I love the European constitution. The document which has thoroughly divided Europe, was drafted and endorsed by the pea brains that run these countries and may, or may not, pertain to reality. In it, government attempt to safeguard certain rights. My favorite article shows they are kind, caring and pretend to be concerned about human kind.
Part 2: The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the Union
Title 2 : Freedoms
Article II-70
Freedom of thought, conscience and religion
How very kind that they wish to protect our freedom of thought. George Orwell’s Thought Police spring to mind. If there was one basic right I would want protected, Freedom of Thought would be it. But why would it even be mentioned? One could ask “How could they protect it?” But in reality, How can they prevent it? To date, thoughts cannot be intercepted. They cannot be monitored. As much as they would like to, governments have not yet introduced the Thought Police. So it worries me, that this constitution sets out to protect this “freedom”. If a government takes it upon themselves to “grant” rights, then logically they would retain the power to revoke those rights. Granting a citizen certain rights actually gives power to the government. The Government giveth and the government taketh away. There hundreds of examples of governments changing the laws. They can change them because they made them up in the first place.
Now let’s take a look at a situation which proves the point. Guantanamo Bay, Camp X Ray. The United States Constitution guarantees it’s citizens’ a right to a fair and speedy trail. No incarceration without due process of the law. The right to legal representation. None of these apply to the prisoners at Camp X Ray. If it’s good enough for Americans, and the American government wishes to spread their style democracy throughout the world (whether the targeted countries want it or not) why does it only apply to Americans? Is the American system only great for Americans and not foreigners? Does it only apply to people who murder less than, say 25 other people. And it does not apply to plotting terrorists or people who murder more than 25 people at one time? I thought the US constitution was such a great protection of human rights that it should be applied straight across the board. Moving prisoners to Cuba and saying that US law does not apply there shows serious flaws in the US constitution and the Bill of Rights. All men are created equal goes out the window as well. This behavior demonstrates that some of the most basic protection rights should not apply to all people. All American servicemen and women are sworn to protect the constitution of the United States ( I know, I was one) against all enemies, foreign and domestic. America needs to look at rewriting the Constitution. I use this as an example as proof that if a government grants people certain rights, the will maintain the power to revoke those rights.
So this question becomes irrelevant. Yes, people should have certain rights protected. But it’s never going to happen when it is the government granting those rights, thus maintaining the power to abolish those rights. And if the European Constitution fails to get recognized for the literary piece of crap that it is, and gets passed into law, I’m sure I’ll sleep better at night knowing my thoughts may go where they want to. For the time being
