This December, 2016, marks the 225th anniversary of the ratification of the first ten amendments to the US Constitution which would become known as the “Bill of Rights.” To secure passage of the Constitution, the framers of the document (the Federalists) had to agree that it would contain explicit language on individual rights.
Ever since its ratification, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution in which it is a part, has been hailed as one of the seminal achievements in the annals of human history while the political arrangements prior to it (primarily monarchy and aristocratic rule) have been sneered at and belittled by the Constitution’s hagiographers. Moreover, the American Constitution has provided a model for the emergence of the nation state which came into its own after the French Revolution and the tragic breakup of Christendom.
History, however, if looked at outside the Anglo-American perspective has shown that far from a protector of individual liberty, the Bill of Rights has been mostly useless in defense of basic freedoms while the Constitution, that it is a part of, has been a vehicle for the expansion of state power to an unfathomable degree.
Despite the supposed guarantees of individual liberty within the Bill of Rights and the supposed limited nature of the Constitution itself, there has never been a more intrusive state in world history both domestically and in its myriad of interventions across the globe than the Leviathan that rests on the shores of the Potomac River. And, the rise of American totalitarianism did not begin with the revelations of Edward Snowden and the other courageous whistle blowers of the recent past, but started soon after the new “federal” state came into existence with the passage of the Alien & Sedition Acts. Each year since has witnessed the growth of state power at the expense of individual rights where now domestic spying and surveillance are part of the nation’s social fabric.
The primary reason why the Bill of Rights has been unable to secure basic liberties is because the federal government and its courts are the ultimate interpreters of the Constitution and its amendments as explicitly stated in Article VI, section 2, subtitled, Supreme Law of the Land:
This Constitution and the laws of the United
States which shall be made in pursuance thereof,
and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under
the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme
law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be
bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of
any state to the contrary notwithstanding.
Since the central government is the final arbitrator of the document, any ruling or decision on particular laws or regulations which would impinge on individual rights will, for the most part, be favorable to the government itself. And, due to man’s fallen nature, any such power will be abused.
The ratification of the Constitution in 1789 made in essence the individual states mere appendages of the central government. While the Constitution’s sycophants boast of its “checks and balances,” a far superior bulwark against political repression is that of people “voting with their feet.” Under the Articles of Confederation, when the national government was not the supreme law of the land, if a certain state became too tyrannical, at least in theory, and had the much neglected Articles remained in place, those persecuted could simply move to a more friendlier jurisdiction.
This would also hold true in the realm of taxation and regulatory policy. Those political authorities who became too confiscatory in their taxing or enacted burdensome regulations could also see population outflows. Similar activity goes on all the time currently as people flee high tax municipalities and states like California and New York to lower tax regions such as Florida and Texas.
For voting with one’s feet to be most successful, there needs to be a multitude of states and political jurisdictions. In the current political climate, this would mean the breakup of the nation state. Secession and political decentralization should thus be the goals of those who prize individual liberty and prosperity, not the celebration of constitutionalism and the supposed guarantees of personal freedoms under ideas such as the Bill of Rights.
Antonius Aquinas@AntoniusAquinas
Antonius Aquinas 
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Reblogged this on Fear Not and commented:
Are the Bill Of Rights destined to fail?
interesting
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But like locust or parasites destroying a host, those fleeing a state that wrecked its economy with taxes, regulations, and other laws then proceed to wreck the new state. For example, TX and NC which enjoyed economic prosperity are being increasingly burdened by new problems caused by the flood of new resident’s demands (and votes) the state changes what was working with what wasn’t. And those that don’t flee cause harm through the aforementioned federal levithan.
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Thoughtful Antonius Aquinas is correct about the US tragedy of having replaced the much less tyrannical 1783 Articles of Confederation, with its centralising & tyranny-favouring ‘Constitution’ that sadly did not enshrine a right of secession as the EU treaties have
But A.A. has been quite fooled by the CIA intelligence operation of Edward Snowden (& Glenn Greenwald too), who are in fact CIA hoaxers & fakers, every major government knows this, Vladimir Putin hints at it too … As has been noticed on Daily Bell & ZeroHedge, & long publicised via Veterans Today
The report at Europe’s intel agencies devastating the Snowden – Greenwald frauds & also touching on fellow faker Julian Assange (admitted to be a fraud years ago by both Zbigniew Brezinski & Benjamin Netanyahu), is online:
Gov intel agency report: Snowden, Greenwald are CIA frauds
Amongst items to note:
– Laughably, the official story is that Snowden first ‘leaked’ to Dick Cheney’s friend & biographer at the Washington Post, anti-9-11-truth Bart Gellman … no real ‘dissident’ would ‘leak’ to Dick Cheney’s friend at a flagship CIA newspaper
– Ex-gay-p-rnographer & Rothschild & Bill Gates employee Greenwald, received US $50 million from CIA-tied billionaire & war criminal of Ukraine Pierre Omidyar, who is certainly NOT interested in real ‘dissidents’ … and one can see Greenwald produces very little with his $50 million ‘brave great journalism’ operation at ‘The Intercept’
– Utterly proving themselves to be loyal CIA assets, Snowden & Assange totally refuse to publicise files on the bribery & extortion corruption of US federal national judges in Virginia USA … even tho those are the same judges who would put Snowden & Assange ‘on trial’ (if they weren’t CIA shills) … & even tho the files Snowden & Assange hold on those US judges, would totally block their own ‘extradition’ back to the USA
– Snowden, Assange, & Greenwald are all anti-9-11-truth
– Assange has had Rothschild lawyers & Snowden & family CIA-tied lawyers, who never represent real dissidents
– Snowden’s revelations were not ‘new’, just more details on what was fairly fully on ‘conspiracy’ websites from 5+ previous NSA whistle-blowers & even in a 2008 book
– Snowden & Assange were both creations pumped by CIA newspapers New York Times & UK Guardian, who both have criminal charge complaints against them in Europe, for taking bribes to engage in libellous attacks & defamations against real US dissidents
– Snowden & Assange have likely helped identify, silence, maybe even murder real dissidents, who were duped into contacting NY Times / UK Guardian / the oily Greenwald / Wikileaks
– And much more at the link above
Years ago, both Zbigniew Brzezinski & Benjamin Netanyahu, both blurted out that Julian Assange’s ‘Wikileaks’ were ‘selected’ by US-Israeli intel agencies & have quite been Israel-protecting … The pro-Trump ‘leaks’ of Assange this year, were part of a package to prop up Assange’s crumbling credibility
It seems Assange is not even ‘living at the London Ecuador embassy’ as claimed, but rather moved in & out by UK intel, with Assange just there for photos & meetings
In short, there is zero legitimacy to Snowden, Assange or Greenwald … Very funny that people trust ‘dissidents’ who were all served up by the CIA’s own media conduits, as ‘limited hang-out’ Trojan horses to deflect from & de-legitimise more important truths
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I’ve been a long time reader of ZeroHedge. Saw this published there today. I commented over there before I clicked on the link to this site (you can probably guess which one I am- lol).
Looks pretty interesting, will have to check more of your stuff out. Deus Vult, brother!