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The Constitution, or ‘What do You Mean, It Protects EVERYONE?’
The First Amendment
When you ask people about the First Amendment, they tell you it is about freedom of speech. And that is correct. It’s also a lot more, most of which people either don’t know, or really don’t want to acknowledge.
“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.”
The establishment clause of the First Amendment has been interpreted by the Supreme Court as erecting a separation of church and state.
AHA! See that? A separation of church and state. Hate groups HATE this. Hate it with a passion. Why? Because it means you can’t teach religion in public schools. Creationism is a religious belief, and thanks to the Supreme Court, and the First Amendment, you cannot teach my son that cavemen rode dinosaurs to work! Oh. Creationism is the belief in the book of Genesis in the Bible. Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel. Cain got married, right? But if you believe in Creationism, after Cain killed his brother, there were only 3 people on the whole planet, so who did he marry? His mom? Food for thought.
Freedom of speech. You cannot use speech to incite violence. That’s basically the limit, if you look at the current use of speech in the right wing media, hate groups and the Internet. On a Fox discussion board, a woman posted she hoped President Obama’s plane would crash on his way to visit the troops in Afghanistan. Now, because she did not say she was personally going to murder the leader of the free world, her diatribe, as vial and repugnant as it was, is protected under the First Amendment. Right wing pundits calling Democrats Nazis? Protected. Fox News “anchors” (entertainers) blatantly lying on the air? Protected. Me, standing out in front of a hate organizations’ headquarters, on public property, holding a sign that says “Love thy neighbor”? Protected. The Klan, marching down Main Street, USA, wearing hoods and carrying racist signs? Protected. The ACLU, labeled by Judson Phillips as a hate group for Liberals? They will protect all of it. ALL OF IT. And yet, the right wing hates the ACLU. Because they are non biased. They have to be. They follow the letter of the law and they follow the First Amendment.
Many people believe the First Amendment covers hate speech. It does and it doesn’t. In 1942, the Supreme Court sustained the conviction of a Jehovah’s witness who called a police officer a “God damned racketeer” and a “damned fascist” (Chaplinsky vs. New Hampshire). The Court’s opinion in the case stated that there was a category of face-to-face epithets, or “fighting words”, that was wholly outside of the protection of the First Amendment: those words “which by their very utterance inflict injury” and which “are a non-essential part of any exposition of ideas.”
However, Hustler magazine ran a malicious and untrue article about Reverend Jerry Farwell’s “first time”-drunk, in an outhouse, with his mother, in 1988. The article was published in 1988. Hopefully, Falwell did not have his first sexual experience when he was 55. I digress. A Virginia Jury found in favor of Falwell, but the Supreme Court overturned that verdict, saying it found no principled basis for distinguishing the Hustler article from hard-hitting political cartoons and other speech clearly worthy of First Amendment protection. The Court distinguished the sort of character assassination practiced by Hustler from the face-to-face threatening an immediate breach of the peace that was an issue in Chaplinsky.
If you are sitting in a restaurant, having a spirited debate about dinosaurs, and you call your opponent a “pansy”, that’s protected. If you are having a spirited debate about dinosaurs and you tell your opponent he is a Nazi and that he should be dead, that’s a problem. See the difference?
The Second Amendment
Many hate groups, the right wing, and Christians will tell you the Second Amendment covers their right to go to a gun show, buy a semi-automatic weapon, walk three tables over, buy a kit to change the firing pin of that weapon and make it an automatic. Because everyone needs an automatic weapon under the bed. Here is the Second Amendment:
“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.”
What the heck does THAT mean? Well, I decided I wanted to find out. When the Constitution was written, this was a new country. We had just won the American Revolution, we were a fledgling government, struggling to create laws by which we could live. Our founding fathers believed that the British, who were really pissed off at us, would try and subdue this new government, this new country. So, they came up with a way for the American people to arm themselves against “invasion”. The right to bear arms. It was a fabulous idea. We didn’t have a “military” so to speak, we had men willing to lay down their lives for this amazing idea of democracy. According to many members of my family, we had a few ancestors who did just that.
Fast forward 200 years. We now have the Second Amendment being thrown about like a weapon by the right, and the left. The left want to be like Britain, and the right want to be like the Old West. There’s really no middle ground. When President Reagan was shot, and James Brady was paralyzed in the same shooting incident, the government enacted the Brady Bill. The Brady Bill, among other things, made it illegal to purchase a gun from a REPUTABLE dealer without a background check and a minimum seven day waiting period. That does not mean that a violent, predatory felon, or a member of a known hate group, cannot walk into a gun show, with a wad a cash and buy whatever he or she wants. You can also buy handguns on the street. We are a nation of violence, and we fight violence with….violence. It makes no sense to me. We have accidental shootings in this country, usually involving children picking up Daddy’s gun and shooting cousin Jimmy. In 2008, the Supreme Court overturned a Washington DC law that required handguns to be locked or kept otherwise inoperative within the home, saying that this “makes it impossible for citizens to use them for the core lawful purpose of self defense.” If someone wants my television, fine. You try and touch my family? I don’t need a gun to kill you, I have chef knives, a knee, a huge husband and a lot of pent up rage.
