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Please forward widely!
Independence Day 2008, Americans showed their support for restoring America's promise of justice and the rule of law, as envisioned in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, by signing "A Declaration for Our Times."
BORDC was running the Declaration (see text below) as a signature ad in the New York Times the week of July 4. They also produced audio and video recordings of the Declaration that you can ask local radio and Public Access TV stations to run as Public Service Announcements.
Your name among hundreds of others from across the country will show America the breadth of support for demanding that our representatives uphold their oaths to protect and defend the Constitution. And it will inspire others to support civic education, dialogue, and action in their communities by pledging their support for the People's Campaign for the Constitution.
To sign on, go to http://www.constitutioncampaign.org/ad/.
Please show your support for the Constitution, and urge your friends to do the same.
Thank you for all you do.
The Bill of Rights Defense Committee
www.bordc.org
Text of the Declaration signature ad (artwork coming soon at www.constitutioncampaign.org.): When in the course of human events the government becomes destructive of the ends for which it was established, it is the Right of the People to alter it and demand restoration of those Constitutional Principles that have so long assured their Liberty, Safety, and Happiness.
Therefore, on the anniversary of our Independence, we offer this new declaration for our times.
The history of this president is one of arbitrary usurpations of power, the effect of which is to establish tyranny through false promises of greater security.
He has created a multitude of new programs and sent swarms of petty officers to spy on Americans in a misguided effort to combat foreign terrorism. He has invested these agents with sweeping new powers to monitor our conversations and ransack our personal papers and effects without judicial supervision or any reason to believe - as the Constitution requires - that a crime has been committed.
He has further claimed the power to disregard legislation that Congress has passed.
He has suspended the laws and treaties against torture, authorized the kidnapping of mere suspects, and transported hundreds of prisoners beyond seas so that no independent judiciary could question the legality of their mistreatment.
He and his supporters in Congress have granted amnesty to the officials who unleashed torture and humiliation upon helpless prisoners, to the disgrace of our nation.
He has denied these prisoners access to attorneys, family, and friends, and has claimed the right to try them before military tribunals specifically designed to disregard the most basic principles of law.
He has imprisoned thousands of lawful immigrants for months without charges, under brutal conditions, until his agents, rather than independent courts, decided that they posed no threat.
He has wrapped his usurpations of power and his deprivations of liberty in thick cloaks of secrecy, thereby showing contempt for the rule of law and the proper functions of Congress, the courts, and the press.
At every stage of these oppressions we have sought redress, but our petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.
We, therefore, resolve to resist these usurpations by all lawful means at our disposal. To this end, we insist that the powers of our national government be shared by all branches of government and not concentrated in one alone. And we call upon Congress, the courts, and the press to reassert their constitutional functions vigorously and restore the promise that is America.
To these ends, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
By Christopher Pyle, with apologies to Thomas Jefferson
Sign on to this ad here.
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*The first ten Amendments (Bill of Rights) were ratified effective December 15, 1791.
Amendment I.*
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.
Amendment II.
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.
Amendment III.
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Amendment IV.
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.
Amendment V.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or 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.
Amendment VI.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed; which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence.
Amendment VII.
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise reexamined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment VIII.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment IX.
The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
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A History of Limiting Civil Liberties (will we actually get anything different from a new Administation?)
Americans tend to think of civil liberties as fixed and immutable. In fact, they have expanded and contracted throughout the nation's history. Those freedoms have often been compromised during times of crisis and war.
1798: Congress passes the Alien and Sedition Acts in anticipation of war with France, restricting the rights of pro-French immigrants and the press.
1861: At the outset of the Civil War, President Lincoln suspends habeas corpus, allowing draft-resisters and Confederate sympathizers to be jailed indefinitely without charges.
1917: Congress passes the Espionage Act , which allows the government to prosecute almost any critic of World War I on charges of "insubordination" or "disloyalty." Post office refuses to distribute a popular leftist magazine, The Masses. A federal appeals court says the magazine does not speak with "the voice of patriotism" and therefore does not deserve to be distributed.
1918: The Espionage Act is tightened and becomes the Sedition Act . Socialist leader and four-time presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs is convicted of sedition and stripped of his U.S. citizenship for speaking out against the act . He remains in jail through the 1920 presidential election, in which he is also a candidate.
Jan. 2, 1920: Government agents in 33 cities round up thousands of foreigners suspected of being anarchists or communists, and hold many of them without charges for long periods. The sweep becomes known as the Palmer Raids, after Atty. Gen. J. Mitchell Palmer.
1940: Congress passes the Smith Act , formally known as the Alien Registration Act , which makes it a crime to advocate the overthrow of the U.S. government or to belong to any group that does so. After World War II, this law is used to prosecute suspected communists.
March 1942: The government establishes 10 relocation centers for 110,000 people of Japanese descent--U.S. citizens and Japanese nationals--and interns them for the duration of World War II. Congress offers a formal apology and compensation to the internees 46 years later, in 1988.
1956-71: FBI conducts counterintelligence operations against domestic dissidents under a campaign called COINTELPRO. Tactics include disinformation, infiltration and disruption of the activities of targeted groups, which are mostly on the political left. In 1974, the Justice Department says some of the operations could "only be considered abhorrent in a free society."
October 2001: Congress passes the USA Patriot Act, which creates a crime of domestic terrorism, authorizes "sneak and peek" searches conducted without the target's knowledge, broadens the government's power to monitor phone and Internet communications, and lets the attorney general detain any foreigner believed to threaten national security.
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