Why I fight

My objection lies not in the registry, but in the ex-post-facto application of new rules, regulations, and punishment to the registry. However, at the same time, tracking all those who have different registry requirements as the laws change would be prohibitive for law enforcement, and thus unenforceable.

To extend this, the problem lies in the fact that it is a blanket law, and a blanket registry, not fully subject to the judiciary and jury, which is a direct denial of specific legal rights.

The way I see it, there are specific guarantees under human rights issues, as well as civil rights. We get so caught up in civil rights that we only see the amendments to the Constitution, rather than the codicils that were built in under common law. In addition, we tend to blind ourselves to the histories and natures of the constitutional argument.

That's ignoring the parallels to a certain European country in the 1930s-1940s, which it has gotten to be a losing argument to bring up, regardless of how accurate your information is.

Thing is, these rights are not granted by the constitution. They never could be. Just as those powers could not be grasped by the government save for the acquiescence of the people. Further, the permission of the people had to be that of all of the people. The Several guarantees, under the constitution, were for the equal treatment of all people, and the recognition of those rights.

These rights were recognized as innate rights, just as those we term as 'civil' rights were at the time of the Constitution. Such was the nature of the original constitution, that not all those rights could be listed, and it would be silly to list the right to walk down the street, or the right to wear a hat. It would be equally silly to list the right to breathe, or the right to seek housing and food.

This is the nature of substantiative due process, it deals with the 'substance' of the law, as compared to procedural due process which deals with the 'procedure' of the law.

We've lost so much in the knowledge of what our rights are.... that I feel it's time to enumerate the most important.

We have the right to freedom of expression.. and the corresponding duty to temper that right where it might affect others. (libel, and slander, and the 'fire in the theater' example)

We have the right to travel without limitation or restriction, upon public roads and highways, without regard to legal status, color, race, religion, or any other separation.

We have the right to freedom of association, and freedom of speech and thought. You cannot be jailed, nor tried simply for your associations, though your actions regarding those associations can be, and are culpable.

You have the right to freedom of belief and religion, insofar as that right does not attack the rights and freedoms of others (I.e. you can speak, promote your religion, but you cannot attack others religions using it, nor can you use it to quell free speech, quell the due process of law, nor destroy any other right with it, including life, liberty, or property)

You have the right to question the government, (and even the duty to do so) and the right to petition for the redress of grievances against that government. (So long as that redress is proportional to the injustice involved within the grievance)

You have the right to trial by jury, including the right to jury nullification, according to the Zenger and Bushell trials, and the Federalist Papers. Further, this right extends to the argument of law in front of the jury, though the argument of evidence may be done out of sight, due to the exclusion arguments automatically revealing that which is to be excluded from the jury.

Links to Jury Nullification:
http://www.foundingfathers.info/federalistpapers/fed83.htm
[quote]It will add great weight to this remark, in relation to prize causes, to mention that the method of determining them has been thought worthy of particular regulation in various treaties between different powers of Europe, and that, pursuant to such treaties, they are determinable in Great Britain, in the last resort, before the king himself, in his privy council, where the fact, as well as the law, undergoes a re-examination.[/quote]
[quote]This is jurisdiction of both fact and law; nor is it even possible to separate them. Though the common-law courts of this State ascertain disputed facts by a jury, yet they unquestionably have jurisdiction of both fact and law; and accordingly when the former is agreed in the pleadings, they have no recourse to a jury, but proceed at once to judgment[/quote]
[url]http://www.isil.org/resources/lit/history-jury-null.html[/url]

You have the right to equal treatment under the law: I.e. the right to not have targeted legislation. This right is upheld in all cases of law, including federal, state, local, and county law. This right is of two parts... selective legislation, and selective enforcement. If one passes a law attacking a particular class of individuals (I.e. attacking college freshmen, for instance) it is selective legislation. If the attack is a selective enforcement, it is going after a selected class, without going after an equally dangerous or more dangerous class that is friendly toward the enforcing agency.
http://www.foundingfathers.info/federalistpapers/fed57.htm

We have the right to free travel, including interstate, and international travel, according to international law and treaty. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (strongly authored and influenced by Elanor Roosevelt) guarantees this right, and further, it is part of the reason for the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution. (New York and a nearby state were in a tiff a the time, and using tariffs and limitations on travel as economic weapons. This also occurred at the beginning of the Civil War, limitations on economic travel and effective tariffs on the goods in the Southern States.)

