You've Gotta Give For What You Take

Okay, small government types:  this is your moment.  It’s time to take your country back from the nanny state that wants to dictate how to live your lives, time to stand up and say, “I want my gun and my jumbo soda.”  It’s time to worship as you please, say “Merry Christmas” when you want to, and basically do whatever the heck you want provided you aren’t hurting anyone else.  

Enough of this big brother nonsense, right?  This is America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, and those brave fight for those freedoms.   No bureaucrat should be allowed to take away what we have spent over 200 years shedding blood to defend.

And it has been a struggle every step of the way, starting in 1789 with the passage of the First Amendment to the Constitution.  That’s the one that allows me to speak my mind, or in this case type my mind, without fear that Big Brother will incarcerate me for my support of Big Gulps.   The Second Amendment passed at the same time, the one that defends my right to own a musket.

The Ninth Amendment is a good one.  James Madison (among others) argued that by calling out certain rights people may infer that others aren’t protected, so this amendment was added to ensure that the Constitution “shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”  Smart guy, that James Madison.

Things went a little quiet on the Constitutional front for the next eighty years, but in 1865 our forefathers finally passed the Thirteenth Amendment outlawing slavery.  That’s a big one.  “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves,” Abe Lincoln said.  He had the right idea.  You wouldn’t see old Abe slapping the cigarette out of somebody’s mouth.

The Fifteenth Amendment in 1870 guaranteed the right to vote regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” but left out one important group: women.  The fight for freedom continued until 1920 when the Nineteenth Amendment granted our mothers and sisters the opportunity to cast their ballots.

Number 18 was a rare misfire, taking away our right to enjoy an adult beverage, thereby rendering golf and bowling unspeakably boring.  When we sobered up in 1933 we repealed that one.

Of course, the Constitution doesn’t tell the whole story.  We’ve fought hard both domestically and internationally for civil rights, and we continue to do so.  Sometimes we get it very wrong in my opinion – the Citizens United ruling, for example -- but we try.  You might support that ruling, I don’t know.  Let’s agree to disagree.

We disagree a lot in this country – a lot.  Thank goodness our founders had the good sense to ensure our right to do so.  But the one thing that the overwhelming majority of us agree on is our unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

So this is your moment, small government types.  It’s time to stand up for the rights of the individual; time to stand up for the little guy whose rights are endangered, just like our ancestors did.  It’s time to do your most sacred duty as an American.   It’s time to support gay marriage.