Powdered Wigs & Unattended Gardens

Pick up the phone.

My 14 year old niece recently called me and asked me to help her with her homework. The assignment? Questions about the U.S. Constitution. I felt like a hungry little fat kid being driven to a McDonalds. So eager. So ready. I didn't think they taught the constitution in school anymore. I was sure that it was now viewed as a relic from another time that was hardly relevant any more. Sure, it was a nice concept back in 1787, but today... well, we're so much more advanced than those guys in powdered wigs. As I answered questions ranging from "when was the Constitution adopted" to "how many states does it take to amend the constitution" , I was happy that I actually knew most of the answers without referring to Wikipedia. Most.


The Bill of Rights, or the "Top Ten of 1787"

Those old white guys knew a thing or two about human nature. They understood that some things are timeless -like tyranny and oppression. Those first ten amendments are stated, in part, as a guardian against such oppression. They state very clearly, the rights of the people and they are there to protect the people, not the government. They are constructed so that no one person, party or ideology can corrupt them. The words in that document are quite possibly the closest man can ever come to the mind of God, without assuming we actually know the mind of God. We are guaranteed the right of free speech. The right to worship as each of us sees fit and the right to protect those freedoms with arms, from an oppressive government if necessary. I asked my niece to take a look at the Constitution very closely and take notice of the placement of the right to free speech and the right to bear arms . They are in fact, the 1st and 2nd amendments. This was no accident. The founding fathers knew exactly what they were doing. They understood that any people who did not possess the right guaranteed in the second amendment, could never obtain and keep the first. And without the abilities that the second amendment gives them, they will surely lose both.
Take a look around the world today. There are no people who are truly free that do not possess both privileges. China has no right to freedom of speech and no right to bear arms. Cuba? The same. North Korea? Ditto. You get the idea. In fact, every fascist dictator from Stalin and Hitler through Saddam and Chavez employed this idea - once the people are disarmed of weapons they are disarmed of their ability to protect and defend their rights from their oppressors. Very little has changed in 230 plus years when it comes to human nature. Smart guys those founding fathers.

 

The founding fathers had a great distrust of government, calling it "an evil necessity, at best". They understood human nature and the nature of humans. And such nature dictated that they be prudent in the powers they gave a government - even one ruled by elected officials. I'm not big on conspiracy theories but I do think it shows prudence to make sure that our constitutional rights are not victims of incremental theft. If there's a stench in the air it's probably because somewhere -something is rotting. Something that was left untended by an absent gardener or ignored for too long by an apathetic public. In recent years, I have smelled such an odor. It grows more foul every day. And I fear that without the tending required by each of us, the stench may overpower us.