Question Of The Week, 12/04/05
Good Morning. Since this will be a question about the Bill Of Rights I hope you will read the message I posted Friday if you haven't seen it. This weeks Question Of The Week is what is the meaning of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution? "No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation." I will post my answer in the Comment Section Monday night.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic.
posted by David Schantz | 1:22 AM
5 Comments:
This amendmend establishes the basic rights of all defendants and accusees as they go through the process of law. It sets up the basic rights such as "innocent before guilty" and "right to remain silent", together with the abolishing of "double-jeopardy". It also allows for private land to be taken for public use only if there is a reasonable and fair compensation.
Sorry to be a doomsayer, but this amendment means nothing. Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court all ignore the Bill of Rights. The McCain-Feingold law restricting political speech passed Congress, passed the President, and survived a Supreme Court challenge. This leads me to beleive that any current First Amendment protections we enjoy are ephemeral and subject to the whims of the political class.
Our protections under the Second Amendment are laughable. Neither Congress, nor the President, nor the Supreme Court have had any problem whatsoever in infringing upon the People's right to keep and bear arms whenever it suits them.
The Fifth Amendment was gutted this year in the Kelo v. New London ruling. The clause "nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation" no longer acts as a protection against arbitrary state takings.
We have, in the Constitutional sense, an absent government. That is why we the People have to say enough is enough. We have to start chaperoning our Congress, and or state legislatures. Lay down the rules for them. If they do something against the Constitution, call them on it. Make sure they know that we are watching them. We can salvage our Republic, but it's going to take a lot of work and will be very time-consuming for all the decent people like us who just want our country back. But we have to act.
A huge victory for we the People would be to see to it that the FairTax is passed. Some of my anarcho-capitalist colleagues say that the FairTax is just a recognition of the federal government's right to tax us. They will not support it because it does not reduce the amount of money the government collects from us.
The FairTax is, however, very good for we the People. The current tax structure allows politicians to 'buy' votes by effectively taking money from the hardworking minority and giving it to a freeloading majority. The FairTax would take away this ability to buy votes because everyone would pay exactly the same amount in taxes. Do not underestimate how much this change would change the political landscape. When politicians can buy votes, they don't have to defend their actions as well, or be as consistent as they ought since the people who are getting the benefit of the income redistribution will almost always vote for them so long as they are being paid. If we make it difficult for the politicians to keep this blind loyal majority support, maybe we will be able to make more progress at actually shrinking the size of government.
The Kelo decision destroyed this portion: "nor be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law," by allowing government to seize private real estate and turn it over to a developer because development provides greater tax revenue.
Most Americans know that the accused cannot be forced to testify against oneself and about the protection against double jeopardy, but seem to foget about "No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger..."
Realm of Sovereigns correctly points out that much gutting of the Bill of Rights has occurred. I chalk that up to the lawyers.
I want to thank all of you for taking the time to answer this weeks question. The Fifth Amendment protected citizens from corrupt judges and lawyers for many years. It also stopped a socialist government from taking our property. There doesn't seem to be a lot left of this one. Don't forget December the 15th is Bill Of Rights Day. Celebrate them while you still have them.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic.
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