The purpose of this essay is to share with my concern about our progressive loss of genuine Constitutional Rights in America. My comments are general in nature and I am not in this essay suggesting any particular legislation. My intent is to encourage you to be sensitive to the very real problem which we face in the progressive loss of Constitutional Rights. So many issues are difficult ones and are disguised in such a way that the loss of Constitutional Rights is obscured. One recent example is Utah's statewide issue #5 in 1998. Voters were led, in sympathy for wildlife, to make it more difficult to conduct the initiative process. With the passage of issue #5, I believe the issue of greater concern is that the people will find it more difficult to petition government, a right that is provided for in Amendment 1 of the US Constitution.

Some months ago I was asked to instruct a group of Boy Scouts in the Citizenship in the Nation Merit Badge. As I reviewed with them the first 10 amendments to the Constitution (The Bill of Rights), I asked the boys why it is important to know and understand these rights. The immediate answer was, "So that no one will take those rights away." We then proceeded to review each amendment and ask whether they are being challenged today. Both the boys and I were astonished at the many real and obvious ways in which our rights are being challenged, distorted and lost. The following are just a few examples that the boys and I came up with:

Amendment 1:

A. Students at local high schools have been kept from offering prayers at their graduation ceremonies.
B. The initiative process is becoming increasingly difficult.

Amendment 2:

A. Federal, state and local laws are becoming increasingly complex, making it difficult to own firearms.
B. The required registration of firearms sets the stage for hostile tyrants to easily overcome opposition.

Amendment 4:

A. Frequent searches are made by police without warrant by the assumption of 'probable cause'.

Amendment 5:

A. The lives of unborn children are taken without due process of law. These are human beings with human genetic structure, who show evidence of voluntary action, and who have active brain waves with reflex to pain and comfort.
B. Laws have been distorted so as to limit personal liberty, such as ever increasing amounts of professional licensing in order to hold employment.
C. Foreign treaties for 'World Wilderness Areas' are forcing eviction from personal property. The United States Government has placed selected portions of American soil under control of foreign entities which do not share American values. One example is the placement of certain federal parks under United Nations control
D. The Constitutional right to property is distorted by taxing property. Whereas other forms of taxation do not threaten a person's right to property, property tax places a person in jeopardy of losing a lifetime of work and savings if repeated annual taxes on the same article cannot be paid.
E. The Internal Revenue Service deprives citizens of property without due process of law.

Amendment 6:

A. Long and protracted trials have taxed the resources of both state and defendants with the effect of lining the pockets of those in the legal profession.

Amendment 10:

A. Local communities and individuals have lost rights of self determinations to the Federal Government and to the States in such areas as education, right to work, and the ability to keep communities free from predatory practices. In the name of 'liberty, freedom and Constitutional Rights', predatory practices like the sale of pornography, gambling, the sale of drugs and homosexual activities, are being protected and thereby forced upon local communities.

For those who read the Constitution and reflect upon its contents, concern about its survival (in light of current conditions) should be spontaneous.

I ask that legislators be particularly careful with legislation and stand in defense of 'genuine' Constitutional Rights. I emphasize the word 'genuine' because I believe that predatory practices should not be protected.