Everyone's Rights Deserve Protection

What is the most important amendment to The Constitution? 

With the exception of the 18th Amendment, which was repealed by the 21st--they are all important to ensuring the rights of the populace and the smooth operating of the government of the United States. 

Navy veteran praised as 'Captain Portland' after

 beating by federal officers during riots

Fox News

But, I would propose that the 4th Amendment is the lynchpin of rights and life in the United States.  Mind you, this is a personal opinion and I am open for discussion about this hypothesis--but without the protections from unreasonable search and seizure the ability for some of the other Amendments to secure our freedoms would be suspect.


Perhaps I am biased because have received repetitive training throughout my adult life about protecting the personal rights contained within the 4th Amendment. The 1st Amendment is nearly equally as important and protects many of the unique freedoms which form the basis for life within the U.S.; but the 4th Amendment is unique throughout most of the world and something that must be protected and jealously guarded. 

In the discussion of yesterday's blog on Facebook, I wrote something that my mind turned on overnight--I wrote about the un-Constitutional invasion of Portland by unidentified "police-like" forces of the Federal Government: If they violate anyone's rights, they violate everyone's rights. 

We must be aware of what is happening. An Op-Ed piece in The Washington Post put it into perspective for me this morning. The article begins:

In Portland, Ore., federal police use batons, tear gas and rubber bullets on moms in bicycle helmets. Unidentified federal officers, defying duly elected state and city leaders, throw civil rights demonstrators into unmarked vans without charges. President Trump’s acting homeland security secretary, Chad Wolf, says his agents “go out and proactively arrest individuals.”

That’s so much easier than waiting for people to do something illegal before you lock them up!

The administration justifies the extraordinary disregard of constitutional protections by calling the demonstrators “violent anarchists” who have made “efforts to start fires at the Hatfield Federal Courthouse.” Trump says that the demonstrators “hate our country” and that “we must protect Federal property.”

In Portland, despite what some would say, the majority are exercising their 1st Amendment rights and those arrested without cause are having their 4th Amendment rights abridged. Yes, admittedly, there are looters and rioters but the entire crows is not composed of them. It is the job of legal law enforcement to recognize the difference. 

The Washington Post Op-Ed contains an interesting paragraph which references the 2nd Amendment:

In Trump’s America, it seems, the First Amendment applies only to those exercising the Second Amendment. 

Previous societies have failed and fallen to authoritarian regimes when the majority of society believes it is acceptable to abridge someone's rights because they are not affecting my rights. 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD