Remember Founding Fathers’ words as presidential election nears

Patrick Seaworth
thelantern.com
October 22, 2012

In the words of U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler, two-time recipient of the Medal of Honor, in his speech to a Boston Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention in August 1939, “There are only two things for which Americans should be permitted to fight, defense of home and the Bill of Rights.”

The Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, is a document cited as often as forgotten. I have attempted to use the Founding Father’s words to address the First, Second and Fourth amendments in terms of their current controversy.

Former President George Washington, said in a 1783 meeting of officers in Newburgh, N.Y., that the First Amendment, our right to free speech and a religion of our choosing, is imperative because, “If the freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”

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This article was posted: Monday, October 22, 2012 at 12:47 pm

Tags: constitution, domestic news

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