🚀 go-pugleaf

In <1992Nov4.191531.17572@spider.co.uk> paulq@spider.co.uk (Paul Qualtrough) writes:

>What?!?!  Has the land of truth, justice and cotton fields done away with
>the standard swearing-in phrase of "...the truth, the _whole_ truth, and
>nothing but the truth" which, if agreed to, implies that you must testify
>"against yourself" if some part of the truth is incriminating?

>I'm not saying the idea is good or bad, but without a real knowlege of your
>constitution, I doubt that there's going to be a strong case for challenging
>such a law if passed from a constitutional standpoint.

I'm sure a bunch of people will jump on this one. I'm posting rather than
mailing, since the info should be of interest to everyone outside the U.S.A.

The written U.S. Constitution is the essence of what makes the U.S.A. a far
safer democracy than the U.K., and by far the freest country in the world.
It is a truly magnificent document. A lot of the "countries-of-the-month" that
keep springing up have adopted various ideas from it. But as the discussion
in sci.crypt shows, it's not enough to merely have words on paper. People must
understand the words and stand ready to protect their liberties.

The applicable section is the "5th Amendment", which was part of the first
ten amendments, the "Bill of Rights", ratified about two years after the
Constitution itself. The Bill of Rights was written specifically to convince 
skeptical people that the government couldn't become a tyranny.

It's a historical accident, but I think the fact that the Bill of Rights
was adopted separately from the Constitution itself is a great thing. The
Bill of Rights doesn't give the government any powers. All it does is
*prohibit* the government from doing many things.

The U.S. Constitution is "the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every
State shall be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitution or laws of any State
to the contrary notwithstanding."

Here is the 5th amendment:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime,
unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising
in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time
of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense
to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any
criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property
be taken for public use, without just compensation.

-----

I don't want to sound too maudlin about it, but many, many people have fought
and died to defend the ideals represented by the Bill of Rights.