GUEST EDITORIAL: Bill of Rights is reminder to reduce government
WASHINGTON - On Dec. 15 libertarians celebrated Bill of Rights Day.
On Dec. 15, 1791 the Bill of Rights was ratified, creating the first Ten Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
The Libertarian Party platform expressly supports the Bill of Rights and calls for restoring our freedoms lost as a result of laws passed in violation of the Constitution by Democratic and Republican politicians.
The Bill of Rights guarantees important individual freedoms and restrains the powers of the federal government. Among them, our rights to free speech, self-defense and justice. These restraints were later extended to the states with the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
Democrats and Republicans regularly violate the Bill of Rights, especially the Tenth Amendment which states that the powers of the federal government are strictly limited to those enumerated in Article 1, section 8 of the Constitution - a short list which stands in stark contrast to the incalculably long list of functions comprised by today's Big Government.
Presidents, Senators and Representatives in Congress have long violated the Bill of Rights by continually expanding federal power far beyond what is allowed by the Tenth Amendment and by trampling on due process, privacy protections, free speech and freedom of the press.
Let this Bill of Rights Day serve as a reminder to all Americans of the task before us: We must dramatically downsize Big Government to limit the federal government to those powers articulated in Article 1 section 8 of the Constitution and to move as quickly as possible towards the full repeal of every law that violates the Bill of Rights.
The Libertarian Party plays a critical role in this task by fielding candidates who, unlike either Democrats or Republicans, genuinely and consistently uphold the Constitution. A vote for a small government Libertarian is a vote to restore the Bill of Rights.
The Libertarian Party is America's third-largest political party, founded in 1971.