Does the Bill of Rights of the United States really guarantee our liberties? The Bill of Rights was created to limit the FEDERAL government's powers. As such, it it does not apply to the states, per se, except as a good example of what a state constitution should include. The purpose of the federal government is to create a union so that the states can do together that which would be difficult or impossible to do separately, i.e., protection against invasion, present a united front to deal with foreign nations, establish an economic union. .
Somewhere along the line, the federal government bestowed upon itself the responsibility of protecting our rights-with disastrous consequences. When the federal government got into the business of dictating how the states related to their citizens on the issues of rights, it opened the door for them to control the states on other issues.
To put this in perspective, let's look at the meaning of the word "state" and the word "union". A "state" is an autonomous political unit, with its own laws, and is subject to its citizens. A "union" is an alliance of political entities for mutual benefit. These days, states are treated more as counties, subject to the federal government, when in fact the states should be more or less sovereign, with the only concessions made to the Federal government being those necessary for the accomplishment of the purposes of the union. .
This is not to say that our rights shouldn't be protected by law.I am just saying that that responsibility is squarely on the shoulders of the state, to be included in the respective state constitutions. We have lost a lot of our fights for freedom because we have been duped into fighting them at the national level-and those fights don't belong there. We would have a much better chance of winning these battles if we pursued them in the state legislatures. For example, when the cause for the right to concealed carry was taken to the state legislatures, we actually won in several states.
