The Constitution

I want to post what I'm learning in my new class.  I'm taking that Constitution class on-line - it's seven hours (seven videos), and I think I'm going to learn a lot.  Because y'know, I don't even know what the Constitution actually says, so how can I defend my rights and priviledges if I'm not clear on what they are, how they're being threatened, and what can be done?

First I learned that the Constitution doesn't give us our rights.  Our rights are God-given, and cannot be taken from us.  What the Constitution does is lay an outline for what our government can/should be.  People always look at the Constitution to 'defend' their rights, and that isn't what it's about.  You have those rights without the Constitution.  Therefore, there actually are no such things as 'your Constitutional rights'.  Well, if THAT isn't enlightening, I don't know what is.

Next is the difference between RIGHTS and PRIVILEDGES.  A right is what you can do without permission because there's no higher power to stop you.  Rights revolve around property.  For example, if you buy a book, you can burn that book, read the book, use it to prop up furniture, give it away, sell it, or rip it up and make funky letters for your friends.  Nobody can tell you what to do with it, because it's YOUR book, YOUR property.

That brings us to his next point: that every right we have comes with responsibility.  You may have the right to bear arms, but what you do with those arms is your responsibility.  Same with your words, the same with your property.  The only limitation of your rights is the right of other people.  For example, if your right to bear arms leads to an irresponsibility ending another person's right to live, you've just violated someone else's rights.  That's what laws are supposed to do - to protect the rights of the individual.

Now I do take exception with his contention that our bodies are our property from the moment we're born.  I don't agree.  Your body is your property once you're old enough to be given the rights that go along with it.  Until then, *I* contend that your body is your parents.  They will care for it, nourish it, clothe it, and keep it from harm.  A child cannot do that, so therefore they are not in possession of their property until such a time they are able to be responsible for it.  But other than that, I'm with him on the property thing.

Although I started sputtering when he said that we can do anything we want with our property... because as you know, 80% of MY property is easment, setbacks, neighbor access, and other stOOpid stuff.  Seriously, only about 20% of "our land" is land we can actually do anything with (and it PISSES me off, but we bought it knowing that).  So if it's MY land, and I pay taxes on it, why can't I do what I want on it?

Come to find out, it's NOT our land.  In order for the land to be yours, you have to have a Lodial Title (I probably spelled that wrong).  Anyhow, all land (excepting in Texas) belongs to the state, and only in Texas can you get the Lodial Title.  The rest of us buy real estate - which means we buy what's on top of the land.  So since the land isn't ours, we're actually just renting it from the government, we have to abide by their rules and pay taxes (rent) to them on that land.  Pay taxes on your house, too, according to their assesment findings?  That's because your house is on THEIR land, and they can tax whatever's on their property.

Better yet, think when you buy your car and pay off the loan that you own it?  Wrong.  Each car comes with a "Manufacturer's Statement of Origin" (MSO).    It's the car's title.  The state is given the title for each car through a deal with the factories, and they microfische it and destroy the hard copy.  So when you buy a car and pay off the loan, you're given a "Certificate of Title"... which is like being given a gift certificate.  It only represents something... that you don't have.  Until you turn that certificate in for the MSO, you don't own that car... which is why you have to pay registration on the car to the state.  Because you're actually renting that car from the government, who has the title.  And don't bother trying to get the MSO - the state won't give them out, and even if it did, you would be hauled off to jail by the police for not having registration (and therefore no license) every time you went out on the road.  This is the way government binds people and controls them.  I didn't know THAT, either!

In order to be free, you have to jump through a WHOLE bunch of hoops, pay a TON of money, fight your hiney off, and then plan on being taken to jail on a regular basis... because the government wants to make you so miserable that you will comply just to have none of the hassle that goes along with freedom.  Wha.  What a total pain in the ass!  I never knew... and y'know, knowing kinda sucks.

As for priviledges, what's the difference?  A priviledge is something granted to you by a higher (Earthly) power that others don't have.  For example, your neighbor has a book.  It's not your right to touch that book unless your neighbor allows you to.  Then you've been given the priviledge to use the book.  They can revoke that priviledge at any time, because it revolves around property that belongs to them, not to you.  People often act like they have the right to health care.  But that care is someone else's to give, and your access to it is a priviledge, not a right.  They can revoke it at any time.  The same with education and with services of any kind.  If it isn't your property, you haven't got the right.  A priviledge is the exact opposite of a right.

Anyhow, that's what I learned from the first lesson.  Just wait until I get thru the next six...!