It may come as a surprise to many, but the Bill of Rights is not a list of rights that our government has granted us. Rather, it is a document that enumerates a list of natural, God given rights that the government is specifically forbidden to abridge, abrogate, or interfere with in any way. President Bush and the Department of Homeland Security need to take a refresher course on this point and the sooner the better. On the other hand, neither is it a license to overstep the bounds of acceptability, as many apparently believe.

The fact that a right exists, doesn't mean that it is proper to exercise it in all of its' possible permutations. All rights have a line, that when crossed, make them wrongs. Responsible people know where that line is, but in an ever more permissible (liberal) society those lines become blurred and are more easily crossed, often with disastrous results.

There can be no enduring freedom without responsibility. For that reason, it is important that everyone of us be aware, that we are not misusing our rights and act responsibly at all times. It is the misuse of these rights that cause senseless laws and bureaucratic regulations to be enacted against them, but increasingly restrictive laws and regulations are not the answer to the problem. They are simply a bandaid that covers rather than fixes the problem. The real fix, which requires education, cultural change, and standards of acceptable behavior instilled in our young people, is very expensive, difficult to achieve, and therefore the court of last resort.

If we don't bite the bullet and decide as a nation that the loss of our rights is far more costly than the fix, we will slide into an ever accelerating condition of more and more patches that do no real good. When this happens, we will be faced with the total loss of our rights and freedoms in order to restore the public calm. We will then have peace through tyranny rather than freedom through responsiblity.

Remember, having the right to do something, doesn't neccessarily make it the right thing to do.

While lawyers and politicians are near the top of the list, the news media, as a group, are the worst offenders when it comes to overstepping the bounds of propriety, thereby encouraging others to follow their example.

The media, thanks to their claimed First Amendment right, have sacrificed, responsibility, morality, ethics, restraint, and just plain decency, on the altar of the god of fleeting fame and the almightly dollar. Individuals and groups have found that by overstepping the bounds of acceptable behavior, the media will instantly rise to the occasion and turn their despicable act into a circus event, providing them, and their cause, with millions of dollars worth of free publicity, which is exactly what they wanted in the first place.

The media's cooperation, and irresponsible reporting, guarantees world wide visibility, thereby encouraging further irresponsible acts by those who desire recognition for their causes. As a matter of fact the whole concept of ethical reporting seems to escape them, the more scandalous a story is, the more families it can tear apart, or the more lives it can destroy, the better. The decency and restraint that were once hallmarks of the great reporters and the great newspapers are now only distant memories to many of us, and to the younger generation, something totally outside their scope of experience.

Rome had her arenas, gladiators fighting to the death, chariot races, games, drama, free food and drink and many other diversions to keep the thoughts of its' citizens from focusing too closely on what the government was doing.

Today, of course, we're too civilized to have gladitorial contests, or feed people to the lions. Today we have professional sports, welfare, acts of terrorism, both by and against the government, and spectacular trials that last for months, where everyone, including the jury, all the council and the judge get rich from publishing rights, where the only loosers are the defendant and the American justice system, where the accused are psychologically dismantled, fed piece by piece to the waiting world, found guilty before their trails are held, and often, even before they have been charged with anything. At the same time the lives of their families and friends are disected under a powerful microscope for all to see. We have the media to thank for providing us with sensationalism, vivid, bloodthirsty descriptions, and for making common, what are truly rare events, thereby keeping us all diverted from the day to day actions of our government.

This leads us to our second responsiblility of freedom, and that is to hold the government accountable for its' actions. Here again, I'm probably venturing into virgin territory, but how many of you realize that the United States, like all countries, is just a big business?

Like all businesses the United States has a President, Vice President, Board of Directors (Congress), and many departments, such as legal, security, finance, training, contracts, collections, etc..

As in all businesses, these people are employees and are working for someone for a wage. Now I don't want this to come as too much of a surprise, but all of these people work for you and me. That's right we are the boss, the President works for us, and if we don't like the job he is doing, we can fire him, it's called impeachment.

Believe it or not, the government is your servant, not the other way around. If you allow them to regulate your behavior, and pass ever more restrictive laws without your approval, you deserve everything the government throws your way. By the way, it was the unacceptability of those very things, among others, that led to the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War.

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined."
-- Patrick Henry (speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, 5 June 1778)

An irresponsible, non-vigilant people, will lose all of their freedoms, and deservedly so.