Where Are the Voices

In February of 1993, Al Qaeda terrorist drove a truck into the parking garage of the World Trade Center. It was intended to knock the North Tower (Tower One) into the South Tower (Tower Two), bringing both towers down and killing thousands of people. It failed to do so, but did kill six people and injured more than a thousand. American Citizens were shocked and out raged. They wanted retaliation. These terrorist were living illegally in New Jersey and when there apartment was discovered the police found supplies for making many more bombs. But the American people became complacent about such attacks.

September 11, 2001, 19 al-Qaeda terrorist hijacked 4 commercial air liners to use in their suicide mission in the US. The 3 targets were the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the US Capital Building. They successfully flew 2 planes into the WTC and 1 into the Pentagon. The 4th plane heading for the Capital Building was stopped because the plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after its passengers attempted to take control of the jet from the hijackers. These were brave Americans that knew they were going to die but decided they would rather die fighting than quivering in fear. 

The people of America banded together in the weeks following the September 11th attacks like few other times in American history. People responded with donations of blood, effort and money. People joined in prayer and looked to God as not seen in many years. They realized how vulnerable we were. They screamed for justice and retaliation. They flew the flag and wore American flag pins. Many left their normal life and joined the military as they felt they could help their country better as a soldier than as a civilian.
President George W Bush immediately called for all civilized nations to band together and fight terrorism. The military of the United States mobilized for war in an operation code named Enduring Freedom. The government declared Osama Bin Laden to be the main suspect and sent the military to fight him and his terrorist organization, Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. 

Now here we sit almost 11 years later. Complacent, thinking this could never happen again. But it is happening now, behind closed doors and in whispers. But this attack is by our very own government. 

So where are those voices that called out so loud and long after 9/11? Where did they go? It seems as though the people of the United States are afraid to offend someone if they speak out against this attack. 

Do not get me wrong. This is not a conspiracy theory, not about Right or Left Wing, Republican or Democrat, nor about race as so many will say. This is about the rights of Americans as written in the Constitution that are slowly being stripped away. Most people are acting as pacifist (don't stir the pot), or are ignorant about the rights they are losing, or complacent thinking it won't happen. So therefore we do not hear many voices calling for freedom and retainment of our Constitutional rights. Many people are afraid if they say something while Mr. Obama is in office they will be considered a racist. That is what he depends on. That is why mainstream media will never say anything negative about him. But please, look at the facts. 

Mr. Obama is anti-American. He will not put his hand over his heart for the pledge of allegiance in the US, but will do so in a foreign country. He would not allow Christians a Day of Prayer, but the Muslims were allowed one. He runs around the world apologizing for the arrogance of the United States. I'm sorry, black, white, red, or yellow, anyone that displays that type of behavior should not hold the office of the President. 

So let’s get back to our rights. I wonder how many people know what their Constitutional rights are? We have lost many already. Should we so willingly give up our Liberties?

Liberty means that a person is free to make choices about, for example, what to say or to do. A primary purpose of constitutional government in the United States is to make the liberty of individuals secure. The preamble to the Constitution proclaims that a principal reason for establishing the federal government is to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”

The Bill of Rights, Amendments 1 to 10 of the Constitution, protects the individuals rights to liberty from the power of government. The 1st Amendment, for example, says that Congress shall not take away a person' freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition. But many sections of the first amendment have been stripped away from the citizens. We can no longer have prayer in schools nor can we assemble publicly in prayer. We cannot assemble in public places to protest for our continued rights or we will be arrested. 

The Constitution guarantees liberty for the people to participate publicly in the political life of their society. The 1st Amendment freedoms, for example, protect a person's right to participate freely in activities to elect representatives in government and to influence public decisions of elected and appointed government officials. As long as these assemblies are not violent, there should be no government interference. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the passing or creation of any law which establishes a religious body and directly impedes an individual’s right to practice whichever religion they see fit. Well, at least that part of the 1st Amendment has been salvaged so far.

The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right of the individual to keep and bear firearms.  The right to arm oneself is viewed as a personal liberty to deter undemocratic or oppressive governing bodies from forming and to repel impending invasions. Furthermore, the right to bear arms was instituted within the Bill of Rights to suppress insurrection, participate and uphold the law, enable the citizens of the United States to organize a militia, and to facilitate the natural right to self-defense. The Second Amendment was developed as a result of the rules of the British parliament. Colonists were often oppressed and forced to pay unjust taxes at the hand of the unruly parliament. As a result, the American people yearned for an Amendment that would guarantee them the right to bear arms and protect themselves against similar situations. The Second Amendment was drafted to provide for the common defense and the general welfare of the United States through the ability to raise and support militias.

Like the majority of fields within American law, the Fourth Amendment is heavily rooted in the English legal doctrine. In a general sense, the Fourth Amendment was created to limit the power of the government and their ability to enforce legal actions on individuals. The Fourth Amendment was adopted as a direct response to the abuse of the writ of assistance, which was a type of general search warrant used by the government during the American Revolution. The Amendment was created to limit the powers of the law enforcement agency who is conducting a search of an individual’s personal property. Where did this one go? I wonder how many were even aware of it. Of course if you have nothing to hide you would not care anyway, let them search. But, as a citizen who has the right to bear arms, if they were to come in and take my legally obtained weapons, then it would be a problem.

The Fifth Amendment guarantees an American individual the right to trial by Grand Jury for specific crimes, the right not to be tried and subsequently punished more than once for the same crime, the right to be tried with only due process of the law and the right to be awarded fair compensation for any property seized by the government for public use. The Fifth Amendment also guarantees the individual the right to refrain from self-incrimination by “pleading the fifth” to any questions or inquiries that may give way to an additional punishment or the notion of a guilty plea. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district where the crime was committed. The individual has the right to be informed of the nature and cause of the crime, and to be able to confront the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense. Well how many people have spent several years in jail waiting for a case to be built against them? More than we will ever know. But it does happen.

The founding fathers developed the Seventh Amendment as a check against the potential abuse of power of the government. The Seventh Amendment enabled the common man (the jury) to possess some power in regards to the decisive authority when examining a court matter.

the Ninth Amendment was created to constitute an independent source of undeniable rights which are protected from infringement by either the States or the Federal Government. 
the Tenth Amendment was instituted in the Bill of Rights to ensure that the federal government would only exercise the powers that were stated as permissible in the Constitution. All other powers that are not directly referred to in the United States Constitution were delivered to the individual states.

So I would challenge each of you to stop and think about these Rights which affect the American Citizen the most as seen above. We have already lost our freedom of religion in public places, our right to assemble in protest without interference. Now they are trying to take away our right to bear arms, even those legally obtained by citizens with no previous criminal history. Many parts of these rights have been slowly picked away. How long do we sit on our hands and think that someone else will say or do something about it. A few can only try to stop this, but many could succeed in it. So find your voice, get indignant that we are turning into a socialist/communist country with no freedoms or rights. Call your Congressman and Senator. Tell them how you feel about this. If only a few will speak up, we are doomed. Our once free nation will fall and crumble. Don't be afraid to cry out for a rightful cause. Find those voices again, those of outrage and indignation. Scream as loud as you can that we will not let this happen in our country. Set aside all differences and scream out as our Pledge says. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 

So for all that think I'm crazy, that I’m racist, or that I am trying to incite people to riot. The answer to all those are no. I simply want all the citizens of our once great nation, to fight for what we had before and to retain what liberties we have left. If we are going to save our country we have to.