A Lesson In What It Means To Be An American Patriot.

Real U.S. patriots support Constitution over president
By Jess rivas

I received a lot of feedback on my recent column in which I argued that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez upholds the principles of the U.S. Constitution more than President Bush does. I based my argument as much on the absolute respect for all civil liberties that Chávez has shown as on Bush's countless constitutional violations.

I was not surprised that many people were not familiar with Chávez's true record because America's corporate media have done such a good job of misleading people about Venezuela.

What I found surprising, though, was that many people do not seem to know what is going on in this country. Bush has violated the Constitution; that is not an opinion, but a fact.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Bush has broken the law: spying, torture and torture camps, habeas corpus, just to mention a few instances.

It is important to remember that the Supreme Court is as far as you can get from being a group of ”Bush haters.“ In fact, they are some of the people (plus two of his cronies) who appointed him to the presidency. Their rulings cannot be construed as political attacks.

And apparently, for some Americans, it is not ”self-evident“ that ”Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.“ Such people think we should abide by the president's position even if it hurts the interests of the nation and violates the law.

I believe that defending the Constitution is the ultimate patriotic mandate for all Americans, no matter what they think of Bush or whoever occupies the White House at any given time.

In a well-functioning government, the legislative branch would balance the power of the executive, but Congress has taken acting as checks and balances off the table and placed the interest of political party ahead of the interest of the nation.

So, the people are being held hostage in a corrupt political system in which all branches of government have gone bad. What we often do not realize is that our laws do not limit us to seeking changes through the political systems.

The Declaration of Independence gives us a clear blueprint: ”That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends (life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness), it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.“

In other words, it is up to ”we the people“ to demand respect for the Constitution, with or without the help of the politicians.

Consider this quote from a famous freedom fighter: ”a little rebellion now and then is a good thing ... It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.“

He also said: ”God forbid there should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion ... The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.“

A ”constant state of rebellion“? These quotes are not from Ché Guevara; they are the words of Thomas Jefferson.

Times have changed, of course, and rebellions need no longer be violent, much less bloody. I certainly do not advocate any kind of violence. What is timeless in these quotes is Jefferson's conviction that rebellions are necessary as checks and balances for a government that may stray from its mandate.

We often talk about patriotism when it comes to starting wars and killing people of other colors, religions and ethnicities. It is time we use our patriotic sentiment to defend our country from its real enemies: the occupants of Washington who have kidnapped our democracy.

The real enemies are the people who have taken the country so far away from its original values that some people no longer know what those values are.

Jess A. Rivas of Somerset is an assistant professor at Somerset Community College. E-mail him at anaconda@prodigy.net.

Editor's comment: Hugo Chavez may -- or may not -- be a perfect example, but I think we should get the gist of what Jess Rivas refers to in this piece.