people have never actually read over the establishment and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment.

You would think that anyone who has read the second amendment would not have any problems knowing that our founding fathers and framers wanted us to have the right to protect ourselves. When it says, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” it seems rather clear.

It also seems clear, at least to me, that when you read through the Constitution in its entirety, especially the Bill of Rights, that the reader’s perspective is not of the people, but of the government. In other words, our Constitution is told from the people TO the government, not the other way around – hence why the first three words of the preamble are “We the People.”

Read through the Bill of Rights. You will see that it can also be called a bill of “can’ts.” Congress can’t establish a national religion, Congress can’t prohibit the free exercise thereof. Congress can’t violate the freedom of speech, Congress can’t violate freedom of the press or of assembly or our right to petition. Congress can’t quarter troops in our houses without the owner’s consent, nor can they or anyone under the authority of the executive branch come into our houses and search them without either a warrant or probable cause. They can’t try us in private, they can’t try us without a counselor. They can’t make us testify against ourselves, nor can they postpone a speedy and public trial for 30 years.  And perhaps most important – at least in modern times – Congress can’t micromanage aspects of our society that should be left to the states.

Read through amendments 11 to 27 as well. Remember, only four years separated our original Constitution and its first 10 amendments. The other 17 took almost 190 years to come about. And as you read through them, you will discover that many of them are corrections that come from, yes you guessed it, we the people, not us the government or the Supreme Court. In fact, many of them were passed to correct major mistakes of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of our federal government. For instance, if the Supreme Court would have ruled in favor of Dred Scott, there would have been no need for a 13th amendment. If the courts or legislatures would have correctly interpreted the phrase, “all men are created equal,” to include, say, ALL MEN (and women), there would have been no need for a 14th, 15th and 19th amendment. Because the amendment process requires a two thirds majority in both houses of Congress and a three fourths majority of all states, it is the closest thing we have to a national referendum. The government didn’t free the slaves, we the people did. The government didn’t give citizenship and voting rights to all naturally born persons over the age of 18, we the people did. The government didn’t stop poll taxes and other things designed to prevent the poor from voting, we the people did!

The true genius of the Constitution was that the framers knew from the start that it was flawed and needed to be tweaked from time to time. But they also knew from experience that they would need to establish a set of rules above the government’s ability to change them. They knew the sinful nature of man and that, even in a democratic republic, that nature could destroy their new country faster than any invading force could. The Constitution is the ultimate check and balance.

What if? What if the voting public of America (which, by the way, constitutes less than 2% of the people on planet Earth) would actually sit down and read their own constitution – sacrificing 22 minutes out of the 31,536,000 we get per year to read what is perhaps the greatest document ever created by man. How much more informed would the electorate be? And how many more problems that plague us in our society could be solved, not by our government, but once again by We the People?

Take a few minutes and read what the framers of the Constitution thought of what they created under the hand of the Almighty. Also read what leading historians, statesmen and others thought of the document that reshaped thinking on individual liberties and the true and proper role of government. It has been said that those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it. The Constitution of the United States arose in an era of government oppression and tyranny. If we are to avoid repeating that mistake then it certainly behooves us to learn more about the Constitution and what it meant to our nation’s founders and the leading statesmen and scholars of that day. Once you consider the impact and importance this document has upon our society 224 years after it was written, you will understand why we must do all we can under our power to preserve it.

George Washington (1732–99), chairman of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and subsequent first president of the United States:

“No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency; and, in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government the tranquil deliberation and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from which the event has resulted cannot be compared with the means by which most governments have been established without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage.” (From first inaugural address, 30 April 1789, New York City.)

James Madison, Jr. (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States, sometimes referred to as the “father of the Constitution”:

“It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in [the Constitution] a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution.” (The Federalist, ed. Henry Cabot Lodge, New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1983, no. 37, p. 222.)

Benjamin Franklin (1706–90), member of the Constitutional Convention of 1787:

“I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe further that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other. I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain, may be able to make a better Constitution. For when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an Assembly can a perfect production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, Sir, approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies.” (Documentary History of the Constitution of the United States of America, 1786–1870, 5 vols., Washington, D.C.: Department of State, 1894, 2:762.)

