Dear Friend,
One thing is definitely clear: in a day and age when the government poses increasingly dire threats to our freedoms, Americans need to stop rallying around political parties and start rallying around the Constitution. Liberty is a fragile commodity. People must be informed about their rights, realizing that democracy is not self-executing. And we have to do it together.
Not long after the 9/11 attacks, Congress passed the USA Patriot Act, which effectively took away certain protections guaranteed to American citizens in the Bill of Rights. The Patriot Act, however, is merely one more link in a chain of control that has been building for years and is effectively enhancing the power of government. In fact, the government keeps close tabs on nearly everything we do. This ranges from government tracking of everyone who travels on an airplane to FBI agents visiting homes of ordinary citizens who are targeted by local police as free speech protesters to invasive, detailed census forms that demand to know everything about us.
A national ID card looms in the near future. Cameras are now positioned on street corners and in public schools to watch over us and our children. This is what Matthew Brzezinski in his book Fortress America calls “the surveillance state.” In fact, there are very few things that are really private matters anymore as the government seeks to know the most intimate details of our lives.
The emergence of free speech zones and demonstration zones that cage demonstrators and others who want to protest or simply exercise their free speech effectively destroys the First Amendment. What such governmental censorship indicates is that in America we no longer really operate under a written Constitution. Rule of law, the bedrock of the Constitution, has now been replaced largely by the rule of bureaucrats and judges.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of the emerging police state in America. Sadly, that mindset has filtered into the schools, where under zero tolerance policies children are even arrested by police for such childish acts as doodling on a desk in green marker, burping audibly in a P.E. class, and spraying herself with perfume in class.
The danger signs become even more ominous when you consider the increasing public loss of faith in political and governmental institutions, including the presidency, Congress, the courts and the gargantuan federal bureaucracy that continues to expand. The increasing presence of the military in our lives is another cause of concern. There is also the possibility of martial law being instituted if there are other terrorist attacks.
If there is to be any hope of protecting our freedoms, it will be up to The Rutherford Institute and all those who labor alongside us to stand firm and hold fast the line—and keep fighting these critical battles from the ground up.
But we know that we cannot fight these battles alone. We need you to stand alongside us. Please do whatever you can today to help us wage and win these critical battles for our faith and freedoms.
From the front lines of the fight for our faith and freedoms, I remain,
Yours faithfully,
John W. Whitehead
P.S. Remember, if you respond before May 1, your donation will count towards our $100,000 matching gift challenge. Thus, your tax-deductible gift of $35, $150 or more can translate into a donation of $70, $300 or more to continue the much-needed work of The Rutherford Institute.
The Rutherford Institute
Post Office Box 7482
Charlottesville, VA 22906-7482
Phone: 434-978-3888
FAX: 434- 978-1789
http://www.rutherford.org
Under the regulations of the United States Internal Revenue Service, The Rutherford Institute is incorporated as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization. Donations to support The Rutherford Institute's legal and educational work help to safeguard the constitutional rights and religious freedoms of all Americans. Donations are tax-deductible. In compliance with general industry standards of a nonprofit organization, the Institute is audited annually by an independent accounting firm.
Founded in 1982 by constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute is a civil liberties organization that provides free legal services to people whose constitutional and human rights have been threatened or violated.
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