Category Archives: Liberty

What is Liberty?

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My wife and I attended a Young Republican BBQ last night. The organizers scheduled four speakers, a state Representative from the eastern side of Missouri, Paul Curtman, two local state Senators, Will Kraus and Ed Emery, and the President of the Missouri Alliance for Freedom, Ryan Johnson.

I don’t think the speakers conferred and selected a topic; their schedules were too varied. When all were finished, all had spoken about the same two items: What is Liberty and what is the purpose of Government?

Paul Curtman spoke how, when he was in the military in Afghanistan, he asked himself why he was there and for what purpose. He studied what was a soldier’s duty and why anyone would assume those duties. That lead him to examine our Constitution closely. His conclusion about the purpose of government, of constitutions, and the nature of liberty was remarkably similar to the conclusions of the others.

Will Kraus, a reservist and officer in the Missouri National Guard, had similar thoughts. He reviewed some of his sponsored legislation and how those bills supported Liberty and constrained the excesses of government.

http://www.senate.mo.gov/13info/graphics/d31-photo.gif

Ed Emery, Missouri State Senator, District 31

What is Liberty? What is the purpose of government? Ed Emery, the last speaker, closed the discussion saying, “Liberty and purpose of government is defined in the second paragraph of our Declaration of Independence.”

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed[.]

Liberty is ‘certain unalienable Rights, among these are Life and the Pursuit of Happiness.’ The purpose of government is to assist in the achievement of those unalienable Rights. Government has no other purpose than this.

That definition certainly differs with the purpose of government as defined in most of our educational systems and the views of liberals. In our view, the conservative view, government is subordinate and subject to the people. Pubic education and liberals, progressives as they like to call themselves, have the opposite view—people are subordinate to government.

The question now comes to us, how are we to maintain that original viewpoint and return government to its original purpose and definition? That too, has a simple answer—examine and question candidates for office. Examine them closely, their voting records, listen to their speeches, question them ask for their definition of Liberty and Government. If the answers satisfy you, help with their campaigns, help fund those campaigns, and always, always, keep them in you eye and monitor their actions once in office.

Never let them forget they are under scrutiny. The good ones, those officeholders and candidates who support your beliefs in Liberty and Government will appreciate your efforts. Those officeholders and candidates who hide their views from you deserve only your scorn and efforts to remove them from office.

The two questions, define liberty and define government, are easy questions to ask. It should be as simple for officeholders and candidates to answer. It is the duty of the voter to ask, judge, and to support the officeholder or candidate…or his opponent, whomever that may be, who will support Liberty and the Declaration’s definition of the purpose of government.

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What we’ve lost

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I was surfin’ the internet over the weekend when I came across the article below. It brought forth the disconnect of what are our liberties are now, to what they used to be—and not all that long ago for some of us.

I have an internet acquaintance, Tom Kratman. I say acquaintance because we’ve never met. We have exchanged a few e-mails over the last several years on one topic or another. Tom Kratman is a retired Army Officer, lawyer, writer, married to a Panamanian lady and he has numerous relatives living in Panama. He knows the country well.

I found this article due to a comment Tom Kratman made on the internet. It drew me to read the article. I expected another America bashing topic. I was surprised, it was not but more of a lamentation what we, as a people have lost…but, in Panama, still is.

It is food for thought when we listen to the news today that Obama, through the EPA, is imposing more Cap ‘n Tax regulations. He’s using federal regulations to punish the country when he couldn’t get similar legislation through Congress.

More freedom in Panama as a foreigner than in the U.S as a citizen? Sure feels that way.

http://www.permanentlypanama.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Freedom-in-Panama-as-a-Foreigner1.jpgBy Alice Beth

Disclaimer: The opinions in this article are not based upon the legal system of either the U.S or Panama, but rather my lifestyle experiences. So don’t get yourself arrested and blame it on me, chief.

“Are you ever coming back to the U.S?”

It’s a question I’ve been hearing for nearly two years.

At first, my answer had a built-in pause. “I don’t know…” I would mutter. “Maybe.”

These days, it’s shifted to a steady: “Why would I do that?”

The sentiment is further rooted during my annual visits to the U.S. It seems that Panama has spoiled me. With its advantageous atmosphere and empowering sense of freedom, I feel suffocated when I return “home.”

It’s the little things, as well as a few major shifts in mindset and lifestyle. There are things I do in Panama that I just can’t do in the states. At least- not without fighting an uphill battle.