William Pitt (1759–1806), British Prime Minister:

“The American Constitution] will be the wonder and admiration of all future generations, and the model of all future constitutions.” (Quoted in Harry Atwood, Our Republic, Merrimac, Mass.: Destiny Publishers, 1974, p. 62.)

William E. Gladstone (1809–98), British Prime Minister:

“The American Constitution is the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man. It has had a century of trial, under the pressure of exigencies caused by an expansion unparalleled in point of rapidity and range, and its exemption from formal change, though not entire, has certainly proved the sagacity of the constructors and the stubborn strength of the fabric.” (In “Kin Beyond Sea,” North American Review, Sept.–Oct. 1878, p. 185–86.)

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59), French statesman:

“The principles on which the American constitutions rest—those principles of order, of the balance of powers, of true liberty, of deep and sincere respect for right—are indispensable to all republics; they ought to be common to all.” (Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 2 vols., Boston: John Allyn, 1876, 1:xviii.)

Sir John A. Macdonald (1815–91), first Prime Minister of Canada:

“I think and believe that [the U. S. Constitution] is one of the most skillful works which human intelligence ever created; [it] is one of the most perfect organizations that ever governed a free people.” (Parliamentary Debates on the Subject of the Confederation of the British North American Provinces, 3d session, Eighth Provincial Parliament of Canada, Quebec: Hunter, Rose and Co., 1865, p. 32.)

Sir Henry Maine (1822–88), English jurist and governmental historian:

“The Constitution of the United States of America is much the most important political instrument of modern times.” (Popular Government, Indianapolis, Ind.: Liberty Classics, 1976, p. 199.)

Lord Acton (1834–1902), English historian:

“Europe seemed incapable of becoming the home of free States. It was from America that the plain ideas that men ought to mind their own business, and that the nation is responsible to Heaven for the acts of State—ideas long locked in the breasts of solitary thinkers, and hidden among Latin folios,—burst forth like a conqueror upon the world they were destined to transform, under the title of the Rights of Man.” (F. A. Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty, Chicago: Henry Regnery Co., 1960, p. 176.)

Albert P. Blaustein, internationally-known scholar of the U. S. Constitution and professor of law, Rutgers—The State University School of Law:

“The United States Constitution is the nation’s most important export. It was meant to be; it has been since even before its promulgation; and it continues to be. It could not help but be …

“From the earliest days of the American revolutionary movement, its leaders were conscious that they were doing something of world-wide significance. They had convinced themselves that they were creating a new Eden, not only for America but for all of mankind. …”

“‘Until the time of the American and French Revolutions,’ explains Professor K. C. Wheare, ‘A selection or collection of fundamental principles was not usually called “the Constitution.” The Americans in 1787 declared: “We the people of the United States … do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” Since that time the practice of having a written document containing the principles of government organization has become well established and “Constitution” has come to have this meaning.’

“Thus, just by being first, the United States Constitution has inevitably been an influence for constitutionalism. Every nation that has a one-document constitution (or is committed in principle to having one) is inevitably following the United States precedent-model. And that applies to all but six countries.” (Personal papers, 1984, published in edited form in National Forum, Fall 1984, p. 14.)

John Quincy Adams (1767–1848), sixth president of the United States and son of the second president, John Adams, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. This excerpt, permeated with prophetic scriptural imagery, is from an address given 30 April 1839 titled “The Jubilee of the Constitution”:

“When the children of Israel, after forty years of wanderings in the wilderness, were about to enter upon the promised land, their leader, Moses, who was not permitted to cross the Jordan with them, just before his removal from among them, commanded that when the Lord their God should have brought them into the land, they should put the curse upon Mount Ebal, and the blessing upon Mount Gerizim. This injunction was faithfully fulfilled by his successor Joshua. Immediately after they had taken possession of the land Joshua built an altar to the Lord, of whole stone, upon Mount Ebal. And there he wrote upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written in the presence of the children of Israel: and all Israel, and their elders and officers, and their judges, stood on the two sides of the ark of the covenant, borne by the priests and Levites, six tribes over against Mount Gerizim, and six over against Mount Ebal. And he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that was written in the book of the law.

