Dear Editor, It may be annoying and downright irritating to countries to be reminded that the United States of America has not only "the most comprehensive protection for individual rights and liberties in the world," but that "ours is the oldest written constitution still in use." It is definitely annoying and downright irritating to concerned citizens to see this comprehensive protection of individual rights and liberties being sidestepped, ignored, diluted, and buried. We can't afford to be complacent and non-vigilant about the vertebrae of our society. It would be prudent for all to review our history and the grievances of kingly abuses that provoked the Declaration of Independence in the first place.
Addressing complacency and vigilance regarding our hallowed Constitution and Bill of Rights is a multi faceted subject. One of the most sacred aspects is the "checks and balances as enshrined by our Founding Fathers," and whether or not we as "We the People of the United States," have the courage to question if the stated separations of powers are being upheld. After all, isn't that just one of the privileges of civilized nations? The blurring of the lines between congress, executive office, and judiciary branches weakens and threatens the scaffolding of the importance of the separation of power. If this first rung of the ladder isn't vigilantly maintained then all the above gets unstable and daresay unsafe.
All this is cause for alarm due to the fact that the basic foundational premise of our government was to protect and safeguard our welfare and the pursuit of happiness. However, the ever increasing transparency of corporate and political alliances, and the ever decreasing quality of consumer goods not just toys but even our very own air, water, and food quality begs the question of what happened and when to all the miss failings of the number one mission of our government?
It was refreshing, sad, and inspiring to see the Pakistani judges and lawyers protesting in the streets regarding their own constitution and in turn being thrown in paddy wagons and toted off presumably to prison. Apparently, our own constitution isn't seen to be breeched enough to cause such a commotion because if it were surely our own judges and lawyers would react in the same protesting manner. Wouldn't they? According to a certain lawyer Brian Fein, we have reached that level of consternation. One last observation regarding a populace that doesn't seem to subscribe to complacency and non-vigilance is the French. It seems when the French citizens are on news they are out in the streets protesting something they don't like about their government. I can only presume we just aren't provoked enough, because surely if we were, we would speak up and even differ to civil disobedience. Wouldn't we?
Corruption is horrendous, rampant, and widespread on our small planet. One of the best all time saying is, "The only guaranteed success of evil is for good men to do nothing." Although, undoubtedly, we live in one of the most blessed countries in the world, let us not allow our comfort levels to blind us of our duties as "We the People of the United States of America." Patricia Kromer
Cedar Key and Micanopy | 