Celebrating the Birth of Our Bill of Rights

by Keith Cooper

From Broader View Weekly, December 14, 2007


As we celebrate the Bill of Rights of the Constitution, I’m reminded of the importance of the provisions. These first ten amendments set a tone for governance that represents the spirit of a democratic republic. The Bill of Rights focuses primarily on the rights of the citizenry and the limiting of the federal government’s power. In these amendments, I see the foresight of the framers to realize that power has the potential to corrupt; and to look ahead to times when individuals might need to protect themselves from overreaching power. Sadly, it took a while for these rights to be broadly applied to our nation’s citizens, but today they serve as a guideline, and a check to balance power and preserve civil liberties.

Some of the amendments are easy for me to get behind. For example, I am ever grateful for the provisions of the First Amendment that proclaims my right as a unique individual to my own belief and the right to freely express that belief. The First Amendment has provided me with this forum, and with a growing access to news and information. Also key to my admiration of the First Amendment, is the establishment of a separation of church and state.

Under the protection of the First Amendment, I have the freedom to publicly criticize the current administration’s preemptive war strategy. I have the right to stand in peaceful protest against injustices I see perpetrated by my government without fear of reprisal. Unfortunately, sometimes reprisal is executed through legal means, as the recent sentencing of five protestors outside representative John “Randy” Kuhl’s office in Bath, NY showed. I even have the right to publicly express my opinion about George W. Bush’s lack of presidential qualifications and his abuse of our highest office. The First Amendment has given me this forum.

Having seen the oppression of state-imposed religion, the framers saw the need to explicitly guard against such an abuse of power. The First Amendment expressly prohibits the state from imposing a religion upon its citizens. It also protects the free exercise of any religion. I find this particular provision important when I see so much talk, today, of the professed faith of one political candidate or another. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s recent appeal to evangelical Christians illustrates the challenge for political figures to prove their religious allegiance. This is a concern to me. While one’s faith can provide a moral code by which one would execute his leadership, certain religious beliefs can color the judgment of a leader and lead to injustice. Keeping religious influence in check is vital to religious freedom. One only needs to look to the recent persecution of a British woman in Sudan (imprisoned and nearly sentenced to 40 lashes for allowing her students to name a stuffed bear Muhammad) to see the dangers of state religion.

The framers also were concerned about the privacy of the citizenry. Knowing the great power wielded by the government, they sought to protect privacy by expressly restricting the government’s access to private property. The current administration’s disregard for privacy is far-reaching and has implications beyond its term in office. Personal information is now available through diverse technology, and this administration has been chipping away at safeguards that would protect that information, almost from the beginning, escalating dramatically following 9/11. We must hold our leaders to the standards of the Bill of Rights when they would sacrifice our privacy rights in the name of national security.

One amendment that gives me some pause is the Second Amendment, which institutes a right to bear arms. Though I fully support legal gun ownership, I am concerned by the fervency of some gun advocates and certain vocal fringes. I am also alarmed when I see a show like The Outdoor Channel’s Personal Defense series. While claiming to offer self-defense techniques against an intruder, the show demonstrates quick reload tricks and such skills as maintaining sustained and rapid fire one-handed behind cover. These tools don’t seem suited to self-defense from a common intruder. The only applicable scenario I can imagine is picking off ATF agents or S.W.A.T. team members from within your secured compound. Also concerning to me, are gun rights activists who campaign against any restriction to the types of weapons one may own. We should all be appalled that 19-year-old Robert Hawkins had access to the SKS assault rifle he used to gun down 8 innocents at an Omaha, Nebraska mall last week. The right to bear arms as outlined in the Second Amendment should not be viewed as a civilian’s unconditional license to buy weapons intended for military-style mass killing.

Though I may question the relevance of certain amendments as they apply to today’s America, I applaud the foresight of some members of Congress to add the Bill of Rights to our Constitution in 1791. It is the exemplification of democracy at its finest.