“Fellow-citizens, the ark of your covenant is the Declaration of Independence. Your Mount Ebal, is the confederacy of separate state sovereignties [the first form of U. S. government created after the Declaration of Independence but prior to the creation of the Constitution; a form that was soon discovered to be weak and inadequate], and your Mount Gerizim is the Constitution of the United States. In that scene of tremendous and awful solemnity, narrated in the Holy Scriptures, there is not a curse pronounced against the people, upon Mount Ebal, not a blessing promised them upon Mount Gerizim, which your posterity may not suffer or enjoy, from your and their adherence to, or departure from, the principles of the Declaration of Independence, practically interwoven in the Constitution of the United States. Lay up these principles, then, in your hearts, and in your souls—bind them for signs upon your hands, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes—teach them to your children, speaking of them when sitting in your houses, when walking by the way, when lying down and when rising up—write them upon the doorplates of your houses, and upon your gates—cling to them as to the issues of life—adhere to them as to the cords of your eternal salvation. So may your children’s children at the next return of this day of jubilee, after a full century of experience under your national Constitution, celebrate it again in the full enjoyment of all the blessings recognized by you in the commemoration of this day, and of all the blessings promised to the children of Israel upon Mount Gerizim, as the reward of obedience to the law of God.” (John Quincy Adams, “The Jubilee of the Constitution,” an address delivered at the fiftieth anniversary of the inauguration of George Washington, 30 Apr. 1839.)

“A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.” -Thomas Jefferson: “Rights of British America, 1774″  - The Papers of Thomas Jefferson

John Smith (StopObama2012) starts us off with  a look into current events and their encroachment upon our individual rights.  From John’s “Freedoms& Liberties: Under Constant Attack”

Ladies and gentlemen, liberty is under attack – an attack that the Obama Administration has put into overdrive. It did not begin with Obama, but hopefully – come November – we can turn it around and alter our government to get it back in tune with our “unalienable Rights.” I am going to list several of these attacks, many of which are carefully disguised in Cass Sunstein’s favorite term, “Nudges.” First lets take a look through some Executive Orders so we can analyze it straight from the top. [Read More]

In, “The Shredding of the Constitution“, I chose to delve into specific actions and policy that directly impact the Bill of Rights

Individual liberties have been at the core of our Great American Experiment since it’s beginning.  The Federalist Papers and Declaration of Independence make the case that certain rights are inalienable and the Constitution sets down the framework by which they should be protected.  President Obama is the master at the helm of a liberty-destroying administration replete with progressive extremists that find the Constitution to be a major obstacle to their self-aggrandizing agenda – precisely the obstacle our founders had intended it to be.  [Read More]

PolarCoug discusses how Obama’s approach to leadership is more tyrannical than Presidential in “Obama’s No Leader, He’s just a Dictator Wanabe“.

..despite the fact the leadership gene is absent from Obama’s DNA, he does happen to rule over us in a despotic sort of way. Frankly, he has the power to restrict our liberties, and has demonstrated, time and again, a desire to do precisely that. America is at one of those hinge points of history – the ending of one era and the beginning of another. It is a time fraught with dangers to our personal liberties. It is also a time of blessing, for the dangers facing us have awakened the sleeping giant that is America’s soul.. [Read More]

Michelle Ray reveals that indebtedness is a sure way to lose the right (and ability) to pursue happiness in “You Are No Longer Entitled To Pursue Happiness“.

It is unthinkable for most middle class Americans that their taxes will increase significantly, but that is exactly what has happened, and will continue to happen. With the passage of program after program aimed at fiscal stimulus, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Financial Reform, the inflation of food prices and the looming cap and trade legislation, taxes will continue to rise to the point of your average family no longer being able to sustain their current existence. [Read More]

While an investigation into infringements upon every right protected by the constitution is warranted, I will focus on those found in the Bill of Rights – the first ten amendments to The Constitution of the United States.

