What can we do with a government that violates its own Constitution?

Question

We have freedom of religion-- so long as we don't violate the Secular Humanist religious tenets currently in command of the USA. Anti-Abortion activists are put in prison for exercising free speech! Parents are separated from their children for _spanking_ them! Students AND teachers are punished for mentioning God in the classroom, despite court permission to do so, and gov't bureaucrats are fired even for having a _closed_ bible on their desks! The gov't didn't LIKE what was going on at Waco, so what did they do? They KILLED everyone! Does that sound like freedom to you??? Government is supposed to SERVE its citizens, not circumscribe and imprison them. Yet somehow, a greater percentage of Americans are rotting in prison today than in ANY other country in the world. Something is desperately wrong with this government, yet no one is speaking out about it. Doesn't anyone care anymore?

Answer 1

You found the problem yourself: no one cares. As long as they have their McDonald's and can go home and watch trash on TV, why should they care that people are being marginalized or killed in other parts of the country, let alone the world?

What can we do? Get the word out. Make people care. This doesn't mean you have to go to rallies or protests. Talk to people you know and care about. Get them interested in the issues that you are interested in. We need to wake America up, one person at a time.

Answer 2

Freedom is a mask for a much more complicated system. In actuality..if we were truly free, we would be able to do anything we wanted. The problem lies in the issue of "offending someone"....if you take offense to what someone says, then you have a severe psychologicl problem that no law can remedy. If someone uses a racial slur, we need to realize that our lives have not changed at all dude to what some a$$ has said. If someone smokes a cigarette in a restaurant, we are NOT going to die. If someone smokes a joint in the privacy of their own home...it doesnt affect anyone....if they say %#$%^ on TV, our kids are not going to worship satan. This country instead, will let a pedophile free on the streets, a murderer out on bail and a rapist work around women. We need to stop oppressing the things that dont hurt people and start oppressing the things that DO.

Answer 3

Your question reveals a very strong bias to begin with. However, let me attempt to answer your question anyway.
Firstly, your main "headline question" depends on what your specific interpretation of the Constitution is. There are those who believe the Government has violated the Constitution, but in a completely different way to how you feel. Others don't feel the Constitution has been violated at all.
Most of your examples are on an extreme end of their individual spectra. Most of the time, people make protests or rallies for their causes (both for and against abortion, to keep with your example), and never run afowl of the law. I won't pretend to know the facts of any specific case you have in mind for any of the examples you stated, so I cannot refute most of your comments. I would say that a vast majority of the prisoners in our prisons are there legitimately for violation of specific laws. Even including Guantanamo, a small percentage of our prisoners could even loosely be described as "political prisoners."
My opinion of what happened in Waco, TX is different from yours. I agree that what happened to the people was tragic, and probably avoidable. But it could have been stopped long before the point it reached if their leader had surrendered himself to authorities when they first came peacefully to arrest him. There was plenty of evidence of some seriously bad stuff beyond religion happening inside those buildings. But I'm not debating that point. You and I have different opinions, and that's OK.
The main point being that if the citizens of the USA don't like what's happening in their Government (at any or all levels), they have themselves to blame, collectively speaking. If we want to change something, we need to get involved. That's where our Government's structure has its power. It's not out of reach. We just have to stop being apathetic to and ignorrant of what's going on. We also have to educate ourselves to the processes and the rules that govern the Government so that we know what we're doing, what we're talking about, and how to fix it.

Answer 4

Religion has no place in government .. sorry , abortion activists are often times terrorists that bomb and snipe doctors and clinic workers.. that's not freedom of speech that's theocratic despotism.. The industrial Prison complex is a profit earner for private interests and as such is now an industry rather than a system that's held accountable.. no we are slipping backwards daily.. but before you take the rope out remember that it begins with a voice and maybe it's yours... Don't give up !

Answer 5

You just don't get it do you.religion has no business in government. Abortion while a poor means of birth control is and should be legal. We have a great country and a great constitution do not try to read something into it that isn't. We have a government of, by, and for the people still even though in the last 6 years we have had no checks and ballance in the system but we will survive it.

Answer 6

The plain truth is that the USA government has never being a democratic or godly government, although its laws are patterned after the Bible. When it comes to democracy, the US only appears democratic as long has one neither question nor say anything that matters! The USA government always flows with he/she that has the means, regardless.

What to do? Inform others and take a stand. Hypocrisy or a double standard should never be rewarded.

Answer 7

People are trying to do something about it. The problem is, Each group does best if they concentrate on just one thing. Thus it takes many groups of active participation by many people. And here in lies the biggest problem of all. Too many people fighting amongst themselves and complaining, instead of grouping together and actively participating in making things change. Which is perfectly obvious just by reading what mostly young people have to say on this site. Young people who really don't even have a clue what they're even arguing about!

Answer 8

Vote it out of office. Read the decleration of Independence closely, and then the constitution, then take up you responsibility as a citizen & get invovled to change things.

Answer 9

Bob Marley.

Answer 10

Well, it is certainly more free than a lot of other countries, some other cultures think they have freedom in which, threy're not