Market Ticker – by Karl Denninger
Wow, Judge, such strong words!
The Patriot Act is the centerpiece of the federal government’s false claims that by surrendering our personal liberties to it, it can somehow keep us safe. The liberty-for-safety offer has been around for millennia and was poignant at the time of the founding of the American republic.
Yes, just like you don’t need to be able to defend yourself when in a place that serves alcohol, or if you’ve been involved in a misdemeanor domestic violence incident (in other words, an event no more violent than lightly pushing someone) or, god forbid, if you got caught using some substance the government doesn’t like. In the latter two instances you have no right to defend yourself, ever, anywhere, period but even without such infirmity you must ask permission in the form of a “license” and pay a tax before you may attempt to defend yourself and then only in the places and in the way the goons government say is “ok.”
The Framers addressed it in the Constitution itself, where they recognized the primacy of the right to privacy and insured against its violation by the government by intentionally forcing it to jump through some difficult hoops before it can capture our thoughts, words or private behavior.
Those hoops are the requirement of a search warrant issued by a judge and based on evidence — called probable cause — demonstrating that it is more likely than not that the government will find what it is looking for from the person or place it is targeting. Only then may a judge issue a warrant, which must specifically describe the place to be searched or specifically identify the person or thing to be seized.
None of this is new. It has been at the core of our system of government since the 1790s. It is embodied in the Fourth Amendment, which is at the heart of the Bill of Rights. It is quintessentially American.
The Framers addressed the other problem too. They declared that you, individually, have the right to defend yourself everywhere, all the time, irrespective of being accused of or even convicted of a criminal offense at some point in the past.
None of this is new. It has been at the core of our system of government since the 1790s. It is embodied in the Second Amendment, which is supreme to the 4th Amendment as the Framers felt it was so important that it was only subservient to the right of free speech (which they listed first.) It is quintessentially American.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
But “Judas” Napolitano doesn’t support that one as written, does it?
Nope. Neither does Congress as a whole. Neither does the NRA. Neither does Rand Paul, or Ted Cruz, or any of these other clowns.
But most importantly, neither do people, probably including you, who are so “outraged” about both free speech and the 4th and 5th Amendments, although if you really want to get down to it none of the other alleged “rights” you have matter if you’re dead, and the point of the 2nd Amendment is that you have the right to keep and bear the only devices ever invented by mankind that make a material difference in evening the odds should someone unjustifiably attempt to make you dead!
Come talk to me about the Patriot Act Mr. Napolitano when we have restored the right to not be dead, and the right to be secure from being searched will have some sort of meaning. After all if you make me dead I will not be capable of giving a damn about what you search.