You have the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt, and declared guilty by a jury of your peers. This ensures the full application of the jury, and full argument before the jury. In a criminal case, there must be an absolute certanty that the person is guilty, and that the law is valid, prior to the presentation of a punishment for an act against society.

You have the right to work toward a home, or other property, and no man has the right to deny you such. Economic reasons may prevent it, our own actions may prevent it, but nobody can take that for which you have worked, save by due process of law, and the full application of that law.

You have the right to security of your possessions, your person, and your family. No person can take away your home (via Civil Forfeiture), nor can they take away a family member save for crimes done by that family member.

You have the right to be judged on your own actions, and not those of any other person. Guilt by association is not a presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Further, if any class is judged guilty until proven innocent, the entirety of jurisprudence falls. We have the right to ague our innocence, as well as to remain absolutely silent, as often anything we say is used against us in a court of law... even if it is absolutely truthful.

You have the right to privacy (though our 'loving' congress has been doing everything they can to remove this right). This right was, and is guaranteed, under the searches and seizure clauses of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. This right to privacy was enshrined largely because of the Magna Carta, and the British habit of marching into homes, ransacking them, inspecting everything there to look for crimes, and in some cases creating them for civil forfeiture, as well as for criminal charges.

You have the right to vote. For no reason was this right to be removed from any citizen, save the reason of commission of treason against the Federal Government. No person could be denied this by Federal Law.

You have the right to protect yourself. You have the right to defend yourself, your home, and your community, and this right goes one step further into a duty to do the above.

You have the right to state that an action done to you was wrong, and more, to remonstrate for the remediation of that wrong.

You have the right to enjoy public places, without limitation, so long as you do so lawfully and do not remove the rights of others.

You have the right to remain free of the harassment of others. No man has a right to harass.

You have the right to prevent self-incrimination, and the commitant right to not name those who would incriminate you in a criminal trial.

You have, further, the right to contract, and the enforcement of that contract as a civil statute, for the redress of grievances done under contract, tort, or escrow law.

You have the right to restitution for properties seized under Eminent Domain, and restitution equivalent to the fair market value of that land.

You have the traditional right to request to speak on the floor of the Congress, though this has been limited in recent years.

You have the right to the restoration of those 'civil' rights at the end of the term of your sentence, as, up until 1933, all rights were restored automatically at the end of one's sentence. (Another Omnibus Crime Act)

You have the right to self-determination. This right is limited in that such self-determination must not remove the same from others. In other words, murder is verboten, simply because of the recognition of the rights of others.

You further have the right to make choices as will determine your health and future prosperity, and the right to suffer by those decisions should they be wrong.

You have the right to do whatever you want... so long as you accept society's right to stop you if that steps on the rights of others.

You have the right to make economic decisions, and bear the burden of poor choices.

Up until the credit companies lobbied congress, you also had the right to bankruptcy, every seven years, to clear out extortionate debt.

You had the right to not be charged money for being loaned money, (usury)

All these rights, and not an exhaustive list.

For instance, most do not realize that they have the right to challenge the law as presented by the police, and as presented by the prosecutor.

We have the right to express reservations against a contract, as well as to not be placed under duress in the contract.

We have the right to protect ourselves from extortion. This includes extortion under the color of law.

I could go on for hours. All these rights were once recognized, they were thought so innate that no man even bothered listing them.

Our rights end where another's begins. Some rights are commingled with other's rights. Some extend and increase the rights of others, and of ourselves, some of those rights limit our rights, and those of others.

But they are rights, independent of the government, independent of anything but your existence as a human being.

The place where society comes in, is in the recognition of those rights of others, and the embrasure of them, in order to complete, and preserve, the rights of all.

This is the nature of wisdom. It is personal responsibility, for one's own actions, and the several and collective responsibility for those with whom you choose to group.

And that's what we've forgotten. We do not need the laws as they stand, so long as we remember that the rights of others are just as important as our own. It is the purpose of law to remind us of the rights of others. It is the balance of justice, wherein the proper punishment is levied, and mercy, wherein the facts and law of the case are tried, and mitigating factors associated. These are the sides of the balance of justice... and justice must be balanced with mercy, and part of that mercy is rehabilitation, and the opportunity for such.

So long as there is any class of persons, that are subject to unequal treatment under the law, these rights cannot be recognized.

That is why I argue for the repeal of laws, and the restoration of rights for all persons, not just offenders. It's giving back personal responsibility to the citizens of the country. Giving them back the right to try, dream, climb, fall, and suffer for their actions... but also the right to have an end to their mistakes. it is the right to be free, and the right to live, love, experience... and be human.