Without the industrial revolution we might never have arrived at the present century, wired and connected as we are. More importantly, without the Constitution and the Bill of Rights we would not have the freedom to participate – or not, according to our personal preferences – in this sometimes strange new world. Therefore, we must never take for granted what a group of prescient men did for us in 1789. These men, many of whom left their original homelands in search of freedom, never forgot that freedom is a right that must be guarded because it seems as though in an exercise of power, there are those who look for ways to deny it.

Such a simple thing – freedom – but probably the most complicated commodity in the world. Why is protecting it so fraught with difficulty? For one thing, there must be limits so that when my freedom is exercised it doesn’t impinge on the boundaries of the freedoms of others.

See, it gets complicated already. Forget the computers and cell phones. The tablets of stone given by the Almighty to Moses, take us back to a much simpler time. Directives to honor one God, whose name is never taken in vain; having a Sabbath day to rest and honor God; honoring your father and mother; not killing anyone, committing adultery or stealing. The last two directives admonish that you not bear false witness against anyone or covet any of their possessions and that being a time before liberation entered the language, said possessions could include someone else’s wife. Today we could amend it to include a husband, and we are certainly a nation with strong feelings for amendments, the founding fathers be praised.

The Ten Commandments seem too simplistic for this convoluted world but the Bill of Rights – amazing document that it is – addresses all of the above and protects us from ourselves and from one another. The first Article specifies that the number of representatives be based on the size of the population and that the compensation of these representatives be changed only by a vote – their vote, not ours but remember there’s always the next election. The third Article protects the freedom of religious practice, freedom of speech, press, the right to peaceably assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Article four pertains to the necessity of a militia to protect a free state and therefore the right of the people to bear arms. Article five prohibits soldiers from living in a person’s house without their consent and in wartime, only in a manner prescribed by law. Article six protects the people from unreasonable search and seizures and this is where that little Warrant thing enters the picture. Article seven protects us from frivolous accusations of a crime without due process and this includes such things as double jeopardy and not having to be a witness against oneself, or being deprived of life, liberty and property without the same due process. Article eight introduces trial by jury as a right, the right of counsel and other collateral conditions. Articles nine and ten deal with maters pertaining to court costs and prohibition of excessive bail. Article eleven states that certain rights in the constitution shall not deny other rights held by the people. Article twelve explains that certain powers belong to the United States, and other powers belong to individual states or to the people and ne’er the twain shall interfere.

That’s it in a very small nutshell and on reexamination, it’s clear that the founding fathers wanted the United States to be a democracy of the people, by the people and for the people. Such phrases as “inalienable rights” and “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” resound and renew our faith in the framers of our Constitution.

Now fast forward to a more recent document, the USA Patriot Act or what I prefer to call the Bill of Wrongs. It violates the fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth Amendments. This Act is dangerous because most Americans have no idea of its true meaning. They believe it exists in response to 9/11 but its proponents have been trying to pass it way before that date. The 1996 anti terrorism laws have been called unconstitutional by federal courts but the present administration doesn’t care that it undermines the constitution and hurts the rights of citizens as well as immigrants. Let’s not forget, that we are a nation of immigrants – just scratch the trunk of your family tree.

The following is an example of what the Act means to you as a private citizen. The Department of Justice can get a list of what you read from libraries and or bookstores and the government says that if you’re not a terrorist you have nothing to worry about. But what if you read like one? How about “Treason” or the “Anarchist Cookbook” If we’re being watched there’s always a possibility that we’ll be tarred with a brush of something we are not. Use of the phrase, “a threat to national security” can cover what the government perceives as a multitude of sins. Are all peace activists, environmentalists and political opponents a threat to national security and should they be included in the last roundup?

The Secret Evidence Repeal Act is a perfect example of lawmakers and citizens who decry the use of secret evidence. No one in a democracy should be indicted on the basis of evidence that can’t stand scrutiny. Such evidence is anathema to national security.

On June 21, 1798, speaking against the notorious Alien and Sedition Acts, the following words are excerpts from a Senator’s speech to the senate. “If we are ready to violate the Constitution will the people submit to our unauthorized acts?....Do not let us be told that we are to excite a fervor against a foreign aggression to establish a tyranny at home, that like the arch traitor we cry ‘hail Columbia’ at the moment we are betraying her to destruction; that we sing ‘Happy Land’ when we are plunging it in ruin and disgrace; and that we are absurd enough to call ourselves free and enlightened while we advocate principles that would have disgraced the age of Gothic barbarity.”