What the Fourth is For

*See Cartoon Footnote (scroll down below column)

What the Fourth is For

For the Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper and Schleswig Leader, Thurs. June 29, 2006

(Note: anyone remotely familiar with any of our most important documents will notice my shameless paraphrasing, the thing is, too many people don't seem to be very familiar with them, otherwise why would we have stupid attempts to desecrate them like the recent flag-burning amendment in the Senate?)

Sometimes as life goes on, you need to cut off your political connections to a group, and take your place in the world as God and nature intended. When that happens, it’s only fair that you explain why. That’s what the Continental Congress did 230 years ago this week.

Thomas Jefferson wrote that everyone is created equal, and have God given rights, including the right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Everyone agrees that the pursuit of happiness is pretty vague and that that one can be interpreted differently by almost everyone.

Life ought to be self explanatory, but of course two centuries later, there are issues of “quality of life,” end-of-life, of course abortion and don’t forget capital punishment.

“Pursuit of happiness” has to be the one that is the most subjective. What if my pursuit impedes yours? What if yours violates my religion?

Government exists to protect our rights, and it’s a trade-off, they exist because we allow them to. We forfeit some of our rights and privileges in order to, preserve and protect others. When the government stops protecting our rights, “it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government,” and fortunately for us, we don’t have to fight a war for Independence every time we need to do this. Instead, every two years we elect new Congressmen, every four years we replace the President, and every six years we decide on new Senators.

We hope that they’ll look out for our safety and happiness. Unfortunately all experience “hath shewn,” that voters will put up with an awful lot before they finally get fed up and tend to prefer the devil we know over the devil we don’t know.

For the sake of unity, justice, domestic tranquility, common defense, everyone’s best interests, and to guarantee freedom for us and for future generations, made this a nation of laws, not of men.

Here are just a few of our rights and freedoms:

1. Separation of church and state, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble and to complain to the government when they’re wrong and demand that they make things right.

There is no officially established “Church of America,” but they can’t punish you for believing or worshiping as you wish.

Free speech, means having to put up with a lot of other people’s claptrap. You may not always like what I say here, but that won’t stop me from listening to the Dixie Chicks. (I like Toby Kieth too, if it helps.)

2. “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

“A well regulated militia”- that sounds a lot like the National Guard, doesn’t it? “Well regulated” Hmmm? Sounds like maybe the founding fathers didn’t think that every white supremacist needed their own semi-automatic grenade launcher after all, at least not without a background check first. But that’s just my interpretation. See there, I exercised my freedom of speech in the press and I bet someone didn’t like it- just let me pursue my happiness without endangering my life, will ya?

3.You have the right not to have to have soldiers take over your home.

4. You have a right to not have your home or your stuff searched or confiscated without probable cause, or better yet a warrant.

5. You have a right to a trial in an actual court- not a military tribunal (unless you’re a member of the military, then you’d face a court’s marshal). You have the right to remain silent- that is you don’t have to testify if whatever you say can be used to incriminate you (You can “plead the fifth”). They can’t take away your life, liberty, or property, without due process of law and they can’t temporarily commandeer your stuff without paying you what it’s worth.

6. You have a right to a speedy trial, and a jury of your peers. You have a right to be told what you were arrested for. You have a right to confront the person who accused you of whatever crime you’re charged with. You have right to a defense lawyer who has to try to find witnesses who can help you.

7. If someone sues you for more than $20, you have a right to a jury, not just a judge, even though it’s civil court, rather than criminal court.

8. They can’t make your bail or fines too outrageous, and any penalties should not be cruel or unusual.

9. The point of the Constitution is to protect rights, not limit them

10. Whatever power that the Constitution doesn’t give to the federal government that the state government doesn’t prohibit, belong either to the state government or to the people themselves.

There are 27 more amendments besides the Bill of Rights. People struggle and sacrifice for these, they fought and died for them. What a shame if anyone would be asked to die for anything less.
____________________________________________

*Cartoon Footnote:

NEW YORK Rep. Steve King, a Republican from Iowa, apologized to Helen Thomas on Wednesday for disparaging comments he made about the veteran White House correspondent.

