A Double Deathblow To The 4th Amendment

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 4 to the U.S. Constitution

For years, the 4^th Amendment has been whittled away. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 and subsequent amendments to it — including the FISA Amendment Acts of 2008; the USA Patriot Act; National Security Agency spying; the National Defense Authorization Act; and new technology that allows government snoops to peer inside your homes, cars and beneath your clothes — have all chipped away at its very foundation.

When Private Property Isn’t Sacred

When is your property not really your property?

When you have it in the bank? When it is land? When you have it in a retirement account? Try all of the above.

Jefferson Recommends An ‘Interdiction Of All Useless Expenses’

As the overhyped sequester approaches, the President and Congress are discussing (in public if not with each other) ways to avoid it by reducing government spending and/or raising taxes. During these discussions, they should all keep in mind the words of Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Marquis de Lafayette:

“[A] rigid economy of the public contributions and absolute interdiction of all useless expenses will go far towards keeping the government honest and unoppressive.”

Accusations Against The Absent Are Cowardly Calumnies

Following comments from an unnamed British officer to Parliament that the British need not fear the colonial rebels, because “Americans are unequal to the People of this Country [Britain] in Devotion to Women, and in Courage, and worse than all, they are religious,” Benjamin Franklin penned this reply which was published in the London newspaper, the Public Advertiser, on Feb. 7, 1775.

DHS Echoes The Founders On Defense

Gun grabbers like to ask the question: “Why do you need an ‘assault weapon?’”

As the Department of Homeland Security so aptly put it in its own request for proposal for 7,000 .223 cal. select fire weapons, they are for personal defense.

What Does The 2nd Amendment Mean?

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 II

Some of the recent attacks on the 2^nd Amendment and lawful gun owners by the gun grabbers have focused on the meaning of the words in the Amendment. Particularly, gun grabbers have zeroed in on what the Founding Fathers meant by the words “well regulated Militia.”

The 2nd Amendment Is Clear, The Founders Meant It

“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.” -2nd Amendment

Infringe— to encroach upon in a way that violates law or the rights of another. (Merriam-Webster)

A Long Train Of Abuses And Usurpations

In the aftermath of Barack Obama’s re-election, hundreds of thousands of Americans signed online petitions seeking to peacefully secede from the union.

It was a purely symbolic move and the wrong way to go about seceding, but that was not truly their aim. The goal for many of them was simply to express their frustration that the next four years will see more government growth, expanding bureaucracy and a growing regulatory burden, and an understanding that neither party seems to represent their wishes.

An Improper Consolidation

The Union was formed as a confederation of States that joined together voluntarily. It was the States that joined together, not the people.

The Founders saw the States as checks on the Federal government. They understood that the Federal government would attempt to assume more power than it was granted by the Constitution. So the Senate was devised in Article I, Section 3 in such a way as to give the State legislatures Senate-appointing powers. This made the Senators accountable to the States rather than special interests.

The President Is A King

After years of bristling under the rule of a monarchy, Americans were loath to create another monarchy. Antifederalist Philadelphiensis warned that the U.S. Constitution was creating an executive with even more power than a king.