“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, 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.” I vividly remember being in the fifth grade reading through this, not for the first time in my life but the first time that it really stuck. I have always been such a history nerd and the American Revolution was my favorite subject. Whether it was the underdog story of these colonists fighting tyrannical government, the creation of a flag that symbolized unity and freedom or the writing of our Declaration of Independence; it was all important and in a weird way so cool, but nothing I learned had stuck with me like the Constitution. The Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War made us free from Great Britain but the Constitution set that freedom in stone, or did it?

We are the land of the free yet politicians on Capitol Hill want to strip us of that by attempting to take our guns and trying to pass a bill so we can be detained without trial and/or killed on our home soil? How free does that sound? The politicians trying to do are the same ones referring to this document of freedom as “a living document” that can be changed with the times. Okay, I’m not Einstein but I’m pretty sure everything said in the Bill of Rights is basic freedom that will always be relevant. By that I mean everything from freedom of assembly, press, religion, speech, and petition; to the right to a fair trial down to the powers of the State. Now these are our inalienable rights. They cannot be changed or amended. Amendments eleven to twenty-seven on the other hand can, but not the first ten.

The Bill of Rights is the foundation of this country. Every principle, every freedom; it’s all right there. The detractors of these rights are the liberals and progressives they believe change needs to be made and socialism is the answer, period. I disagree whole-heartedly with them; I based my whole life and everything I ever knew on that first article of the Bill of Rights. I’m free to speak my mind, practice any religion, assemble with others in public, print what I want in the press, and petition the government. I have and will continue to do so until the day I die, if they change it I won’t go out without a fight and I’ll die with those ideals held close to my heart and in reference to the second amendment they’ll have to take my right to own a gun, in the words of Charlton Heston, “From my cold dead hands”.

The liberals are trying to rob us of our right to freedom and prosperity and blind us with free healthcare. Let me tell you, that isn’t even free either but it is a story for another day. We need to use those freedoms and rights before it’s too late to assemble and speak up or too late to have a fair trial rather than a trial by fire. That document right there is a piece of our heritage. That document, unbeknownst to our liberal brothers and sisters, is the only thing we as Americans are entitled to. Are we the land of the free and home of the brave? From where I’m standing we keep getting less and less free and our bravery is being suppressed more and more. When will you stand up and how will you know if it’s too late.