Last Saturday, Rep. King, while discussing the death of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi at the state Republican convention, said, "What occurred to me that morning is something that I imagine a lot of you have thought about and he's probably figured it out by now. There probably are not 72 virgins in the hell he's at and if there are, they probably all look like Helen Thomas."

The remark drew wide laughter and applause.

A spokeswoman for the two-term congressman said King has apologized to Thomas, 85, now writing a column for Hearst newspapers.

King is running for re-election this fall.

Joyce Schulte, King's Democratic opponent in November, said
"Mean-spirited remarks are beneath the dignity of any self respecting congressperson, and remarks about another person's appearance are even lower. I hesitate to even use Helen Thomas' name in the same document with so vile a wretch as al-Zarqawi. But I want her and the world to know that Iowans are not insensitive buffoons who make fun at someone else's expense."

Our most important day

This Saturday is an important anniversary that most of us are oblivious to, but as Americans, this day SHOULD be more important, more meaningful, and more valuable than President’s Day, Flag Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and even Patriot’s Day combined. On September 17, 1787 our Constitution was first adopted by the Constitutional Convention of United States.

The Preamble to the Constitution is often mistaken for a portion of the Declaration of Independence. It is just as important, maybe more so, because it is our “mission statement” if you will, it summarizes what we as a nation, and what our government are supposed to be doing:

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

If I were to put it into today’s language, I might say “We agree to these laws and this Constitution, so that we can stand together, to create fairness, guarantee that we all get along, make sure everyone is safe, look out for each other’s best interests, and make sure that not only we, but future generations will enjoy freedom and the ability to participate in the democratic process for years to come.”

I think it’s summed up even better by our motto, “E. Pluribus Unum” which is Latin for, “from many-one.” We are not one race, we are not one faith, we are not one ethnicity or nationality, we don’t even speak one language, yet we are one. What unifies us is what we believe in, what goals we strive for, and what laws we agree to follow, that is what the Constitution was written to express, those rights, those freedoms, and those responsibilities, those duties. What makes us one is our Constitution, not our political party, not our leaders, not even our flag, but rather it is what our flag stands for, and that is our Constitutional rights.

The Constitution is divided into five main parts. Since it is a legal document, lawyers call these parts “Articles,” and each paragraph in an article is called a “section.” When it gets down to it, they did that so that it would be easier to refer back to specific parts that you need to talk about or study. Kind of like how the Bible is divided into books, chapters, and verses. Nobody really talks or writes that way, it just helps you look up things. On web pages there are anchors and tags, in textbooks you underline, highlight, and stick post-it notes everywhere.

The first Article explains in ten sections, how Congress and the Senate are supposed to work. The second article explains what the President and Cabinet are supposed to do. Article Three sets up the Supreme Court and the Judicial branch. Article Four talks about how the State governments are supposed to get along and Articles Five through Seven explain how fix, change, or add to the Constitution itself. The “founding fathers” had no idea how long America would be around or what our lives would be like, what our technology would be like, so they thought that we should have a way to be part of the process.

As a matter of fact, the word “citizen” basically means “member of the government.” Likewise, the word “idiot” originally referred to someone who refused to take any civic responsibility.

I’d love to write about the Bill of Rights and all of the twenty-seven amendments to the Constitution, especially the First Amendment, but that should be saved for a column celebrating the day that the Bill of Rights was first adopted, December 15, 1791.

We stand united not in our hate for or anger toward terrorists. We certainly don’t stand united in our loyalty to parties or politicians. We are united when we strive for the same goals in the Preamble and engage and participate in the process of our Constitution and when we protect and exercise the rights set forth in the Bill of Rights and Constitutional Amendments.

Thankful for freedom

Rockwell's Four Freedoms

Thankful for freedom
Thursday November 25, 2004

This thanksgiving I am grateful for America’s great artist, Norman Rockwell. Rockwell painted four of his most famous paintings, “the Four Freedoms” in response to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union address:



In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we
look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression --everywhere in the world.

Think about the First Amendment.:

“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.”


