Bill of rights - void where prohibited by law

In 1787, after a long summer of heated debate and difficult compromise, the founding fathers presented the people of the United States with a document which would form the crux of an radical new experiment in government. This document was the Constitution.

Desperate for the formation of an open government free from the oppression and impunity of the recently vanquished British crown, the people placed the trust and hopes of their fledgling nation upon the shoulders of 55 men in Philadelphia. These 55 men, who the people had granted a mandate to and who labored tirelessly all that long, hot summer, were therefore shocked and surprised when the "people" rejected the new Constitution.

The reason the citizens refused to accept this new document was simple. There were no safeguards written into the Constitution to protect the people of this new nation from the oppressive weight of their own government.

The constituents of the new congress insisted on a guarantee which would secure them against the wanton or intrusive tendencies of the State. They insisted on a "Bill of Rights".

The founders felt that this so-called "Bill of Rights" would be redundant and unnecessary. They had carefully written the Constitution to specifically outline the limited powers of the Federal government. The citizens wanted a warranty to protect rights that the government had no power whatsoever (as outlined by the Constitution) to either remove or otherwise alter. In the minds of the founders, this was akin to the people asking the government to guarantee that the sun would rise the next day, as if the government could stop it from doing so in the first place.

Nevertheless, the people would not retract their demand. The specter of injustice suffered under British rule was all to vivid. Eventually the founders acquiesced, yet many remained convinced that this new "Bill of Rights" was superfluous and unneeded.

Over 200 years later, the founders have been proved wrong, while the conventional wisdom of the common man has been vindicated. The U.S. government has manifest into a juggernaught of restraint and intrusion. The precious liberties outlined in the "Bill of Rights" have not been protected by that so-called "redundant and unnecessary" appendix. On the contrary, these liberties have been assaulted from every angle despite the assurances of the founders.

To illustrate, I offer the following examples:

For the First Amendment - I offer you the Waco Texas massacre.
For the Second Amendment - Little example is needed here.
For the Fifth and Eight Amendments - I present you with the entire. "War on Drugs" and all the trampling of citizens rights which comes with it.

Yet it goes on and on. When will we learn? 82 years go, several farsighted Congressmen suggested a ceiling of 5% on the Federal Income Tax when that particular affront to the people was being ratified. Their attempt to limit government power was also laughed off as unwarranted. As if the Income tax would ever exceed 5%!

In closing, I present for your consideration, the tattered remains of the Tenth Amendment;

"The powers not delegated to the United States government by the constitution are reserved to the States and the people respectively"

Now that is funny!