AMENDMENT TO THE PREAMBLE TO THE BILL OF RIGHTS

To:  U.S. Congress

This is a petition to amend The Preamble to the Bill of Rights. My reason for initiating this action is to once and for all affirm a fact that needs to be acknowledged and addressed. We are all too familiar with the spate of frivolous law suits in this country. With the strident voices demanding rights at every turn and asserting that almost anything and everything is a violation of their rights and with no less than the epitome of a good idea gone bad, the ACLU, chorusing along with such anarchists. The reality of fact that needs to be stated is this. In a democratic society each and every citizen has an inherent responsiblity and obligation to make certain that...., in exercising their individual rights they do not trample on the rights of others. Freedom of speech, as an example, does not..., nor was it ever intended by the founding fathers to convey free and unrestricted license to express oneself in any manner one desires. To do so begets anarchistic behavior and would be self-destructive of the society as a whole. One must consider the feelings of others, the general public and community standards and a myriad of other concerns. This is NOT done now and the Supreme Court, charged with interpreting the laws of the land has shown a marked pattern towards abusing that almost sacred obligation in favor of making or influencing social/societal policy. If this problem is not addressed I fear that the abuse of the Bill of Rights we have been seeing, in this once great Nation, will continue...unimpeeded to the point at which we will no longer recognize or be able to discern the original intent of the writers of our own Constitution.

To this end, I have included a copy of the Preamble to The Bill of Rights below. My amendment is that content included, in parenthesis, as a separate paragraph.
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The Preamble to The Bill of Rights
Congress of the United States
begun and held at the City of New-York, on
Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine.

THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.

(And, it is our intent to indicate that in this constitutional republic, formed on democratic principles and the rule of the majority, to state that there is an obligation to acknowledge that there is an inherent responsibility of citizens when exercising their rights not to abuse or trample upon the rights of others.)

RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz.

ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.
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To many this may seem insignificant, but it is anything but. This is a single sentence that would have far-reaching effect. The Courts rule based on strict constitutional interpretation and precedents established. This would go a long way towards imposing an obligation on them that would restrict their ability to engage in social engineering and; simultaneously, give them a tool to link responsibility to rights, something that is NOT done now. I urge you to send this off to all your friends and family and ask them to do the same. Such action is what people through the years have died for. The freedom and right to assert one's civic responsibility. Make no mistake about it. This is no partisan issue! This society has changed radically in the last 20 or so years and is ever so subtlely slipping down the road to the dungpile of anarchy, from whence there is NO RETURN! We MUST establish a linkage between RIGHTS and RESPONSIBILITY....NOW!

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The AMENDMENT TO THE PREAMBLE TO THE BILL OF RIGHTS Petition to U.S. Congress was created by and written by Robert I. Weiss (bobweiss@verizon.net).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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