The Highway.com

"You’re just another bleeding heart liberal!"

I hear the words all the time. I dare speak out against the current federal administration, refuse to support its aristocratic, imperialist, theocratic agenda. I stand for innocence by default, privacy by right. I stand for the right of a pregnant woman to be more than a baby factory and challenge a nation to want the children sex makes. I stand for monogamy and family, fully supporting the right of a gay couple to legally marry and adopt. I have no problem with the words "under God" until somebody tries to tell me whose god it is.

No. I am not a bleeding heart liberal . . . far from it.

I am a Constitution Fundie!

I evangelize the Bill of Rights!

Constitution Fundie

(July 4, 2005)

My patriotism is not worn on a T-shirt, plastered on the bumper of my car, uttered half-heartedly with feeble gestures and empty words only to be forgotten when the going gets tough. I stand for a document, the fundamental core of the country I love. I believe it is worth far more than the paper it is printed on . . . flags waving, fireworks blazing, brass bands, and pompous posturing aside. Ten laws within the document, not nine or seven, tell me where to draw the line. Unlike those who would call me liberal, I hold the first, fourth and fifth amendments close to my heart, demand their enforcement in a society either too ignorant or afraid to comply. Unlike their counterparts, I will never surrender the second, a solemn reminder of our roots and responsibilities.

In the United States of America, we are all innocent; you have to prove our guilt before you can take anything away. You can’t make me confess; you are not supposed to try. You can’t play "Big Brother" and spy on me, enter my home, search me, go through my personal effects, tap my phone, or bug my conversations unless you can prove to a court that you need to. "Terrorists exist" is not a reason; it is a witch hunt. My refusing to sit silently, sacrifice moral autonomy and political freedom for safety’s sake, does not give you probable cause. I am innocent as are we all, until a court, a jury of my peers, and a gavel falling says otherwise. To demand any sort of litmus test from me when I have done nothing wrong is just plain wrong!

So the fourth and fifth amendments say.

I have the right to speak my mind when I have something legitimate to say. I have the right to write it down and have it published. I have the right to even speak against those elected to lead when I am convinced they are leading the country I love astray. I have the right to determine my relationship with God, if I choose any at all. I have the right to determine the course of my own spirituality, to teach my children the same. My government and the institutions my tax dollars support are supposed to keep their political nose out of my religious affairs. I can bring a Bible to a public school, read it all I want, but my teachers have no business leading me in a classroom prayer. I can bring my Bible to court for whatever reason I choose, but a judge can’t use its laws to intimidate me. Yes, Christians of many denominations helped found and write the laws of my land, but that does not make it a Christian nation, nor does it make the devout of any other religion any less a citizen.

Don’t get me wrong. I have no problem with the words "under God," or "in God we trust," until my government tries to tell me whose "God" it really is. The Ten Commandments posted on government property is fine, provided it stands as one example of many systems of laws which preceded and influenced our own.  But to say they alone determine the course of our law is inviting a foreign power to rule. I even stand by Roe V. Wade, a difficult and well-researched decision that, after taking into account all religious and secular precedents, could not find a law that declared an unborn alive before the end of the first trimester. How many Christians know that biblically killing a fetus is a misdemeanor no different from killing an ox or an ass? How many Christians know of the longstanding Christian belief in "quickening?" The Supreme Court took both into account, before being compelled to wash its hands of a law it could not legally uphold. How many people ever bothered reading the decision at all?

And yes, if a church says it is ok for two gays to marry under the eyes of God, a court cannot tell them "No." Marriage is a religious institution that has enjoyed civil sanction without complaint, much like the words on our dollar bill, but when a single religion compels my government to define it based on its own convictions, it threatens the institution itself.  Are we as a nation prepared for church and state to separate there?  Keep pushing the issue and see where the court has to legally stand. Better yet, keep your religious noses out of politics and other people’s religious affairs, because any move to guide my government with a theocratic helm is treason, no more no less, undermining the fundamental core of the country and Constitution I love and defend.

So the first amendment says.

Those who wish to take away guns to make us "safe" are just as bad. I have the right to own a gun if I so choose. I have the right and responsibility to use it properly to defend the country I love. I also have the right to say I don’t want one anywhere in my home. The armies that won our independence were made up of people in towns taking their guns off the mantle when called, using them to drive back their oppressors . . . a well-regulated militia, not a paid professional force. The gun used for war was the same gun that provided food and defended a family. I have no problem with regulating ownership and use, no more than regulating the consumption of alcohol, driving a car, or smoking a cigarette. Sure, a gun is a tool designed to kill, but the finger of an irresponsible owner is the one that typically does. Legislate the owner and leave the tool alone.

So the second amendment says.

Ten amendments fill our Bill of Rights. It is not a salad bar. You can’t pick and choose. Especially today, the day we celebrate the birth of the nation we call home, remember the document that gives the flag we wave meaning, the real "bang" behind every firework display, the air that puffs out the chests of the marchers in our parades. Honor it. Treasure it. Hold it close to your heart. Preserve it. Protect it. Keep it safe from those who seek to take your rights away.

Better yet, just read it and remember it was written for you and tells you what "free" really means. Take a long hard look at the people on both sides of the political coin who say any part of it no longer applies. Speak up. Be heard, and pass it on.  It is the only way it will survive.