The Constitution is DEAD !!

Do you remember many years ago when the phrase "God Is Dead" was popular among non-believers? Well, they made the case for the statement with unsubstantiated circumstantial evidence. They were wrong.

Today I am declaring that "The Constitution Is Dead". But, I have PROOF.

I came to this realization yesterday when I was complaining that one of the bad things about growing older was that you could remember how it was in the good old daze. I remember fishing for Spanish Mackerel with no license and no limits. In Southern California in those days if you were fishing in the ocean you needed no license and there were no limits on salt water species. The more I thought about it the more I realized that almost nothing has gotten better in the 74 years I have been alive. Everything is going to hell in a hand cart.

Then I suddenly realized that the Constitution was dead when I started thinking about sending a check for $117 in to secure a Concealed Carry Permit. That $117 is to pay for a right that the Constitution guarantees to me. There is nothing in the constitution about paying for the rights granted by it. But I will pay $117 to the state of Florida every 7 years to have this inalienable right.

So I decided to look at each of the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and see what it was costing me...or if I even had those rights anymore. Or if I had them, but greatly impoverished.

1st amendment.......nope, that is gone without paying for it. If I want to "peaceably assemble" on public (I am public, right) property, I need to get a permit from the reigning government body. That permit will not be free. So I am paying for the right to peaceably assemble. And they get to set limits on my assemblage.

2nd amendment.......nope, I am paying for the right to carry arms CONCEALED. I cant even pay for the right to carry them in the open!!! Open Carry is against the law here in Texas!! But that is a violation of the 2nd amendment to the Constitution!!

3rd amendment.......well, so far, I still have this.....

4th amendment.......nope, it is clear that the prohibition against unreasonable searches without "probable cause" is going on daily by the TSA at airports all over the United States. According to the Constitution the TSA cannot search me unless they have reason to believe that I am breaking the law. BUT...they do it every day. And many residents of this state don't have the right "to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects" anymore since Home Owner Associations can now demand, as a requirement of residence in a particular community, that the homeowner turn over to the HOA a key to their home, just in case the HOA needs to get in. This is an unconstitutional ability to search. What protection does the homeowner have that the HOA wont steal them blind. Can they sue the HOA if something is missing? I think not!

5th amendment.......Double Jeopardy? Well, while I think OJ Simpson got what he deserved, isn't it "double jeopardy" to be tried twice for the same crime? Ok, Ok, maybe it was justice in this case, and his "life and limb" were not at peril in the Civil case, but I think that is just lawyers talk for a way around what would have horrified the founding fathers. Its still double jeopardy and one day it will come back to haunt an innocent person and that innocent person might be YOU! We have to think about what happens if an apparently just reading of the law is turned against an innocent person.

6th amendment.......a "speedy trial"?? Do we really think that a 20 year stay on "death row" while exhausting appeals is a "speedy trial". At the time the Constitution was written that would be HALF of a lifetime. I really don't think they thought that a trial should last 20 years!!!

7th amendment.......I plead no contest....

8th amendment.......But isn't "No Bail" excessive? Isn't denying bail the same as assessing excessive bail?

9th amendment.......Here we have a whole barrel of worms. But just one worm; the government has taken my right to insure myself in any way I may feel sufficient to secure my health. The Obama Care law takes away a right that was not enumerated in the constitution...WITHOUT AMENDING the constitution to add that as a right. I have been denied a right.

10th amendment.......WOW, here we are at the biggest failure of the ten. The Federal government, under the guise of regulating interstate commerce has violated this amendment so many times that I wonder why the foot traffic hasn't wiped away all the ink on the constitution. Obama care claims to be regulating interstate commerce while regulating the sale of insurance WHICH CANNOT BE SOLD ACROSS STATE LINES. Folks, that ain't interstate commerce!!! The Feds have taken to regulating firearms that are made in a state and not sold across state lines. Folks, that ain't interstate commerce!!! The Federal government arrests Amish farmers for selling home grown milk within the borders of the state. Folks, that ain't interstate commerce!!!

Out of the ten, and there are another 18 I haven't even looked at, two might still be intact. The rest have been trashed. If 80 percent of my body was decaying, I would hope someone would declare me dead.

The Constitution Is Dead.

Can we revive it? Yes, I think we can. But you cant bring something back to life until you, first, concede that it is dead. We cannot be in denial. To resurrect the Constitution we first have to accept the fact that it is, for all intents and purposes, DEAD.

Come out of your denial and join the movement to restore the Constitution to the living document that it was meant to be.

Jim Isbell
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