The Little Things

The little things are the hardest to explain. When we fall in love, whether with a person or a country, it’s often thanks to the “little things” that we can barely pinpoint yet refuse to live without.

So, what are Panama’s little things? I’ll do my best to describe.

  • It’s the freedom to drive onto the beach to reach that faraway surf break, with no one to yell at you and (barely) any people to hit.
  • It’s the freedom to build a bonfire, pitch a tent, let your dog off the leash, or bring a flask to that same beach (or other public space) with no one to tell you off for it. The police drive by and wave- why would they care? “Hope you’ve got 4×4,” they say, “call us if you get stuck.”
  • It’s being able to walk into a store and have your smartphone unlocked, because you don’t want a 2-year contract, thank you very much. $15 a month, pay-as-you-go, sure beats that monthly $89 bill.
  • It’s affording a weekly manicure, because for $8, why the hell not? You’ll use that time to practice your Spanish, anyway- two services for the price of one.
  • It’s bringing your non-service dog on a public ferry, it’s riding a horse wherever the hell you want, because who are you to tell me I can’t?
  • Sure, buy a freshly-killed chicken from the farmer two houses down. Sell kabobs by the side of the road. Permit? Bah. The FDA won’t bother you.

The U.S is suffocating, with its pussyfooting philosophy. No dogs allowed. No beers on the beach. No sneaking snacks in the theater, and absolutely no monkey bars on the playground. Don’t you dare start that bonfire. And you! You’re trespassing. Get out of this…uh….forest. You’re up to no good.

Land of the free. Home of the brave.

Except everyone is terrified of lawsuits to the point that the country is idiot-padded and accident-proof.

Nevermind the fact that the 9 out of 10 casualty-free scenarios are stripped away from us. Nevermind the concept of, oh, I don’t know, doing what you want so long as you’re not hurting anybody else.

Life Changers

Little freedoms are nice. It’s only when combined with life-changers that a fun place to visit becomes a better place to live.

Living in Panama has enabled me to have a conscious control over my career, the direction it goes, and the rate at which it progresses. I’m not hungrily grabbing at whatever opportunity comes my way. With so many opportunities, I get to pick and choose.

I needn’t operate at the mercy of the economy, the market, and all its fluctuations. I operate according to me.

At 23, I’m in the initial stretch of my freelance career- but you wouldn’t know it by my portfolio. I spearhead projects that most people can’t touch before years of climbing the corporate ladder. The U.S is saturated with bureaucratic bullshit. Bide your time, pay your dues, wait for that promotion, your moment will come.

In Panama, you opt for the grab-what-you-want-by-the-cajones path instead.

The economy has grown dizzyingly fast. Businesses are racing to keep up, to expand, to offer more, make more, and maximize on this historical period. They don’t care how many notches are on your belt. They care that you’re able to grab the reins, bring something new to the table, and produce results.

Read also: Why Panama is like Disney World for Entrepreneurs

I’m sure some would say the same about the States- and I don’t doubt them. But I also don’t envy freelancers or job seekers in the U.S- particularly those who are still earning their stripes, or competing against more people for less openings. Fighting to burst their head through a sea of contenders, just to grab the attention of some company who’s probably not hiring, anyway.

My life in Panama has afforded me a level of autonomy, both personally and professionally, that I’ve never had in the States. My no-handcuff, high-profit lifestyle has become my definition of freedom- and it’s given me little reason to ever look back.

Just stop and think for a moment. Take the things Alice Beth can do freely—in Panama, and what would happen if we attempted to do the same here in the US. With a few moments of thought, it would be come clear what we have lost since the 1960s.

Think some more and add the tyrannies of government education, Common Core, Agenda 21 and all its implications, and the arbitrary edicts of federal agencies gone rogue. Yes, we beat Panama in a small war. We invaded it. Killed their soldiers. But now, 25 years since that invasion, which nation provides the most freedom to its residents?

Should we all pull up stakes and migrate to Panama? No. We have made this nation into what it now is. It is our responsibility to fix it.

The Home of the Brave, the Land of the…

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The Liberty Amendments

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Mark Levin’s The Liberty Amendments

Mark Levin’s new book, The Liberty Amendments, is getting a lot of press since its release earlier this week. It rose to #1 on the Amazon best seller list on its first day.