FDR’s hope was that these freedoms would be extended throughout the world.
Rockwell remembered how Arlington, Vermont neighbor, Jim Edgerton had stood
up during a town meeting to voice a particularly unpopular opinion.
Rockwell’s 1943 painting shows Edgerton, dressed in work clothes, surrounded
by skeptical onlookers in decidedly white-collar clothes.

Maybe I identify with the guy in this painting. There are times when my opinions may
not be broadly shared or well-liked, but there are times when I feel passionately enough that I have to share them. Thank God, we live in a country I can. And so can you. More than ever before, we can call in to radio shows or email in to Travis Justice on Channel 3, or write in to the NEWSpaper.

If there are impediment to this freedom, it’s not government censorship. One market forces. When essentially three or four corporations own our major media outlets, what makes the agenda will be what sells, or what doesn’t offend advertisers- not what needs to be said. The
other is peer pressure. People won’t speak up or disagree if they’re made to feel inferior or intimidated socially.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way--
everywhere in the world.

Christians in Sudan are sold into slavery. Churches are bombed in Iraq. Religious organizations must register and be closely regulated and scrutinized in China. But if we are going to protect this freedom for ourselves and make it appealing to others, we need to be careful to remember our own history. Sure, the Puritan Pilgrims we remember on Thanksgiving were fleeing England to find religious freedom, because they were being persecuted, but who was persecuting them. Christians were disagreeing with Christians. The Puritans felt persecuted by King James (as in King James Bible).

It didn’t take the Pilgrims long to deny religious freedom to others. Rhode Island was founded by people kicked out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony because they let women participate in home Bible studies. I’m a Christian who opposes mandatory prayer in public schools because as a Lutheran-Christian, I don’t want my children forced to participate in Mormon or Scientologist rituals. Surely Baptists, Methodists, and Catholics would agree with me on that.

Thank God that He allows Muslims, Hindus, and even Satanists to reject Him. He doesn’t FORCE anyone to love Him or believe in Him, and thank God, neither does the United States of America. God wants everyone to know the truth about Him and He continues
to love them even if they deny that truth, but they reject Him, not the other way around. Rockwell’s painting features contrasting skin tones in the multi-ethnic figures, a daring thing to do in the 1940’s. “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight.”

The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means
economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime
life for its inhabitants --everywhere in the world.

Did you know that if the entire world were only 100 people, 59% of
the entire world's wealth would belong to only 6 people and all 6 would be citizens of the United
States?! How lucky, how blessed, how fortunate, how spoiled? I love Thanksgiving, I love turkey, I love eating, but I have to tell you, that this statistic does make me eat my pumpkin pie with a scoop of guilt.

Be that as it may, this is one of the most beautiful, warm, joyful paintings by Norman Rockwell ever. It’s the one with Grandma and Grandpa hosting Thanksgiving dinner, serving up the picture-perfect bird on a platter to the family gathered around the holiday table.

The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a
world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression
against any neighbor --anywhere in the world.

This painting shows a mom and dad tucking their kids into bed at night. The dad has a newspaper with headlines announcing WWII bombings in Europe. I know that Charter Oak isn’t immune to crime or violence. I know that Iowa probably isn’t immune to terrorism, but I love living here. I love our traditional values, our rural common sense, knowing our neighbors, being able to walk to church. Outsiders might accuse us Midwesterners of being sheltered or unrealistic, but I don’t care. That’s exactly why I left LA to raise my family here, so that we can be the family in this painting. Tucking our girls in at night and helping them say their prayers. Thank God for our safety.

That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind
of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the
very antithesis of the so-called "new order" of tyranny which the dictators seek
to create with the crash of a bomb. To that new order we oppose the greater
conception --the moral order. A good society is able to face schemes of world
domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear.

Since the beginning of our American history we have been engaged in change, in a
perpetual, peaceful revolution, a revolution which goes on steadily, quietly, adjusting itself to changing conditions without the concentration camp or the quicklime in the ditch. The world order which we seek is the cooperation of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society.

This nation has placed its destiny in the hands, heads and hearts of its millions of
free men and women, and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights and keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose.

Thank God for the goals and hopes of FDR and the WWII generation