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Defending Civil Liberties to Protect Our Freedoms.

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Defending civil liberties is a fundamental right for all Americans, as outlined in the Constitution of the United States.

Some of these rights and freedoms include the right to privacy, freedom of religion, and freedom of speech.

We have the legal right to equal protection for all under the law regardless of our sex, religion, national origin, or race.

America has always been proud of the Constitution and encouraged other countries to observe and respect human rights, freedoms, and protections.

However, in the past few years, particularly under the Bush administration, our own human rights have been under attack.

It’s crucial that Americans do what they can to defend democracy and the Constitution or our children may soon live in a country where they no longer have protection by rule of law.

It’s interesting that more American citizens are concerned about defending civil liberties than many of our leaders and politicians.

We need to band together and act as one in upholding the Constitution and the Bill of Rights before it’s too late.

Without our inherent rights and freedoms, the United States government will be able to assume all the power, power that is implicitly given to the people, as stated in the Constitution.

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Accusations Against Bush

After the Bush administration was through with the United States, defending civil liberties came to the forefront of many national concerns.

Some of the abuses against the Constitution that Bush was guilty of include wiretapping without a warrant, imprisonment without habeas corpus, and torture.

Bush’s many offenses clearly violated federal laws and the Constitution but he never listened to any of those accusations with very much concern.

The evidence was there, such as the evidence that he authorized spying on Americans without approval from Congress.

Throughout all the evidence compiled against them, the Bush administration continued to overlook the Constitution’s checks and balances system of keeping power out of the hands of one branch of government.

They defied and ignored Congressional subpoenas, always working on their own terms and believing that everything they did was justified since it was done to fight the war on terror.

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Defending Civil Liberties

Many of the values outlined by the Founding Fathers of the United States are being challenged by politics and social groups in this country.

There are 27 amendments to the Constitution, the first 10 of which are known as the Bill of Rights.

The First Amendment to the Constitution is all about the rights of freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of petition.

And don’t forget freedom of speech, which is perhaps one of the most challenged freedoms of the Constitution.

The media in this country is frequently told what they can and can’t discuss or write about.

Certain television networks have been accused of leaning in favor of one political party or another, reporting issues about both but making sure the party they support always looks more favorable than the other.

The right to freedom of speech gives us the right to dissent. But what is dissent worth if no one can hear you?

The Bush administration set up “free speech” zones whenever and wherever Bush made a public appearance.

Dissenters were quarantined in these areas, far from Bush supporters or the media would be able to see and hear them.

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Defending Our Rights

Defending civil liberties is not only our right, but our duty as well.

The Preamble to the Constitution, although just one sentence, establishes that “we the people” are the ones to protect what our Founding Fathers worked so hard to ascertain for us.

The Preamble to the Constitution has a powerful message for American citizens, a message that declares we have the right to establish justice in this country for all people, both in the interests of the majority and the rights of the minority:

“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Prosperity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

– Preamble to the Constitution of the United States.

If we don’t stand up and speak up for our right to freedom and rule of law, who will?

Our Founding Fathers might be horrified to learn they had to do it all over again if they were to come back and see the state this country is in.

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