Freedom of Expression – The First Amendment

H.R. 5175, The Disclose act – a tool of the left to strengthen the hand of  big labor (unions) on our government while weakening the voice of free enterprise.   The left position it as a way to limit special

interests from affecting our governance.  In truth, it forces any large group that, other than long standing, non-profit groups with more than 500,000, makes a large contribution to a campaign.  They basically want to intimidate corporations from contributing while removing that limitation from the liberal’s favorite special interest group, Unions.

The fundamental problem is that Obama and his cronies would gladly squash the right to free speech for anyone that does not further their cause.  There is no better proof of Tyranny than this.  If you don’t think SEUI and the AFL-CIO are pretty much holding the puppet strings now ..

Right to Bear Arms – The Second Amendment

The current administration does not even understand the workings of the Constitution.  At WhiteHouse.gov, we find this little nugget as an attempt to describe the second amendment

The Second Amendment gives citizens the right to bear arms.

No, Mr. President, it does not.  The second amendment does not give any rights to anyone.  It protects what rights the founders felt were already ours, bestowed by God or nature – for simply being human.  The actual wording in the second amendment that pertains to the right to bare arms is

..the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The second amendment prevents the government from obstructing, limiting or taking away a basic right.  The Constitution does not give us this right, or free speech ,or equal protections .. it prevents a tyrannical government from stripping them away.  Changing the understanding of our Constitution is a key tactic if a group wanted to render the document useless.  If the population were to believe that the government gave them the rights they have, they might be more willing to cede those rights at the government’s urging.  If instead the people understand what Jefferson and company intended, the government has neither the power to give nor take these rights, they are inalienable.

Search, Seizure and Privacy- The Fourth Amendment

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures..

Consider how much you say and do using your cell phone and email.  Earlier this year, Eric Holder’s Department of Justice attempted to obtain emails from Yahoo without a warrant.

For its part, the Justice Department has taken a legalistic approach: a 17-page brief it filed last month acknowledges that federal law requires search warrants for messages in “electronic storage” that are less than 181 days old. But, Assistant U.S. Attorney Pegeen Rhyne writes in a government brief, the Yahoo Mail messages don’t meet that definition.

Do you even remember what email you might have sent six months ago?  I have been emailing Senators and Representatives, media centers and local government officials for years.  I shudder to think that the government could collect my past writings without proof of a crime being committed, just so they might then try to find one.

The DOJ failed in its quest to infringe upon our fourth amendment rights as they pertain to email, but they have a clear difference of opinion with the Constitution.    In February, the Obama administration made its disregard of our rights perfectly clear (emphasis mine).

..the Obama administration has argued that warrantless tracking is permitted because Americans enjoy no “reasonable expectation of privacy” in their–or at least their cell phones’–whereabouts. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers say that “a customer’s Fourth Amendment rights are not violated when the phone company reveals to the government its own records” that show where a mobile device placed and received calls.

They believe they can track American citizens without their knowledge and without a warrant.

Due Process – The Fifth Amendment

On May 9th, Eric Holder appeared on ABC and announced that he intended to weaken our right do due process by changing how Miranda rights are applied

We’re now dealing with international terrorism. And if we are going to have a system that is capable of dealing in a public safety context with this new threat, I think we have to give serious consideration to at least modifying that public safety exception. And that’s one of the things that I think we’re going to be reaching out to Congress to do, to come up with a proposal that is both constitutional, but that is also relevant to our time and the threat that we now face.

The public safety exception that Holder is seeking is intended to allow law enforcement to question subjects when imminent danger is perceived without concern of the suspects comments being disallowed.  Rick Unger makes the point in “Obama Administration seeks to restrict 5th Amendment protections”

Under current law, authorities may question a suspect prior to reading the individual the Miranda warnings if the safety of the public, the suspect or the officer asking the questions is immediately imperiled. In this situation, the responses of the suspect remain admissible in a court of law.

The case that established the exception, New York v. Quarles 467 U.S. 649 (1984), involved the police having information that a man committing a burglary in a food store was armed with a gun when he went into the store. When the alleged burglar was captured, his gun was nowhere to be found. Concerned that the man could still have access to the missing weapon and, therefore, the capability to hurt someone, the court held that the police had not violated Miranda when they asked the man “Where’s the gun?” and he answered, “The gun is over there.”

