A new essay by Judge Andrew Napolitano:

A NOT-SO-HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

Do you have more personal liberty today than on the Fourth of July 2012?

When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, he used language that has become iconic. He wrote that we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, and among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Not only did he write those words, but the first Congress adopted them unanimously, and they are still the law of the land today. By acknowledging that our rights are inalienable, Jefferson's words and the first federal statute recognize that our rights come from our humanity -- from within us -- and not from the government.

The government the Framers gave us was not one that had the power and ability to decide how much freedom each of us should have, but rather one in which we individually and then collectively decided how much power the government should have. That, of course, is also recognized in the Declaration, wherein Jefferson wrote that the government derives its powers from the consent of the governed.

To what governmental powers may the governed morally consent in a free society? We can consent to the powers necessary to protect us from force and fraud, and to the means of revenue to pay for a government to exercise those powers. But no one can consent to the diminution of anyone else's natural rights, because, as Jefferson wrote and the Congress enacted, they are inalienable.

Just as I cannot morally consent to give the government the power to take your freedom of speech or travel or privacy, you cannot consent to give the government the power to take mine. This is the principle of the natural law: We all have areas of human behavior in which each of us is sovereign and for the exercise of which we do not need the government's permission. Those areas are immune from government interference.

That is at least the theory of the Declaration of Independence, and that is the basis for our 237-year-old American experiment in limited government, and it is the system to which everyone who works for the government today pledges fidelity.

Regrettably, today we have the opposite of what the Framers gave us. Today we have a government that alone decides how much wealth we can retain, how much free expression we can exercise, how much privacy we can enjoy. And since the Fourth of July 2012, freedom has been diminished.

In the past year, all branches of the federal government have combined to diminish personal freedoms, in obvious and in subtle ways. In the case of privacy, we now know that the federal government has the ability to read all of our texts and emails and listen to all of our telephone calls -- mobile and landline -- and can do so without complying with the Constitution's requirements for a search warrant. We now know that President Obama authorized this, federal judges signed off on this, and select members of Congress knew of this, but all were sworn to secrecy, and so none could discuss it. And we only learned of this because a young former spy risked his life, liberty and property to reveal it.

In the past year, Obama admitted that he ordered the CIA in Virginia to use a drone to kill two Americans in Yemen, one of whom was a 16-year-old boy. He did so because the boy's father, who was with him at the time of the murders, was encouraging militants to wage war against the U.S.
He wasn't waging war, according to the president; he was encouraging it.

Simultaneously with this, the president claimed he can use a drone to kill whomever he wants, so long as the person is posing an active threat to the U.S., is difficult to arrest and fits within guidelines that the president himself has secretly written to govern himself.

In the past year, the Supreme Court has ruled that if you are in police custody and fail to assert your right to remain silent, the police at the time of trial can ask the jury to infer that you are guilty. This may seem like a technical ruling about who can say what to whom in a courtroom, but it is in truth a radical break from the past.

Everyone knows that we all have the natural and constitutionally guaranteed right to silence. And anyone in the legal community knows that judges for generations have told jurors that they may construe nothing with respect to guilt or innocence from the exercise of that right. No longer. Today, you remain silent at your peril.

In the past year, the same Supreme Court has ruled that not only can you be punished for silence, but you can literally be forced to open your mouth. The court held that upon arrest -- not conviction, but arrest -- the police can force you to open your mouth so they can swab the inside of it and gather DNA material from you.

Put aside the legal truism that an arrest is evidence of nothing and can and does come about for flimsy reasons; DNA is the gateway to personal data about us all. Its involuntary extraction has been insulated by the Fourth Amendment's requirements of relevance and probable cause of crime. No longer. Today, if you cross the street outside of a crosswalk, get ready to open your mouth for the police.

The litany of the loss of freedom is sad and unconstitutional and irreversible. The government does whatever it can to retain its power, and it continues so long as it can get away with it. It can listen to your phone calls, read your emails, seize your DNA and challenge your silence, all in violation of the Constitution. Bitterly and ironically, the government Jefferson wrought is proving the accuracy of Jefferson's prediction that in the long march of history, government grows and liberty shrinks. Somewhere Jefferson is weeping.

Happy Fourth of July 2013.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Our president, legislature and supreme court have colluded to produce a government and legal interpretation that has fundamentally transformed our country.

To use the president's words, the red line has been crossed and I no longer recognize the country described in Jefferson's declaration.

This Independence Day Feels Different

by Gov. Gary Johnson

Friends,

Hopefully, you have something enjoyable planned for Independence Day. A parade to go to, a picnic or BBQ, some time with family and friends...or just a day to relax. The "4th" is a great summer holiday filled with tradition, as it should be.

But if you’re like me, this Independence Day feels a little different.

The news in recent weeks about the IRS using its force against certain targeted groups has reminded us that, absent vigilance on our parts, the government will abuse the power it has accumulated. Likewise, as we learn more about the massive surveillance being conducted by the NSA and the FBI, a lot of Americans are today thinking and talking about the 4th Amendment and its intended protections against unreasonable searches.

In short, I believe these “revelations” are bringing long-overdue attention to the liberties the Founding Fathers worked so hard and sacrificed so much to provide and protect. It is more than a little ironic that the Revolution was prompted, in part, by abusive tax policies and unreasonable searches -- on the part of “tyrants”. And it is worth reminding ourselves that America fought wars to preserve the same freedoms that our own government today seems intent on eroding.

Regardless of our plans for this Independence Day, I hope they include remembering that the battle for freedom NEVER ends, and dedicating ourselves to restoring the liberty on which our great nation was founded. That is the most patriotic thing we can do tomorrow -- and in all the days that follow.

Best Wishes for a great Independence Day, and thank you for all you do to ensure that freedom, liberty and opportunity are the real American values!


Thanks,

Gov. Gary Johnson

Onward and upward,
airforce

Friend of mine told me the other day. Dont call it independence day! Call it Dont tread on me day! This coming from someone who doesnt get spun up easily.

TJ's Liberty Tree is desperately in need of fertilization.

Roadblock shakedown checkpoints in some places, with the Youtbe videos going up almost immediately after some of the more noteworthy incidents.

A lot of Americans now know the 4th of July as the weekend they got shaken down by the police or arrested, or a ticket. Maybe we should make an adjustment to this for the timing of it all, 4th of July should be a bugout weekend to test your preps, then another party weekend at some point in remembrance of some date related to Shays Rebellion which brought us the Bill of Rights.