- The Bill of Rights guarantees the individual liberties that made America a country of free men and women.
- The Bill of Rights is a list of things the government may NEVER legally do to us. It enumerates some of the most important freedoms citizens are ALWAYS entitled to.
- The Bill of Rights is a no-trespassing sign whose purpose is to prevent the government from trespassing on our freedoms.
THE GOVERNMENT TODAY VIOLATES NEARLY EVERY ARTICLE OF THE BILL. Some—like the Ninth and Tenth Amendments (designed to place limits on expansion of federal power) are virtually gone. Others, like the Second and Fourth (protecting the right to keep and bear arms and the right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures), are badly, almost fatally, damaged.
Ordinary Americans are largely unaware of, or unconcerned about, the damage being inflicted on the Bill of Rights. American political activists are often painfully aware, but don't know how to take effective action against the erosion of freedom. Conventional political action has utterly failed, though many continue to put faith in it. Activists continue because they don't know what else to do and because they were taught in government schools that voting and supporting campaigns are the only responsible means to change the way their nation is governed.
What they were taught is wrong.
Focusing on the Bill of Rights and a Bill of Rights culture as a means of restoring American freedom values has two advantages:
- It gives people a simple, understandable, emphasis on the core values that create and sustain freedom.
- It gives a quick, uncomplicated guide to which of the government's actions (or proposed actions) enhance liberty and which damage it. Every policy can be put to one test: The Bill of Rights Test. Either it passes or it fails.
A focus on the Bill of Rights makes the concepts of freedom simple for people raised in the dumbed-down era of television and near-universal government schooling.
A Bill of Rights culture matters because:
- Freedom was, and should be, the most important business of America. By limiting government, the Bill of Rights can (if it is rigorously enforced) restore our freedom to earn, travel, trade, and live as we wish.
- By restoring the Bill of Rights at home and exporting its values overseas, we will create unprecedented prosperity and opportunity for ourselves and for others around the globe. We will help end every government abuse from genocide to outrageous taxation and spying on citizens.
- When the Bill of Rights is lost, our quality of life is lost—and the quality of our children's and grandchildren's lives is even more damaged.
- When freedom is completely lost, it's nearly impossible to get back. Emphasizing a Bill of Rights culture is the best way to retain and restore freedom.
Conventional political action is useless. No matter whom voters put into office, politicians of all parties have made and will make laws in violation of the Bill of Rights. Bureaucrats have and will promulgate regulations that violate the Bill of Rights. Presidents of all parties have and will issue executive orders and directives in violation of the Bill of Rights. The public has allowed and continues to allow these transgressions on their freedom because they have not been educated about the Bill and its importance in their daily lives.
The Bill of Rights Day Committee counters the conventional "politics of betrayal" by giving concerned Americans and exhausted activists a creative force for their drive to restore liberty. Millions know liberty is rapidly eroding, but feel helpless to do anything about it. We will offer them that help and encourage them to continue to take action, but in a more effective way than they have in the past.
Thomas Jefferson said:
"When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."Voltaire said:
"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."The Bill of Rights Day Committee says:
"Let's make it dangerous for governments to be wrong when citizens know their rights"