According to Levin, the book is how to restore the Constitution using means already available within the Constitution. Brent Bozell and Cal Thomas have written articles on the book as shown below.

A constitutional cure for what ails us

BY: Cal Thomas August 15, 2013 | 5:00 am

When I studied the U.S. Constitution in school, I learned that for a bill to become law, it first had to be introduced in either the House or the Senate. Today, a cynic might say for a bill to become law, a member of Congress must first be introduced to a lobbyist.

Much of government’s dysfunction, cost and overreach can be traced to the abandonment of the constitutional boundaries the Founders put in place for the purpose of controlling the lust for power.

In his new book, “The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Republic,” Mark R. Levin asserts the U.S. government isn’t performing up to standards established by the Founders because, like a flooding river, politicians have breached their constitutional limits.

Levin, who graduated with honors and a law degree from Temple University and who hosts a popular syndicated radio talk show, believes “the nation has entered an age of post-constitutional tyranny” resulting in this attitude by our leaders: “The public is not to be informed but indoctrinated, manipulated and misled.”

Before this is dismissed as the ranting of a far-right extremist, consider the case Levin builds: The executive branch has assumed for itself “broad lawmaking power,” creating departments and agencies that contravene the doctrine known as separation of powers; Congress creates monstrosities like Obamacare that have no constitutional origin, spending the country into record debt and making America dependent on foreign governments, especially China; the judiciary consists of men and women who are “no more virtuous than the rest of us and in some cases less so, as they suffer from the usual human imperfections and frailties.”

And yet they make decisions in the name of the Constitution that cannot be defended according to the words of the Founders, who believed the judiciary should be the least powerful and consequential branch of government.

In Federalist No. 78, Alexander Hamilton wrote that the judiciary branch would be the weakest of the three because it had “no influence over either the sword or the purse. … It may truly be said to have neither FORCE nor WILL, but merely judgment.”

Who can credibly disagree with Levin when he writes: “What was to be a relatively innocuous federal government, operating from a defined enumeration of specific grants of power, has become an ever-present and unaccountable force. It is the nation’s largest creditor, debtor, lender, employer, consumer, contractor, grantor, property owner, tenant, insurer, health-care provider and pension guarantor.”

To return America to its constitutional boundaries, Levin proposes a series of “liberty amendments” to the Constitution, beginning with one limiting the terms of congressmen so they might avoid the bipartisan virus that infects even some who believe in limited government, mutating them into power-hungry influence seekers with little regard for the public good.

Another amendment would establish term limits for Supreme Court justices. “The point is,” argues Levin, “that the Framers clearly intended to create intrinsic limitations on the ability of any one branch or level of government to have unanswered authority over the other.”

Another amendment would establish spending limits for the government. Another would grant states the authority to check Congress.

Levin admits these amendments are unlikely to win congressional approval because in Washington power is not willingly relinquished. That’s why he proposes the states bypass Congress, as the Framers provided, and pass these amendments themselves.

As Levin notes, “Article V [of the Constitution] expressly grants state legislatures significant authority to rebalance the constitutional structure for the purpose of restoring our founding principles should the federal government shed its limitations, abandon its original purpose and grow too powerful, as many delegates in Philadelphia and the state conventions had worried it might.”

Americans who care about the health and future of their country have the power through the states to force the federal government to abide by its founding document. Mark Levin’s book is a serious work that can serve as an action plan for curing what ails us.

What’s needed is less focus on Washington and more on state capitals where legislators are more likely to be responsive to the demands of “we the people.”

One of the core concepts of Levin’s proposals is the restoration of federalism between the states and Washington instead of the centralist government we now have. Levin calls this ‘statism.’ Whether we call it a centralist government or statism, the result is the same—more power in Washington and less to the states and individuals.

The other review appeared on Investor’s Business Daily by Brent Bozell.

Mark Levin’s New Book Could Help Americans Regain Their Liberty

By Posted 08/14/2013 06:18 PM ET

Only those happily trampling on the last vestiges of freedom will deny that our federal government as a constitutional republic has ceased to function.

The president can no longer control (nor does this one want to control) the enormous and ever-expanding bureaucracy functioning as a government by fiat.

The legislative branch, so corrupted, so drunk by the allure of power, so disdainful of its constituents, is unable to stop its bankrupting ways.

The judiciary is perhaps worst. The Supreme Court is openly rejecting the authority of the Constitution itself.

