What If We Have Only Memories of Freedom? by Judge Napolitano

[Capt. Justice]

What If We Have Only Memories of Freedom?

http://original.antiwar.com/andrew-p-napolitano/2012/05/23/what-if-we-have-only-memories-of-freedom/

by Andrew P. Napolitano, May 24, 2012

What if Memorial Day reminds us of times when we had more freedom? What
if freedom is dying right under our eyes? What if the memory of the past
is more fulfilling than the reality of the present?
What if the federal government could write any law, regulate any
behavior, and tax any event, no matter what the Constitution authorized?
What if the majority in Congress rejects the idea of limited government
and views the Constitution as granting it blanket power to do whatever
it can get away with? What if the constitutional prohibition on the
government?s taking of life, liberty, or property without due process of
law is only for show and is not for real?

What if the House of Representatives seriously considered letting the
military lock up whatever Americans the president ordered the troops to
arrest, without charges filed or lawyers present or a judge presiding?
What if the House seriously debated this idea of indefinite military
detention of Americans in America and actually voted in favor of it?
What if this unconstitutional monstrosity becomes the law and your right
to due process depends on whether you remain with the majority, stay
silent, or behave properly? What if the Constitution's guarantees are
not guarantees at all but are subject to the whims of whoever is in
power?

What if the Declaration of Independence, which articulated the moral
authority for the revolution against Great Britain, recognized that our
rights come from our Creator and are inalienable? What if very few in
government recognize the divine origin of human freedom and its natural
integrity to our humanity?

What if the government only permitted freedom so long as it was
exercised as the government pleases? What if the government rejected the
basic values of every person's right to life and liberty and property in
favor of some collective good, where the government could arrest you
without evidence, ration your freedom to suit the general welfare, and
take your property from you and sell it at a profit?

What if the government could hire thugs to keep you safe? What if it
gave the thugs uniforms and badges and sent them to airports? What if it
gave them rubber gloves to wear and told them they could touch you and
your children and your parents however and wherever they wished? What if
these thugs touched the private parts of little babies and old ladies
and intentionally restrained those who have criticized them while the
rest of us just watched and let this happen?

What if the airlines did a better job of keeping their customers happy
and their property safe than the thugs did? What if the government spent
millions of your tax dollars to advertise what a great job it's doing?
What if the government charged the airlines millions of their dollars
for the illusory services these thugs are rendering? What if the
government's thugs never caught a single bad guy intent on harming a
flight in America? What if the government's thugs actually let weapons
and bad guys onto planes because the thugs are dopes who have no
competition, who can't be sued, and who won't be fired?

What if the government found more dopes and dupes and convinced them
that they should conspire to commit acts of terrorism? What if the idea
for terrorist acts and the means for committing them came from the
government? What if no real threats were involved in these games and no
real weapons were used, just fake threats and fake weapons, fomented and
provided by the government? What if the government created these phony
crimes just so that it could solve them? What if no one was ever in
danger from these government-created crimes, except those the government
tricked? What if the government did this again and again and then
boasted that it was keeping us safe from its own creations? What if
Congress and the media and even the courts fell for this?

What if, on Memorial Day, we remember times that were more free than
today? What if, on Memorial Day, when we think of those who died for our
freedom, we end up recognizing that the freedom they died for is dying?
What if it becomes fashionable for the government to ignore the
Constitution? What if the Constitution dies because the government stops
following it? What if, next Memorial Day, freedom is just a memory?
What do we do about it?

COPYRIGHT 2012 ANDREW P. NAPOLITANO. DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM.

Read more by Andrew P. Napolitano
Is There a Drone in Your Backyard? - May 16th, 2012
What Constitutes a Fair Trial? - May 10th, 2012
The President's Private War - May 4th, 2012
Is the CIA in Your Kitchen? - March 21st, 2012
Can the President Kill You? - March 7th, 2012