Obviously.

What? That’s not obvious to you? What they heck did they teach you kids in school? Can’t do math, can’t half read, can’t pay attention – How’d you end up worse than MY generation? Seriously, we grew up on Westerns and Tarzan, roaming the neighborhoods until dark, with permanently skinned knees, hyped on boatloads of sugar and watching way too much TV – we were supposed to be the space cases, not you kids!

Do yourselves a favor, try to raise your kids better than your idiot predecessors raised you. Otherwise, their nursing home picks are gonna be miserable!

Where were we? Oh yeah, why the Bill of Rights actually matters. I can’t believe we’re having this discussion but here we are. Let’s do this.

All that whiny self hatred those dolts that passed for educators taught you is made possible because we don’t shoot useless people. Legally, the government cannot have you shot for being so stupid you don’t know how to define ‘woman’. No, your generation will never live that down – Boomers are stuck with disco, so deal.

You only think I’m joking, but all those morons that rioted all over the place because of a single incident didn’t have the Army come in and clean house after LITERALLY committing insurrection (hint: taking US territory as your own is insurrection) because those rights are more important that a massive show of force against a bunch of idiots.

We do that when we go for law over military. We are a nation of laws, not men. I refuse to explain the general use of the masculine. If the word ‘men’ bothers you, you need counselling I’m not qualified to do. For the sane folks, yes, I think Portland has a LOT to answer for, but the Federal government made the right call to not nationalize the Oregon National Guard and go repeat Kent State. Letting a municipality get its stupidity out of its system is better than allowing any further Federal overreach.

I don’t agree with the protestors response – I think it was all out of proportion and totally insane – but who knows, maybe they’ll grow up, learn how to speak coherently and prove that they were in the right. Yeah, I doubt it too, but remember that Bill of Rights? Because it exists, they get the shot.

Because the Bill of Rights exists, they get a good shot at prison terms, too. Justice is supposed to be blind to who is before her – she’s not supposed to be a moron that lets the guilty walk free. Because the Bill of Rights exists, they get trials and defense attorneys at public expense. Because the Bill of Rights exists, they get the chance to prove their innocence – or at least explain themselves – in court. Because the Bill of Rights exists, cops can’t bust down every door in the neighborhood looking for them. Because the Bill of Rights exists the government has to PROVE them guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Because they were idiot enough to do that stuff on camera, the government is going to have a much easier time meeting that bar, but that’s what happens when you let arrogance and self righteousness replace respect and common sense.

The Bill of Rights assures that idiot though they are, they will get a fair trial. several appeals making danged sure and proportionate punishment. No shooting them and being done about it. No abusing them while they serve their sentences. They still get to pester their lawyers and even file creative and questionable motions to the courts themselves. They get to complain about the vegan non-options in the pizza selection. They can write their congressmen.

They get to say what they want. If they misuse that freedom they can be sued for defamation but even then, they get their day in court.

That’s a lot from ten little amendments.

But why is it important to the rest of the world, you ask? Simple, they rely on those rights, too. Canadians and Europeans both got a nasty wake up call in the wake of the panicdemic – they are used to being free to speak their minds but none of their countries have the First Amendment. They found out how shaky the ground can be when you don’t have the kind of strong protection the US enjoys.

Enjoys, and expects of others. A lot of support for the rights of those accused of speech crimes and those who had their liberty curtailed because of things they had said came from the American people. Social media wasn’t so pleasant when those governments found out that Americans are MUCH harder to shut up. We’re not only used to having our freedoms protected, we absolutely insist upon it.

I know, there’s a LOT wrong on that front here right now. But a lot went right. Our system is slow by design – which is always annoying – but it’s also very robust because it operates slower than the news cycle. Most states that attempted lockdowns abandoned them quickly – especially red states that couldn’t begin to take the political heat. Don’t get me wrong this is still very much in process – but that process is very much working for freedom, not against it.

Which came as a shock to most of the rest of the world. They know we’re weird; they weren’t ready for how fiercely we fight where our rights are concerned. It’s why the language about oppression resonates with even the pinkest haired goofball – Americans have the Bills of Rights just about in their DNA.

That spilt over big time – no amount of Big Tech censorship could stop it. Hard to say if it was being assailed by Americans or their own citizens realizing that their weirdo American friends were right and the resultant internal political assault from that, but most of Europe backed away from the worst of the anti-liberty insanity fairly fast. Not fast enough, but better than it would have been if those governments thought they could get away with it.

Governments are like two year olds – they yell no a lot and do anything they think won’t get them spanked.

It wasn’t the only reason – tanking your economy is a great way to get voted out in anything that has a functioning election system – but it was part of it.

Even nation-states that don’t enjoy our protections enjoy our influence. America has little patience with mistreating citizens on a national scale. No, I’m not saying we’re perfect in this regard – size human never is – but much more often than not, countries find that they need to come around to American sensibilities about personal rights and freedoms, especially if those countries want to trade with the US.

Soft power at its finest.

Which is why we as Americans have to safeguard those precious rights. Our men and women in uniform have bled for them; countless of our men have died for them. For that reason alone, we have no right to not protect those rights enshrined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, but we have even more responsibility. To ourselves and our posterity, as the Preamble explains, but more even than that.

The whole world looks at America and sees the lamp of freedom on a hill. Sometimes, the lady holding it up seems a bit too happy and sometimes let’s face it, she’s drunk, but always she stands for freedom.

We can’t give the world what we have. But we can show them how to make it for themselves. So long as we keep that lamp lit – so long as we are still willing to fight the long, boring, political and ever annoying battles that don’t make great stories, but do make for a great nation.

Even if she isn’t perfect.

But the rest of the world isn’t looking for perfection – they’re as human as we are and know better (well, once they are older than two). They are looking for freedom. What it is and how to own it for themselves.

If we can’t keep freedom for ourselves, they will never gain it. The adage is true. Freedom isn’t free.

But it is ours.