If the federal government refuses to adhere to the enumerated powers of the Constitution, what can the citizenry do about it? The events of the past five years (more, actually) prove this.

It has become virtually impossible to stop the agenda of a radical chief executive who brazenly uses the federal government as his personal political machine. It is almost impossible to defeat an incumbent in Congress with all the advantages it has awarded itself. For all intents it’s impossible to replace a member of the Supreme Court.

The left is content with this terrible turn of events. By “transformation” they meant the transfer of power to the state.

Conservatives are loath to declare American exceptionalism dead, yet are powerless to stop the statist steamroller. With every cycle, the situation worsens. At some point the unthinkable — tyranny — is upon us. We are running out of time. Only radical surgery will save the patient now.

Enter Dr. Mark Levin with his new book, “The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Republic.” Levin is a Constitutional scholar — and he shines.

He argues passionately that the federal government can be brought under control only if new limitations are thrust upon it by its citizenry. He proposes a Constitutional convention, not one called by Congress but by two-thirds of state legislatures. It would require a three-fourths margin to pass any amendment. It is the lesser known of the two options provided by Article V of the Constitution.

What should a Constitutional convention tackle? Levin offers 11 amendments for consideration, with appropriate subdivisions, each carefully researched and designed to reduce the power of the state.

  • Term limits for Congress is the first liberty amendment Levin offers; it is my view also the most important. Only when there are limits (12 years) will Congress be populated by men and women driven only by the call to service, not the siren song of power.
  • The millions delivered by special interests for the re-election of incumbents who, in turn, reward said interests with billions in grants, contracts, tax shelters and the like — will cease.

Levin calls for other limitations on Congress.

  • He proposes an amendment to limit federal spending and another to limit taxation. The combination will restore fiscal sanity while devolving power from the state.
  • He offers an amendment to repeal the 17th Amendment, returning to the Article 1 mandate that senators be chosen by their state legislators.
  • What about the Supreme Court? “(Should five individuals be making political and public policy decisions and imposing them on every corner of the nation . . . as they pursue even newer and more novel paths around the Constitution in exercising judicial review?”
  • Levin notes: Sometimes mistakes are made (Roberts, anyone?) and America shouldn’t be punished for the rest of that jurist’s life. He proposes 12-year term limits for them, as well.
  • What can be done to control, even reduce the size and scope of the bureaucracy? All federal departments and agencies must be re-authorized by Congress every three years or be terminated — that’s what.
  • There’s a liberty amendment to protect and promote free enterprise, now under assault.
  • One to protect private property given the ability of the federal government suddenly to steal it.
  • Amendments to increase the power of the states.
  • Finally, an amendment to protect the voting process.

Who would have thought such amendments would be needed? That’s the point. It’s the nature of the crisis.

Levin quotes Tocqueville reflections on the first Constitutional Convention: “(I)t is new in history of society to see a great people turn a calm and scrutinizing eye upon itself when apprised by the legislature that the wheels of its government are stopped.”

It is time for our legislatures once more to issue the clarion call.

Levin hopes “The Liberty Amendments” will launch a national discussion. It will. Levin is a consequential man, and this is a consequential book.

Some critics will dismiss the idea. But nothing else is working, and nothing else will do. We have reached the tipping point.

Levin, on his radio show (locally KCMO-710 at 5pm weekdays), jumped the gun on the book’s release. He began talking about some of the concepts late last week with some tantalizing hints.

If you have ever read Levin’s bio, you’ll quickly see he knows government—from the inside and well as the outside. His Landmark Legal Foundation is currently suing the EPA over violations of law and their own regulations.

Levin wants the states to apply pressure to the central government. He outlines means and methods for them to do so. I don’t have a copy yet, but I’m looking forward to reading this latest Levin book.

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(Updated 10:00AM) Do these people really think before they speak!?!?

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Update: 10AM.  We’ve another example of dems who think our Constitution, Republic and democratic principles are just too…“too much of a good thing.” 
The former director’s of Obama’s Office of Management and Budget, Peter Orszag, thinks so.  In a column he wrote for The New Republic, he says…
During my recent stint in the Obama administration as director of the Office of Management and Budget, it was clear to me that the country’s political polarization was growing worse—harming Washington’s ability to do the basic, necessary work of governing. If you need confirmation of this, look no further than the recent debt-limit debacle, which clearly showed that we are becoming two nations governed by a single Congress—and that paralyzing gridlock is the result.

