If you live in the US, do you realize just how many regulations govern day-to-day tasks in our country? Sure, you’ve heard about the Patriot Act. You’ve read the complaints about how it infringes upon the right of legitimate citizens to receive a certain amount of protection from the government.
You may even have read about how librarians nationwide are taking their own steps to insure the privacy of people who borrow books. Does it seem at all ridiculous to you that librarians have to shred their records every week, just to keep the government’s nose from poking into yet another space where it doesn’t belong?
Does it surprise you to know that not only does the government dictate places we can visit, but they can actually fine you for violating their dictate? And that if you won’t pay, they can threaten you with increased fines, garnished retirement or social security checks, or even imprisonment?
What happened to the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution? Don’t know that one? Here it is:
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Who in their right mind would think that fining a retired schoolteacher $10,000 isn’t excessive? How about threatening 12 years of imprisonment for standing up to unjust actions? Without people who have the courage to take a stand, our country wouldn’t even exist. Have any of our current crop of political leaders even read the Constitution by which they are supposed to govern?
Perhaps it is time that we consider these words, from another inspirational document:
That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Wonder if they’ve read this one in Washington?