Freedom And Responsibility

 Freedom without Responsibility is just disguised tyranny.

I was just thinking about things, nothing and everything if you know what I mean. And the above thought popped into my head. And I knew immediately that I needed to write about this. And I have absolutely no idea what to write about this. So I am gonna free style it. So this could be really nice or really weird. Who knows.

From the beginning in the (Dis)United States of America we have had this fetish with "Freedom". Of course that only meant freedom for a very narrow class of people within the body of people that made up the Nation. And "Freedom" was the cry.

Got into a revolution from Britain in order to be free of Taxes that were decided in London instead of by the Colonial Governments. After the revolution we set up a Confederation of States as the National Government in order to have freedom for the individual states with a powerless national government. And then had to invent a stronger national government so the "Founding Fathers" had to hide their deliberations and pulled off a scam in order to get our current Constitution. And even then they made sure that there were Checks and Balances in order to protect Freedom.

And, in order to get that Constitution across the finish line they came up with several "compromises" in order to get everyone, the Southern Slave States, on board.

This is the first ten Amendments to the Constitution which are commonly called "The Bill of Rights". And, while I think that outlining Basic Rights is very important, what about our Basic Responsibilities? To our Neighbors? To our Community? To our Towns/Cities? To our States? To our Country? To the World? To the Human Race? To all of Us?

What I am going to do now is put up a very kid friendly version of the first ten amendments to the Constitution and write about them. This could be fun. For me. Maybe you as well. We shall see.

Amendment I: Freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition.

This one seems fairly straight forward. Yet it has had so much case law written about it because a lot of people keep trying to define Who this applies to. Let us take it up in pieces:

1. Freedom of Speech. Sounds simple. And it should be. One cannot be told by the Government what it can and cannot say. People and Society around you can hold you accountable for what you say. And, while not spelled out anywhere there is Case Law that says that we cannot use freedom of speech to Intentionally Harm Others. Thru Defamation, Slander, Hate Speech, etc. Thus, while the amendment does not explicitly say so, there is Precedent Established thru the Courts that shows we have a responsibility to cause no intentional harm thru speech. I wish that we could all take on the Responsibility to be Civil with each other in our disagreements. And no, both sides are not the same.
2. Freedom of Religion. This states that the Government shall show no Preference for any Religion and shall not Establish any Religion as the State Religion. And it has been twisted by some to try and mean only their particular version of the Christian religion is allowed. Because to them Freedom means only their freedom. It also means that others are free From religion. Especially yours. The Responsibility that I think is inherent is this is to respect everyone's choices in either belief and/or non belief. And, in my case, you had better. It get's real ugly real fast if one does not
3. Freedom of Press. I have already written about this. It is pretty straight up, the press is free to tell whatever they want. The Responsibility that goes with that, which our press has failed at, been right on with, and is now failing again, is to tell the Truth about those in power and what they do no matter what.
4. Freedom of Assembly. I think that this is quite self explanatory. And there has been a whole lot of case law around this. And what they have mostly been about is who get's to assemble. White people who are committing violence are often excused under this, January 6th 2021 being a fine example of trying to use this, and people of color being suppressed gathering to affect change are denied under this. The Edmund Petit Bridge being a fine example of this. Our responsibility is to protect anyone's right to assemble. No matter who or what. And, then hold them accountable when they misuse that freedom.
5. Freedom of Petition. This is pretty simple. One is always free to Petition for the Correction of a wrong. And it has been narrowed down over the years with limits. Time limits. After so many years etc then it gets taken away. Our responsibility in this is to expand this again for everyone so that a Rape Survivor that finally becomes courageous no longer gets told that they no longer have that right as too much time has passed.

There is a lot to unpack in the 1st Amendment. I think that each of the above should have it's own amendment and not be bundled. Such is life.

Amendment II: Right to keep and bear arms.

There has been a lot of shouting about this one for the last 50 years. And I am not going to rehash all that. What I am going to say is that with your "Right" to arm bears there is also the Responsibility to learn how to use it as the tool that it is. The Responsibility to respect it as something who's only purpose is killing. The Responsibility to be as safe as possible in handling and storage of your guns. These are NOT toys nor are they image props. They are Tools for the Killing of things. Treat them as such. That is everyone's Responsibility.

Amendment III: No quartering (housing) soldiers in private homes.

The people who wrote this Amendment had personal memory of when the British Government "occupied" Boston. They would quarter soldiers in private homes, often in the homes of people who were known or suspected "Sons of Liberty", without any recompense or asking. So they made sure that was not going to happen again. Our Responsibility to this is to make sure that our troops are adequately taken care of and that veterans are given what is needed in care after serving. To honor their service without fetishizing it.

Amendment IV: Protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

This one is also pretty simple to see and very much argued about in court. It says that in order to search someone or their property you must show cause as to why that is needed in front of a judge. And then you can only search from, and seize items from. the very places specified in the warrant. And the state has been trying to weaken that ever since. And the current regime has been startlingly successful at ignoring this because of a bend over congress of Republicans and a Right Wing Activist Supreme Court of a 6 Activist Judge Majority. Our responsibility is to stand for this concept to apply to everyone no matter who whether we personally like them or not.

