Fragile Freedom

We talk a great deal of our rights as we define and then redefine them for our present age and way of thinking.  This is not necessarily something that is new. It did not just suddenly start with the Emancipation Proclamation or Universal Suffrage, it did not begin with the Civil Rights Movement, the Warren Court or the Civil Rights Act. No, this has been something that we have discussed, debated, and even go to war over. Since before there was an American nation and an American people, before the Republic was born and the institutions of it came into being we have talked about our rights, at times even struggling with the theory versus the practical experience with them. But what is the American tradition of rights and where did the Bill of Rights come from? The truth? To truly appreciate our rights, and understand what they are and what they mean. We need to study them so that we can truly appreciate them. We need to do this from a perspective that transcends just our modern age and our modern understanding