Many libertarians are pleased that the Defense Department’s policy of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has been rescinded.
I am not one of them; in fact, I was hoping that DADT would be expanded in scope to cover every single means of categorizing people for differential treatment, and expanded in breadth to bring every single department and agency in government to heel.
The Fourth Amendment specifically prohibits government snooping: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.”
Don’t Ask.
And the Fifth Amendment specifically protects us from having to answer the government: “…nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself…”
Don’t Tell.
That is how liberty is supposed to work. They can’t ask about gender, race, age, sexual preference, religious affiliation, party membership, health status, disability, business ownership, housing status, occupation, income, charitable contributions, source of income, place of residence, firearm ownership, vehicle choice, diet, intoxicant choice, number of children, insurance status, travel destination, vaccination history, or smoking preference. But they do anyway.
They can’t ask us what’s in our home, our cars, our boats, our tackle boxes, our computers, our phones, our pads, our emails, our phone calls, our mail, our diaries, our health records, our checkbooks, our account balances, our businesses, our transaction histories, our bank boxes, our churches, our clubs, our land, our pockets, our purses, our shoes, or our briefcases. But they do anyway.
Given the tens of thousands of laws, statutes, ordinances, and regulations that exist, it is hard to imagine what might not be a potential criminal case these days. One day you are a freeman making guitars at Gibson, the next day you are a criminal for doing exactly the same thing. How do you think the government knew how many trucks to bring when they shut that factory down? Who was forced to fill out all the forms that told them? We are being beaten with our own belts.
Think for just a moment about all of the personal information that the government has already accumulated about you; imagine how much more they will learn when your health records are “consolidated” under ObamaCare. We worry that identity theft may allow criminals to ruin our lives, yet they can access only a fraction of the information the Nannycrats in government have at their disposal. Membership in the entitlement society is not free; the cover charge is your liberty, the rent is your privacy, and the dues are collected in pride.
Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution lists the specific things that the federal government is empowered to do. Section 9 lists things the government is explicitly prohibited from doing. Section 10 prohibits the states from doing things we have assigned to the federal government, and the Ninth and Tenth Amendments prohibit the federal government from doing things reserved for the states and for the people. It is not complicated; unless, of course, you are a liberal judge.
Nowhere in the Constitution is the government permitted to ask without a specific cause and warrant, and everywhere we are protected from self-revelation. The whole document is a job description for a servant government, one who respects its masters’ privacy and keeps its own mouth shut. The meanings of the words in that job description are plain; it is just that they mean things that people who seek unlimited government power to advance their own agendas wish weren’t in there.
Go get your copy of the Constitution and read Article I, Section 8 again to see if you can find a single one of those enumerated powers that would require the government to profile us in order to do their job. Why would the feds need to track the calibers, serial numbers and clip capacities of our handguns – to maintain Postal roads?
The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy was enacted to protect the rights of homosexuals who wished to serve in the military. DADT is the same policy that is applied to heterosexuals everywhere - except when your wife is trying to set up one of her girlfriends with your buddy who hates football, takes his shoes off in the house without asking, and wears socks that match his sweaters.
“Must Ask, Must Tell” is not the relationship between the citizens and their government that was envisioned by the framers of the Constitution. And that pesky little Constitution is the only thing standing between you and the people who wish to deprive you of your liberty in the name of their “public good”. Every abuse of power ever undertaken was justified by some noble-sounding public purpose.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell will forever go down in the lexicon as a symbol of discrimination, and that is indeed unfortunate. It should be the battle cry of a new generation committed to restore the liberty their parents squandered in a fool’s trade for the empty promises of an entitlement society whose benefits are unaffordable and a security apparatus that only keeps military spending safe.
“Moment Of Clarity” is a weekly commentary by Libertarian writer and speaker Tim Nerenz, Ph.D. Visit Tim’s website www.timnerenz.com to find your moment.
The Fourth Amendment specifically prohibits government snooping: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.”
Don’t Ask.
And the Fifth Amendment specifically protects us from having to answer the government: “…nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself…”
Don’t Tell.
That is how liberty is supposed to work. They can’t ask about gender, race, age, sexual preference, religious affiliation, party membership, health status, disability, business ownership, housing status, occupation, income, charitable contributions, source of income, place of residence, firearm ownership, vehicle choice, diet, intoxicant choice, number of children, insurance status, travel destination, vaccination history, or smoking preference. But they do anyway.
They can’t ask us what’s in our home, our cars, our boats, our tackle boxes, our computers, our phones, our pads, our emails, our phone calls, our mail, our diaries, our health records, our checkbooks, our account balances, our businesses, our transaction histories, our bank boxes, our churches, our clubs, our land, our pockets, our purses, our shoes, or our briefcases. But they do anyway.
Given the tens of thousands of laws, statutes, ordinances, and regulations that exist, it is hard to imagine what might not be a potential criminal case these days. One day you are a freeman making guitars at Gibson, the next day you are a criminal for doing exactly the same thing. How do you think the government knew how many trucks to bring when they shut that factory down? Who was forced to fill out all the forms that told them? We are being beaten with our own belts.
Think for just a moment about all of the personal information that the government has already accumulated about you; imagine how much more they will learn when your health records are “consolidated” under ObamaCare. We worry that identity theft may allow criminals to ruin our lives, yet they can access only a fraction of the information the Nannycrats in government have at their disposal. Membership in the entitlement society is not free; the cover charge is your liberty, the rent is your privacy, and the dues are collected in pride.
Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution lists the specific things that the federal government is empowered to do. Section 9 lists things the government is explicitly prohibited from doing. Section 10 prohibits the states from doing things we have assigned to the federal government, and the Ninth and Tenth Amendments prohibit the federal government from doing things reserved for the states and for the people. It is not complicated; unless, of course, you are a liberal judge.
Nowhere in the Constitution is the government permitted to ask without a specific cause and warrant, and everywhere we are protected from self-revelation. The whole document is a job description for a servant government, one who respects its masters’ privacy and keeps its own mouth shut. The meanings of the words in that job description are plain; it is just that they mean things that people who seek unlimited government power to advance their own agendas wish weren’t in there.
Go get your copy of the Constitution and read Article I, Section 8 again to see if you can find a single one of those enumerated powers that would require the government to profile us in order to do their job. Why would the feds need to track the calibers, serial numbers and clip capacities of our handguns – to maintain Postal roads?
The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy was enacted to protect the rights of homosexuals who wished to serve in the military. DADT is the same policy that is applied to heterosexuals everywhere - except when your wife is trying to set up one of her girlfriends with your buddy who hates football, takes his shoes off in the house without asking, and wears socks that match his sweaters.
“Must Ask, Must Tell” is not the relationship between the citizens and their government that was envisioned by the framers of the Constitution. And that pesky little Constitution is the only thing standing between you and the people who wish to deprive you of your liberty in the name of their “public good”. Every abuse of power ever undertaken was justified by some noble-sounding public purpose.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell will forever go down in the lexicon as a symbol of discrimination, and that is indeed unfortunate. It should be the battle cry of a new generation committed to restore the liberty their parents squandered in a fool’s trade for the empty promises of an entitlement society whose benefits are unaffordable and a security apparatus that only keeps military spending safe.
“Moment Of Clarity” is a weekly commentary by Libertarian writer and speaker Tim Nerenz, Ph.D. Visit Tim’s website www.timnerenz.com to find your moment.