Amendment V: Rights in criminal cases: right to remain silent, no double jeopardy, due process.

1. Right to remain silent. This is where the reading of a suspects rights come from. This is the principle that one cannot be made to incriminate one's self in a case. That we not be forced to say anything if we choose not to for any reason. Our responsibility in this is to respect that right in others. To not presume guilt just because one does not speak. There are many reasons other than guilt that one could choose to remain silent.
2. No Double Jeopardy. Plainly stated it says that the State only gets one swing at a defendant. If they do not land it then they are done. The responsibility in this is to make sure of one's case before proceeding. That applies in Court, Gossip, etc.
3. Due Process. This is the one the current regime in our country is most violating. This guarantees that people, not just Citizens, all people, must be treated in Full Accordance with the Law. That they cannot be swept up because of Race, Creed, Religion, Lack of Religion, Place of Origin, Prior Condition of any sort, and thrown in jail or otherwise disappeared. Or Deported. Period. There is no wiggle room there at all. And the States Responsibility is to make sure that they Follow The Law no matter what and with No Exceptions. Period.

Amendment VI: Right to a fair, speedy trial by jury in criminal cases.

This is one of the most important ones. This one puts a time limit on how long the state can hold you before they have to charge and try you or release you. It is the responsibility of the state to move and for us to make sure that they do. Even with people and groups that we do not like.

Amendment VII: Right to a jury trial in civil cases.

This is a big one. Before this one could be tried by a "noble", or king, behind closed doors, found guilty, and punished with no real evidence. This stated that you had to show someone's friends and neighbors exactly why and how you thought that they were guilty of this crime. And then let said friends and neighbors decide if you had sufficiently made your case or not. So the state no longer get's to decide by itself in secret. Our responsibility is to stay vigilant and keep the state from reverting. Which it is doing even as we speak.

Amendment VIII: No excessive bail or cruel and unusual punishment.

1. No Excessive Bail. Whooboy has that one been abused. What bail has become is rich people out and poor people in. Holding cells and pretrial confinement that is. The whole bail system has just become another way to make sure that poor people pay. Our responsibility is to reform the system so that it is fair to everyone. Even those we do not like
2. No cruel ad unusual punishment. That originally meant no burning at the stake, torture, etc. Which is good. It has been expanded to other things as well. Which is good. I believe that we need to get rid of the death penalty as well. The State should not be able to kill. You cannot take that back if they find out after the fact that they were actually innocent. Our responsibility is to hold the states feet to the fire to remain as humane as we can keep them.

Amendment IX: People have rights beyond those listed in the Constitution.

During the debates for and against the constitution and the bill of rights there was a faction, not yet developed into political parties, called the Anti-Federalists, which was strongly apposed to this. They feared the implication that if these rights were stated then the state could then claim that they held all the rights not enumerated. That specifically stated rights did not then exist. This was added breathing room to grow designed to alleviate those fears. Our responsibility is to make sure that these rights, and all others, apply to everyone and hold the Local, State, and National governments accountable when they fail to do this.

Amendment X: Powers not given to the federal government belong to the states or people.

This, too me, is the magic bullet. It specifically states that if the power is not given to the Federal Government then it resides with the State, Vermont, Massachusetts, California, etc, or The People. Us. You and me. That if we do not give them the right then they do not have it. That Power is derived from the People who give that Power. And we have given our Federal and State governments way too much power over us. It is our responsibility to get it back. To prove once again that the Constitution was designed to give power and limit that power at the same time.

The Constitution of the United States begins with three simple words, We The People. Not we the corporations. Not we the rich people. Not we the white people, even though that was intended. Not we the born here people. We The People.

And we have been struggling, ever since those words were written, to expand who those words apply to against some other people who have been doing everything possible to restrict who those words apply to. They want them to apply only to people like them.

And now we get to the part that explains what I mean with the opening sentence. "Freedom without Responsibility is just disguised tyranny."

Because the truth is when we have freedom with no responsibility towards others, people and the society around you, and ultimately to Humanity, then we are easily divided amongst ourselves. Freedom becomes personal only instead of societal. And we become narrow and "forget" that those who do not look like us, believe like us, vote like us, etc, are also people.

We are all made smaller when we are divided against ourselves. We are all made smaller when we forget that others that are not like us are also members of the Human Community. The Human Family.

And when we are divided against ourselves we are much easier to control. And the wealthy have been doing that in these (Dis)United States since the beginning.

Because they want us to regard others as Not Human and thus we can do unspeakable things to them. Because they are not really People. They are Other.

And that is the Tyranny.

Because we forget, or never learn, that when we take away rights from others and make them not human then we are diminishing our own rights and becoming not human.

We forget that our Personal Freedom stops where it begins to impact on the life of another. That when we impinge on another's freedom then we are no longer truly free ourselves. That we have chained ourselves to being Masters and thus given up our Mastery.

And the longer we fight the "Culture Wars" of the dividers then the more we are missing the dividers taking our own Freedom, Money, Happiness, and Lives.

We are diminished when we take the Freedom from another and thereby diminish our own Freedom.

And our own Humanity.

And that, Brothers and Sisters, is the Tyranny of Hate.

May you Free Your Self from that tyranny.

Namaste 🙏