Liberty for All

"Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom" --Albert Einstein.

Humanity thrives with liberty and freedom. In theory, citizens of United States are guaranteed freedoms through the Constitution. However, government in general tends to infringe on individual liberties in the quest for power and societal control. The individual rights that most of us take for granted require the due diligence of the citizenry to maintain.

Most Americans are familiar with the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th Amendments which protect our rights of free speech (1st), religion (1st), ability to assemble (1st), guns (2nd), rights against unreasonable searches and seizures (4th), rights for life (5th), liberty (5th), and property (5th). A less appreciated, but equally important amendment is the 9th. The Ninth Amendment of the Bill of Rights says that rights not explicitly spelled out in the constitution are retained by the people. Although most constitution "experts" over the last 200 years have not adopted the literal interpretation of this amendment, the courts have begun to embrace the importance of the 9th Amendment for maintaining the libertarian principles underlying the founding of our Nation. Originally, the Bill of Rights were interpreted as protection against Federal powers, but after the 14th Amendment (post-Civil War), basic liberties were protected from state governments as well. Even though many judges still rely on the Due Process Clause of the 5th and 14th amendments to argue for individual liberties, the 9th by itself provides us with a broad range of basic liberties that conservatives, liberals, and progressives would endorse today. Every freedom loving person should embrace the literal interpretation of the 9th (see Barnett, R. E. 2006, Texas Law Review, 85, 1). In many ways, the fate of the Nation hinges on how the Supreme Court will interpret the 9th Amendment in the coming decades with regard to Big Tech, government over-reach, and the Surveillance State. Assuming reasonable minds prevail, the 9th will become more impactful over time and will provide liberties not yet imagined today that future generations will enjoy.

Constitutional Law is fairly simple to understand when one properly interprets the phrase "the people" as meaning individual people (not the "collective" or state or federal legislatures). Unfortunately, many Law Professors tend to teach students how to subvert the Constitution for some current popular cause or to increase the powers of the State by infringing on individual freedom.

"Liberty is not collective, it is personal. All liberty is individual liberty." --Calvin Coolidge

"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others." --Thomas Jefferson

"Democracy is 51% of the people taking away the rights of the other 49%." --Thomas Jefferson

Basically, the rights of individuals are absolute as long they do not infringe on the equal rights of others. The Constitution was written to protect the people (individuals) from government. The United States of America is not a democracy, where the wishes of the majority can infringe on the rights of individuals, the United States of America is a constitutional republic.


Additional quotes of wisdom (new quote with each re-load [random out of 14]):



BILL of RIGHTS --- Liberty since 1791 December 15



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