The
Bill of Rights was not part of the document the Framers produced in Philadelphia
but was added later in order to get reluctant states, those fearful of an all
powerful central government, to ratify. And until the Supreme Court invented
the incorporation doctrine, the Bill of Rights applied to the Federal government
only. Only after the War of Northern Aggression and the cruel excesses of Reconstruction
was the Bill of Rights extended to the states.
Even so, for all
that history the rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights remain simple and
straightforward: speech, assembly, press, and religion; self defense with
firearms; no unlawful searches and seizures; no self incrimination; and no
cruel and unusual punishments, to name the better known.
Today, however,
many people insist that other Constitutional rights exist in spite of the fact
that in the U.S. Constitution
1.
There is no right to kill babies in the womb.
2.
There is no right to serve in the armed forces
3.
There is no right to own a house
4.
There is no right to free medical care.
5.
There is no right to employment
6.
There is no right to an education.
Nevertheless, people assert these rights. For
example, despite the Supreme Court invented right to abortion codified in Roe
v. Wade, there is no such right in the Constitution. Before Roe abortion was
permitted in some states, denied in others. Should Roe ever be overturned, the
nation will return to the status quo ante, and who knows, more states, even a
majority will pass liberalized abortion laws. Had the Supreme Court refused to
rule in Roe and left abortion regulation to the states, abortion laws most
likely would have been liberalized in many states, and the religious right as
we now know it might never have arisen or have become so influential in
politics. Think about that, those readers made apoplectic by the pro life
movement.
Another example of
made up rights: against human experience, practicality, and common sense,
people insist that there is a right to serve in the armed forces and
furthermore that women and the openly homosexual have an extraordinary right to
serve, the consequences to good order, discipline, and efficiency be damned.
And, I might add, should openly homosexual men be allowed to serve but are
later determined to undermine good order and discipline, under no circumstances
will openly homosexual service be rescinded. As with women, moral cowards in
leadership positions will deny problems associated with their service, no
matter how readily apparent. And by the way, denial of entrance into the armed
forces to the openly homosexual is not the same as being forced to the back of
the bus or being denied entrance to school. Suggestions to the contrary outrage
many African Americans.
Other examples:
people have a right to own a house. The government’s push to guarantee that
right has bankrupted to country. Still another right: people have a right to
medical care. That imperative will degrade medical care for everyone and push
the government deeper into insolvency. Then there is the right to a job. In
practice, the exercise of this right in some areas means that incompetent,
unqualified, and insubordinate employees cannot be discharged because of union negotiated
and legislatively mandated rules.
Finally, the
assumed right to an education: this has dumbed down learning to the point where
young people spend lots of time learning very little. Someone suggested to me
that were it not for public schools the poor would not be educated. Here’s a
flash. The poor don’t get educated now even though more money is spent on them
than ever. Programs to improve learning for poor children have not worked and
will not work for reasons too many to discuss here.
Humorist
P.J O’Rourke calls the rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights, “Get outta here
rights!” because they limit the government’s power to interfere with citizens’
personal freedoms. He calls the rights I discuss above “Gimme rights” because
they demand material benefits from government. Gimme rights, of course, come at
a high price: a government that can do anything for you can do anything to you.
A society that insists upon more and more gimme rights is a society of less and
less freedom, and in our case, a society in decline. Look for the spectacle of
people demonstrating in the streets in Europe now
because their governments can no longer afford the gimme rights to which they
think they are entitled to repeat itself here.
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