Unger’s article goes on to make a point about applying Miranda to foreign terrorists, which I believe are committing acts of war and should not be given these protections, but those in the Uniform Code of Military Justice instead.

I believe the affront is to U.S. citizens.  Perhaps those demonstrating or rallying against the government.  A slow weakening of the 5th amendment may allow government officials to question anyone they consider a threat just a bit more harshly or differently than the Constitution intended.

Rights of the Accused – The Sixth Amendment

..and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence

As this article in the Telegraph points out, the legal precedent has been set.

The Michigan vs Jackson ruling in 1986 established that, if a defendants have a lawyer or have asked for one to be present, police may not interview them until the lawyer is present.

Any such questioning cannot be used in court even if the suspect agrees to waive his right to a lawyer because he would have made that decision without legal counsel, said the Supreme Court.

Clearly, the Supreme Court feels that the right to counsel begins at the moment of questioning.  Whether or not the accused has been informed of his rights, the right to counsel is immediate.  As the article continues Obama’s Justice Department disagrees.

The Justice Department, in a brief signed by Elena Kagan, the solicitor general, said the 1986 decision “serves no real purpose” and offers only “meagre benefits”.

Yeah, that Kagan.  Imagine what her opinion of our “meagre” rights will mean once she’s confirmed as a justice on the Supreme Court.

Unenumerated Rights – The Ninth Amendment

Obamacare forces us to buy health insurance under penalty of law and a fine.  Congress does not have the enumerated power to force us to purchase anything.  Any right not expressly enumerated in the Constitution is by default protected as a right of the States or Citizens.

States’ Rights/Federalism – The Tenth Amendment

Between health care reform and the immigration flap in Arizona, State’s rights are being crushed at every turn.  The tyrants in the administration believe that a centrally-managed, powerful central government is the only tolerable end.  The means are irrelevant.

In this less-than-exhaustive look into the last 18 months of Obama’s administration’s actions, I hope you see what’s happening – what’s coming – what you’re losing.

This is not about clinging to guns or a bible, big companies influencing our officials, or any of the other motives the progressives would have you believe.  It’s about those God-given natural and inalienable rights that every free man and woman are born with.  They are not awarded to you by the Constitution nor the government, but both should were formed to protect them.

The elitists in D.C. are systematically, calculatingly, intentionally nibbling away at your rights. If you do not stop them at the first bite.. scream not when those liberties have been swallowed whole – you probably won’t be allowed to.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Article I

Section 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Section 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

Section 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.

No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of Honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

Section 4. The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.

Section 5. Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.

Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

Section 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time: and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.

Section 7. All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.

Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.

Section 8. The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;–And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Section 9. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear or pay Duties in another.

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Section 10. No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

Article II

Section 1. The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.

The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:–”I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Section 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.

Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.

Section 4. The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Article III

Section 1. The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.

Section 2. The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;–to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;–to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;–to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;–to Controversies between two or more States;–between a State and Citizens of another State;–between Citizens of different States;–between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.

The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.

Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

Article IV

Section 1. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records, and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.

Section 2. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.

A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.

No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.

Section 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new States shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.

Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

Article V

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.

Article VI

All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwith-standing.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Article VII

The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.

Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth

In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,

George Washington–President and deputy from Virginia

New Hampshire: John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman

Massachusetts: Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King

Connecticut: William Samuel Johnson, Roger Sherman

New York: Alexander Hamilton

New Jersey: William Livingston, David Brearly, William Paterson, Jonathan Dayton

Pennsylvania: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris, George Clymer, Thomas FitzSimons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris

Delaware: George Read, Gunning Bedford, Jr., John Dickinson, Richard Bassett, Jacob Broom

Maryland: James McHenry, Daniel of Saint Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll

Virginia: John Blair, James Madison, Jr.

North Carolina: William Blount, Richard Dobbs Spaight, Hugh Williamson

South Carolina: John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler

Georgia: William Few, Abraham Baldwin

Amendments

Amendment I – Freedom of Speech, the Press and Religion

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.

Amendment II - Right to bear arms

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.