So what to do? To solve the serious problems facing our country, we need to minimize the harm from legislative inertia by relying more on automatic policies and depoliticized commissions for certain policy decisions. In other words, radical as it sounds, we need to counter the gridlock of our political institutions by making them a bit less democratic. (Emphasis added: Crucis) — The New Republic, Too Much of a Good Thing, Why we need less democracy, September 14, 2011 | 9:46 pm.
We’ve known all along the libs, leftists and dems really didn’t like our republic nor its institutions.  The Constitution, the principles behind those founding documents and the institutions created from them are impediments to the statists in both parties.
What they truly desire is an oligarchy of elites who governs the masses “for their betterment.”  

ol·i·gar·chyNoun/ˈäliˌgärkē/

1. A small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution.

2. A state governed by such a group.

Of course the betterment always seems to be of the elite instead of masses they rule.  The operate word in that last sentence is “rule”, not govern.  There’s a difference.

Liberty? Democracy?  That’s for us, not for them, so says the elites.

***

Unbelievable. For a governor of a state to speak just a thing.  And, it public, too!

NC governor recommends suspending democracy to focus on jobs

Published: 3:58 PM 09/27/2011 | Updated: 4:05 PM 09/27/2011
As a way to solve the national debt crisis, North Carolina Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue recommends suspending Congressional elections for the next couple of years.
“I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover,” Perdue said at a rotary club event in Cary, North Carolina, according to the Raleigh News and Observer. “I really hope that someone can agree with me on that.”
Perdue said she thinks that temporarily halting elections would allow members of Congress to focus on the economy. “You have to have more ability from Congress, I think, to work together and to get over the partisan bickering and focus on fixing things,” Perdue said.
North Carolina Republicans immediately scoffed at Perdue’s proposal, pointing out to her that elections hold politicians accountable for their actions. “Now is a time when politicians need to be held accountable more than ever,” North Carolina GOP spokesman Rob Lockwood said in an email to The Daily Caller. “To suspend an election would be removing the surest mechanism that citizens have to hold politicians accountable: The right to vote.”

 Do these people really want a civil war?  That’s what would happen as surely as the sun rises in the morning. 

“…solve the national debt crises.”  The debt crises would be nothing compared to the new crises the dems, and anyone else supporting the idea, would have on their hands if they tried this.

Use it or Lose it!

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This will be a bit short today. I’ve errands to run (gotta go the Cabela’s doncha know!)

Use it. Or, lose it. Those are choices we’ve each made from time to time. Our black cat, Snowflake, discovered this morning just what that means. Her cat bed that was once perched atop Mrs. Crucis’ sewing machine was missing!

My wife found the round cat bed somewhere, brought it home and Snowflake fell in love with it. Perhaps the fact that it was up “high” had something to do with it. Cats like lurking high above the scene, the higher the better. Anyway, Snowflake would curl up in the cat bed for her morning, noontime, afternoon snooze. Our other cat, a tiger-striped tabby named Amber, never cared for the cat bed. It was all Snowflake’s.

But cats are fickle. Preferences change due, perhaps to poor memory or other things new that have struck up their current interest. Snowflake’s use of the cat bed dwindled and over the last few months, stopped.

Noting that it was unused, Mrs. Crucis, gave the cat bed to a friend for their cat.

This morning, Snowflake jumped atop the sewing machine, examined the area where the cat bed once resided and looked at me as if to say, “What happened? Where is it?“

“It’s gone, Snowflake. Use it or lose it. You didn’t use it. You’ll just have to make do with something else.”

There’s a cautionary tale here that applies to us as well as to Snowflake. We all have things, abilities, freedoms and rights. If we don’t use them, they will disappear.

When I was a boy, I didn’t need to wear a helmet to ride my bicycle. I didn’t need my parent’s permission to walk into our local Western Auto store a buy a box of .22LR ammunition. In fact, at age twelve, I didn’t need my parent’s permission to buy myself that .22 Marlin bolt-action rifle that I’d saved for. I was a member of Youth for Christ and we met every other week in my Latin teacher’s classroom. We prayed at school assemblies and a local minister was the school chaplain who was available three times a week—during school hours, for consultation in an office next to the teacher’s lounge.

Liberty is dear. More so when it’s taken from us.

Use it or lose it. It’s more than a lesson for cats.

Use it or Lose it!

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This will be a bit short today. I’ve errands to run (gotta go the Cabela’s doncha know!)

Use it. Or, lose it. Those are choices we’ve each made from time to time. Our black cat, Snowflake, discovered this morning just what that means. Her cat bed that was once perched atop Mrs. Crucis’ sewing machine was missing!

My wife found the round cat bed somewhere, brought it home and Snowflake fell in love with it. Perhaps the fact that it was up “high” had something to do with it. Cats like lurking high above the scene, the higher the better. Anyway, Snowflake would curl up in the cat bed for her morning, noontime, afternoon snooze. Our other cat, a tiger-striped tabby named Amber, never cared for the cat bed. It was all Snowflake’s.

But cats are fickle. Preferences change due, perhaps to poor memory or other things new that have struck up their current interest. Snowflake’s use of the cat bed dwindled and over the last few months, stopped.

Noting that it was unused, Mrs. Crucis, gave the cat bed to a friend for their cat.

This morning, Snowflake jumped atop the sewing machine, examined the area where the cat bed once resided and looked at me as if to say, “What happened? Where is it?“

“It’s gone, Snowflake. Use it or lose it. You didn’t use it. You’ll just have to make do with something else.”

There’s a cautionary tale here that applies to us as well as to Snowflake. We all have things, abilities, freedoms and rights. If we don’t use them, they will disappear.

When I was a boy, I didn’t need to wear a helmet to ride my bicycle. I didn’t need my parent’s permission to walk into our local Western Auto store a buy a box of .22LR ammunition. In fact, at age twelve, I didn’t need my parent’s permission to buy myself that .22 Marlin bolt-action rifle that I’d saved for. I was a member of Youth for Christ and we met every other week in my Latin teacher’s classroom. We prayed at school assemblies and a local minister was the school chaplain who was available three times a week—during school hours, for consultation in an office next to the teacher’s lounge.

Liberty is dear. More so when it’s taken from us.

Use it or lose it. It’s more than a lesson for cats.

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Core Liberties

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There have been many events this week that strikes at the foundation of our country. First is the opening scenes that may well be the first shots in the battle between the states and the federal government. Specifically, the suits by Virginia against the Obamacare mandates. Next is the Federal Court injunctions against the oil drilling moratorium in the Gulf. Twice the courts have blocked the moratorium and the Obama Administration ignores the orders and continues to block the return of to the oil rigs. Finally is the initiation of the federal suit against Arizona for having the audacity to enforce federal law when the Obama administration refuses to do so and leaves our borders unprotected.

(Why is our federal government aiding our enemies and oppressing us?)

Getting back to the subject, I’ve been thinking about our core liberties. Not necessarily those in the Bill of Rights, but core concepts.

Not necessarily in order of priority but the ability to travel without restraint nor constraint is a core liberty—the ability to “vote with your feet”. This allows a person the capability of escaping tyranny. The flight of wealth from New York, New Jersey and California to states with less onerous taxes is an example.

The right of self-defense, to protect yourself, your family and friends, even your community and property is a prime facet of liberty. Without this right, we’re slaves to those who can overpower us.

The freedom to speak our minds, whenever and to whomever we wish. The first amendment was created to keep the actions of government and of those in power public. The right to inform and be informed is a weapon against tyranny and oppression. The recent revelations on JournOList prove that the Media has abdicated this task. When those charged with guarding our sources of information join the tyrants and oppressors, we, individually, must supplant them. The abomination spoken by CNN’s John Robert’s call for a crackdown on bloggers is a direct attack against our first amendment rights.

The right to own and acquire property and assets is another core liberty. The urge, the need to better ourselves is a life-long task. That cannot be done without assets in some form. Historically this has been the acquisition of land and property. Today, property had taken other forms of tangible and non-tangible assets.

No one has a right to take what a person owns, what a person has earned, without the voluntary assent of the owner. Anything else is theft. In many instances, taxes are nothing more than governmental theft. I would favor a change that would allow us to earmark where our tax dollars are spent. I doubt many, if any, welfare programs would receive a dime.

Finally, for me, the freedom to worship God as I choose, when I choose, where I choose without restraint by any level of government. The first amendment is not freedom from religion, but freedom OF religion. If you don’t like that, use your other unalienable right to vote with your feet and go elsewhere.

I’m sure many others would add more “rights”. Many, in reality, do not exists but are nothing more than encroachment on others. I challenge you to add more to this list. Remember, it is not a Right, if it restrains others.