Liberty vs. Security

Liberty Versus Security

The Boston Marathon bombing has revealed exactly the type of constitutional usurpations that one would expect when the government deems itself in sole control of security.

 

As Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying, "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

 

To some, that may sound a bit harsh. After all, isn't the government instituted to protect life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as stated in the Declaration of Independence? Certainly, but as George Washington is said to have stated, "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action."

 

Washington's quote equates what the Founders saw central government as: a negative force that needed to be controlled. Not a positive force to be used for the benefit of some and detriment of others.

 

Because the Founders knew that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, (as attributed to Lord Acton a hundred years after the Constitution was written), they limited the duties of the federal or central government as stated within the Constitution in Article I, Section 8. They further defined what the federal or central government was not to do in the Bill of Rights (first 10 Amendments to the Constitution).

 

One doesn't need to be a Constitutional scholar, attorney or judge to understand that what happened in the Boston area in pursuance of the bombers at the heavy hand of government was indeed a series of flagrant Constitutional abuses.

 

In fact, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg stated today, "But we live in a complex word (sic) where you’re going to have to have a level of security greater than you did back in the olden days, if you will. And our laws and our interpretation of the Constitution, I think, have to change."

 

Actually, with the passage of the Patriot Act, the National Defense Authorization Act regarding indefinite detention of citizens, the droning of foreign and American citizens, and the demonizing of sections of Americans with a hate label have all contributed to destroying the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. Most despicably, American jurisprudence has backed this up based upon layer after layer of precedence.

 

The New American looked at a number of these Constitutional offenses, from warrantless searches to shutting down cities to possibly denying an American citizen his Constitutional rights (no matter how evil he is or may be).

 

Liberty comes with a price. But so does turning our back on the constitutional role of government, ignoring the Bill of Rights, and assuming total security over citizens.

 

Incidentally, the alleged bombers did not have permits for the guns they acquired. Of course, we understand that criminals don't follow laws, but that doesn't stop others from legislating away your rights.

....Read more at jbs.org