On this day, 225 years ago, the United States of America as we know it was born.
On September 17, 1787, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution and sent it to the states for ratification. Shortly after its approval, Congress and the States strengthened it by approving the Bill of Rights, which enshrine in our Constitution the basic freedoms that Americans hold dear.
It is those freedoms, more than anything else, which define America. And those freedoms are under attack.
Friends of the Second Amendment obviously aren’t surprised by this. The right to keep and bear arms has been under systematic attack by liberals for decades.
The First Amendment, though, used to be considered sacrosanct. Not too long ago it was common to hear both liberals and conservatives declare that they may despise what someone is saying, but they would fight to the death to preserve their right to say it.
No longer.
Take, for example, the case of the filmmaker who is being blamed for violence in the Middle East. I haven’t watched his movie, and don’t care to. It sounds offensive to me.
But I have no doubt that he had a right to make it and promote it, and it scares me that officials of the US government feel free to pick him up at midnight for questioning, attempt to suppress his work, and finger the blame on him for violence overseas. He had a First Amendment right to say what he wanted, and government has a First Amendment responsibility to defend that right, not suppress it.
By singling this guy out, all the government is doing is encouraging people to bully the US government into suppressing speech they don’t like.
Our protection against unreasonable search is similarly under attack. My opponent Amy Klobuchar, for instance, voted for a measure that would authorize the EPA to fly spy drones around the Midwest to monitor farms for violations of environmental regulations. Every trip to the airport involves invasive pat downs, body scans, and rooting through our belongings.
Government officials are constantly pushing for more control over the Internet, where more of our speech and commerce take place every day. Amy Klobuchar is one of the co-sponsors of a bill that threatens the freedom of the Internet, called PIPA (the Senate version of SOPA), which would give the government sweeping ability to control the distribution of information on the Internet.
Every other member of the Minnesota delegation, except Al Franken, is opposed. That means Keith Ellison and Michele Bachmann agree, but not Amy Klobuchar?
And freedom of religion? Obamacare is taking an axe to that. Catholics are being required to fund abortions and birth control, for instance. You can thank Amy Klobuchar for being the deciding vote on that one.
Most weirdly of all, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Right Edward Perez would not assure Congress that the Obama Administration would not try to criminalize blasphemy.
If an Assistant Attorney General can’t wholeheartedly endorse freedom of religious belief, our Constitution is in trouble. Amy Klobuchar, by the way, votes 95% of the time with Obama.
For 225 years our Constitution has served us well, even if we haven’t always served it well. It enshrines our freedoms, defines our nation, and promises our ability to craft our own lives without government oppression.
What it cannot do, however, is defend itself. It requires us to do that. It promises that we are the authors of our own fate, if we accept that responsibility. We are also the authors of its fate, and we must accept that responsibility.
Kurt Bills
