The great thing about Facebook is it’s a fantastic venue for networking and communicating. Of course, it is much more than that for me; Facebook is an endless source of education at the hands of my peers.
For example, I would have never known we had 44 U.S. Constitution scholars on campus, if not for the existence of a group called “Dear Government: Read and Follow the Constitution.”
The proclamations made by this group would be considered fairly hefty declarations for many college-aged students, but not for MSU’s own constitutional scholars. If only Bush had known about these students when he was trying to fill vacancies on the high court, then I would have definitely called on my senators to filibuster Samuel Alito.
The self-avowed purpose of the aforementioned Facebook group is to serve as a gathering place for people “who want a return to a Constitutionally-limited Republic,” which happens to be one of the top reasons I am not a member of this group. When I look at the Constitution, I see an old piece of parchment used to liberate humans from oppressive governments (as opposed to it being a device for limiting the powers of the people).
However, I think everyone should sit down and reread the Constitution and then consider recent events.
One of my favorite amendments is the first one: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Unfortunately, the hallmark of presidential events now is the relegation of protesters to areas where they can be neither seen nor heard.
Not surprisingly, this leads to demonstrators crashing events they might have otherwise been content to stand outside of and harass their targets from public domain.
American politicians certainly have a right to give uninterrupted campaign speeches to their supporters, but it is an abuse of power for politicians to suppress dissenters, confining them to areas removed from interest.
The first three words of the Preamble are perhaps some of the most powerful words ever written: “We the People.” These words signify the people should make the laws to govern people, not an overbearing monarch, a miliaristic czar or a handful of old senators.
Our nation’s Founding Fathers intended for only the powers explicitly enumerated within the Constitution to be granted to the government. Unfortunately, as time has passed, the reverse has happened. The government is now viewed as a controlling device, and the only rights and liberties extended to American citizens are the ones enumerated in the Constitution.
For example, the right to privacy is not specifically mentioned within the document, but it is an inherent part of the Third, Fourth, Fifth and Ninth amendments. The document never even comes close to giving the government the power to abridge this basic human right because it is supposed to protect the interests of the people, not the government.
When an American citizen says the government has the right to limit things, like a woman’s right to reproductive freedom or a same-sex couple’s right to receive governmental benefits that are the same as heterosexual couples, it should be quite disturbing to everyone but the fascists. Which reminds me, “Which side are you on?”