However, those who did vote against those amendments and bill may have done so for reasons other than constitutional ones. As a matter of fact many of the same folks who voted against these actions have also voted for government spending and intrusions into the lives of individuals on other matters such as health care, education, and retirement. There appears to be no consistency in those who take an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

The stem cell research bill that President Bush recently vetoed would have allowed for federal funding of such activity. The gay marriage and American flag burning constitutional amendments would have made it a crime for two individuals of the same gender to be married and to destroy the American flag.

Any law restricting the speech of any individual is strictly forbidden by the United States Constitution. Speech can take the shape of many forms including action. The United States Constitution also does not authorize spending by the federal government for any research except possibly military. The common denominator in these three areas as well as all areas where government involves itself is the use of government force to control the individual.

Government is instituted to protect the individual’s right to express himself any way he wishes, not to control him. Hence, the reason for the United States Constitution in the first place; to control the power of government officials so they do not violate the individual’s right to freely express himself. Hence, also the reason why individuals must possess the right to their property to do with as they choose and restrict government officials from dictating what individuals can and cannot do with it.

One has every right to conduct stem cell research, marry someone of the same gender, or burn a flag, in other words, express one’s self, so long as it is done without coercion and one uses his own legitimately obtained property. Likewise, one who does not support stem cell research, desires only to marry another of the opposite gender, or likes the idea of protecting the American flag can also use one’s own legitimately obtained property to support those activities as well. The very idea of free speech is what America stands for and for which individuals have given their lives.

In the same vein, the United States Constitution prohibits government from making laws requiring individuals and businesses to provide wage and health benefits to any type of family. Individuals and businesses, however, can freely decide whether or not to provide such benefits. The right of free speech is something that exists simultaneously among all individuals imposing no obligation on another. Individuals and businesses, through the use of their private property, dictate what speech will and will not be heard. In other words, government officials are not to stick their noses into the lives of individuals.

Government officials exist to make sure that every individual has the opportunity, without government restriction, to live the way he or she desires without one individual forcing himself or his beliefs onto another. Government officials are especially not to impose their own beliefs onto others, another reason for the existence of the United States Constitution and its restrictions upon government officials.

Less animosity and more individual liberty exists when private individuals and businesses control speech with the use of their property and when government officials stick to preserving, protecting, and defending the United States Constitution, the oath they took when they were elected.

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