February 22, 2017

Fictional Rights

By Tammy Derouin

Not that long ago, most Americans understood that in order to secure the blessings of our liberty and to be able to pass it on to our posterity, we had to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare. These were all necessary orders to forming a more perfect union.

The words, “a more perfect union” not perfect union, were used in the Preamble of the Constitution. The founders knew that a perfect world did not exist. Attempting to create one would be futile but there was always room for improvement. Besides, by whose standards would perfection be determined?

The founders understood that happiness and prosperity could only be obtained by the individual. It was not the job of the government to determine the definition of happiness or success. It was, however, the job of the government to protect the rights of the people as set forth in the U.S. Constitution.

There was a time when our freedoms and liberties were highly valued and therefore, the story of our country and our system of government were actually taught to the next generation. Without the knowledge of our past and an understanding of what led to our founding, it would become too easy to take such basic freedoms for granted. If you do not understand the value of something you hold, it becomes something which can be easily traded. In the quest for power, government is all too willing to take advantage of ignorance. It preys upon the uninformed and dangles promises, which no government can truly keep.

We are an exceptional nation because we are free. We are free because we stood up to tyranny and tied it down with the U.S. Constitution. Without the Constitution, we loose our exceptionalism, our freedom. We become just another nation of men; a land where your rights are determined by man. If the state can give it, the state can also take it away. That's the benefit of being a land of laws; they do not change simply through the transfer of power.

When an individual, or a branch of government assumes too much power and is not immediately checked by the other branches, a great disturbance is created. Laws are in place to protect and treat everyone equally. If they are disregarded or only enforced when it suits a purpose, man and government become more powerful. The restraints we once had on our government, loosen. Tyranny eagerly begins to buck and will eventually break free. A run away government takes charge, taking your freedoms right along with it.

When laws are intentionally not followed, it makes sense that those who were benefiting from unlawful privilege would be upset when enforcement resumes. Isn't it a bit ridiculous that there are people actively protesting against the safety and security of our country? When the past practice of government has catered to those who are here illegally and those who wish to destroy us, you would think legal citizens would be happy that the laws are finally being enforced. That's the danger of uninformed individuals and the icing on the cake for government control.

Did you ever think you would watch illegal aliens protesting for fictional rights? Did you ever think you would witness American citizens protesting and demanding the illegal entry of individuals? But then again, I never thought a U.S. President would disregard the Constitution, open our borders to anyone and everyone, enemies included, and make lying an art form.

American citizenship is valuable. We should be treating it like the priceless blessing that it is. If we do not defend and protect it, it will disappear. The press and the Obama sympathizers are waging war against the rule of law. If the press would have done its job, Obama probably would never have been elected and certainly not re-elected. If the press would have been the investigative reporters they once were, Hillary Clinton would have never been the nominee for the Democratic Party. If the schools and parents would have done their job, Bernie Sanders, a socialist, would never have made it as far as he did. A socialist! My senior civics class just cried out in disbelief!

Have we truly become a nation that prefers to disregard the law, rather than uphold it? Those who are here illegally have already committed one crime. The illegals which are being sought right now have committed additional, in many cases, heinous crimes. Yet many Americans protest against the enforcement of the law. If they truly understood their freedoms and the need to protect our borders, would they continue in their destructive behavior? Legal immigration is not in question.

“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.”

Thomas Jefferson