Amendment III - Quartering of troops

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.

Amendment IV - Unreasonable search and seizures

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.

Amendment V - Double Jeopardy, self-incrimination, public domain compensation

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 offence 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.

Amendment VI – Speedy and fair trial

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 defense.

Amendment VII - Civil suits

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.

Amendment VIII - Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX - Reserved rights of the people

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X – Unenumerated Powers

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.

Amendment XI – Ratified Feb. 7, 1795

The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state.

Amendment XII – Presidential election process - Ratified July 27, 1804

1. Amended by the 20th Amendment, Sections 3 and 4.

The electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate; the President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted; the person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice President, shall be the Vice President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice President of the United States.

Amendment XIII – Prohibition of Slavery – Ratified Dec. 6, 1865

Section 1
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment XIV – Citizenship, Representation, Disqualification on Treason, Validation of Public Debt – Ratified July 9, 1868

Section 1
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Section 3
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5
The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Amendment XV – Voting rights - Ratified Feb. 3, 1870

Section 1
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Section 2
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment XVI – Income Taxation – Ratified Feb. 3, 1913

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

Amendment XVII – Senatorial election process - Ratified April 8, 1913

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, that the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointment until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.

Amendment XVIII (Repealed by 21st Amendment) – Prohibition of Alcohol – Ratified Jan. 16, 1919 / became effective Jan. 16, 1920

Section 1
After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

Section 2
The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Section 3
This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by Congress.

Amendment XIX – Women’s Suffrage – Ratified Aug. 18, 1920.)

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment XX – Lame Duck Amendment, succession for the presidency -Ratified Jan. 23, 1933; Wen into effect Oct. 15, 1933

Section 1
The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the twentieth day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the third day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.

Section 2
The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the third day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.

Section 3
If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President-elect shall have died, the Vice President-elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President-elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President-elect nor a Vice President-elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.

Section 4
The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.

Section 5
Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following the ratification of this article.

Section 6
This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission.

Amendment XXI – Repeal of Prohibition of Alcohol -Ratified Dec. 5, 1933

Section 1
The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

Section 2
The transportation or importation into any State, territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

Section 3
This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by convention in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission thereof to the States by the Congress.

Amendment XXII – Presidential Term Limits – Ratified Feb. 27, 1951

Section 1
No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

Section 2
This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.

Amendment XXIII – Electors for D.C. – Ratified March 29, 1961.)

Section 1
The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct: A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.

Section 2
The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment XXIV – Prohibition of Poll taxation – Ratified Jan. 23, 1964

Section 1
The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reasons of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.

Section 2
The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment XXV – Vice Presidential Succession to the Presidency – Ratified Feb. 10, 1967

Section 1
In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

Section 2
Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

Section 3
Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

Section 4
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

Amendment XXVI – Setting voting age to 18 – Ratified July 1, 1971

Section 1
The right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of age.

Section 2
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment XXVII – Congressional Pay Changes – Ratified May 7, 1992

No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.

“Public Citizen will aggressively work in support of a constitutional amendment specifying that for-profit corporations are not entitled to First Amendment protections, except for freedom of the press.”

If that’s not caveated to hell without him even saying so..  Corporations like Public Citizen (a not-for-profit) would not be held to that rule nor would the media.

What that means is the media corporations, and groups like ACORN could send as much money as they like to political candidates, but Jim’s Toy inc.  would be limited.  Ralph is off his rocker and if the Democrats try to push this load of horse-hockey through, that will be icing on the cake.  Vote for the amendment, you’d better have a career-change plan in-place.

It will start with limiting the speech of corporations, because they have too much money and therefor power.  Then, it will be people making over … say $150,000 a year for the same reason.  Then, because the opposition party has too much power, we should limit their contributions and speech.  Lastly, anyone we don’t like shouldn’t be able to contribute nor should they have a right to free speech.  This is a ridiculously slippery slope.  Leave the constitution alone, especially free speech.

The left was warned on the whole health care thing and they ignored that flare.  Touch the Constitution for such a self-serving, power-grabbing purpose and you’re all toast.  Every, single one of you.