The Fourth Amendment
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
Basically, the police or any federal law enforcement agency cannot barge into your house or place of business without a warrant. After September 11th, 2001, President George Bush signed The Patriot Act. The Patriot Act, among other things, drives a tank over the Fourth Amendment. And here’s how!
Just six weeks after the September 11 attacks, a panicked Congress passed the “USA/Patriot Act,” an overnight revision of the nation’s surveillance laws that vastly expanded the government’s authority to spy on its own citizens, while simultaneously reducing checks and balances on those powers like judicial oversight, public accountability, and the ability to challenge government searches in court.
We were scared to death. A bunch a radical terrorists had just slaughtered three thousand Americans, blown up two sky scrapers, flown a plane into the Pentagon, and shut down the air travel in this country. Bush could have said we needed to give up a kidney in the name of patriotism and we would have done it. Hence, the Patriot Act. Patriot, by the way is an acronym, which, in combination, stands for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001”. This acronym was the brainchild of Chris Cylke, a 23 year old staffer, who was recognized for his contribution in a book by William Safire. Now, here’s what the Patriot Act does, among other things:
Title I authorizes measures to enhance the ability of domestic security services to prevent terrorism. The title established a fund for counter-terrorist activities and increased funding for the FBI’s Technical Support Center. The military was authorized to provide assistance in some situations that involve weapons of mass destruction when so requested by the Attorney General.
That Attorney General was John Ashcroft. Late in 2000, and throughout 2001, members of the intelligence community had begged Ashcroft for more money, to investigate reports they were receiving about Osama Bin Laden. He said no, but he spent eight thousand dollars to cover up the naked breast of the Spirit of Justice statue he was forced to stand in front of in order to give speeches. Yes, the Bush administration had its’ priorities, and the sanctity of the Constitution was not one of them.
We leave the Fourth Amendment behind, because Republicans and Democrats did, and forge onward, into the Fifth Amendment.
The Fifth Amendment
“No person shall be held to answer for a capital, otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
A lot is covered in the Fifth Amendment. Once acquitted, a defendant may not be retried for the same offense, or “double jeopardy”. Custodial interrogation, meaning being interrogated while in the custody of a law enforcement agency, changed in 1966 with Miranda vs. Arizona, where Ernesto Miranda had confessed to the crime, but the Supreme Court held that the confession was inadmissible because the defendant had not been warned of his rights. (Miranda Rights! Named after an actual person! Awesome!) The last portion deals with eminent domain. The Supreme Court has held that the federal government and each state has the power of eminent domain-the power to take public property for “private use”. The owner will receive fair market value for said property. Many people, including former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, believe that eminent domain favors the rich while hurting the poor.
The Eighth Amendment
“Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”
The first part is pretty self explanatory-if you are caught shoplifting, the prosecutor cannot ask for a million dollars in bail. The second part is interesting, especially given the former administration’s views on torture. Here’s what the Supreme Court said about it (a LONG time ago):
Justice Brennan, in 1972, wrote,
“There are, then, four principles by which we may determine whether a particular punishment is “cruel and unusual” “.
The “essential predicate” is “that the punishment must not by its severity be degrading to human dignity,” especially torture.
“A severe punishment that is obviously inflicted in a wholly arbitrary fashion.”
“A severe punishment that is clearly and totally rejected throughout society.”
“A severe punishment that is patently unnecessary.”
The American government has an Army private in custody. His name is Bradley Manning. He leaked confidential information to the media. According to his attorney, he is not allowed to exercise, does not have a pillow, and his only contact with humanity is when the guards check on him every five minutes. The government states this is necessary because a) he is a security risk and, b) they claim he is suicidal. His attorney says this is a ruse. PFC Manning has been visited by a friend, who says Manning’s health, both physical and psychological, is at risk. Psychologists have wondered why, if the government and military are concerned for Manning’s safety, they would isolate him, which leads to depression and a further breakdown of his psyche.
If you think Manning deserves cruel and unusual punishment, in DIRECT violation of the Eighth Amendment, excellent! You are moving closer and closer to your goal of being a part of the hate movement!
The Fourteenth Amendment
Recently, many Republican politicians and right wing pundits have been talking about repealing the Fourteenth Amendment. Let’s find out why, shall me? I don’t think we have to reference the entire amendment-I’m pretty sure the following excerpt will explain things beautifully:
“Section One: All persons born or naturalized in the United States , and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
And there it is. It’s the first sentence, those 28 words, that drive the right wing nuts. “Anchor babies!” they scream hysterically. Jan Brewer, the governor of Arizona, went on television and swore there were headless bodies in the desert, left there by illegal, criminal Mexicans. There aren’t, by the way, and when that was proven, she ran away (literally) from a reporter. The 14th Amendment is currently one of many portions of the Constitution that the Republicans want to rip out and toss into a bonfire. Never mind that I’ll bet you if you climbed the family trees of some of the loudest hate mongers, you would find an illegal immigrant or two hiding behind a bird’s nest.
I end this chapter with the following:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure Domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Defence, 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.”
United States, I think we may have let our founding fathers down. Democrats and Republicans, right, left and in between.

