Dear Friend,
The America I grew to know and love—as a young boy, freely exploring my neighborhood; as a young man, attempting to make his mark on the world; and as a young attorney, learning to navigate the courts and the Constitution—is largely unrecognizable today.
Gone are the fundamental assurances of freedom—of speech, religion, assembly, privacy—that once made this country a safe refuge for so many people seeking shelter from oppression. Today, we labor under a power-hungry central government that has been overcome by bureaucracy, corruption, cronyism and corporate greed, and is altogether lacking in the republican ideals for which our Founders risked their lives.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the battered state of our First and Fourth Amendments. Throughout much of this nation’s young history, those two foundational pillars of our constitutional system of government not only helped to ensure that “we the people” maintained the upper hand in our dealings with the government but reinforced the idea that the government exists to serve us, rather than the other way around.
In recent years, those ideals have been upended by the courts and Congress, which, more often than not, have a tendency to advance the interests of the government (federal and state) over the citizenry. How else can one explain legislation such as the recently enacted Trespass Bill, which establishes a roving bubble zone around protected government officials, thereby making it a federal crime to protest or even assemble in their vicinity? Or efforts underway in historic Williamsburg, Virginia—the cradle of religious freedom, the first liberty—to restrict expressive activities to designated “free speech zones” in an effort to keep Christian street preachers out of sight and earshot.
Then there is the National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law by President Obama, which gives the government the power to permanently detain American citizens without trial. Mind you, depending on the political views of a particular administration, this law could as easily be applied to pro-life activists as potential terrorists.
These are only a few of the many issues The Rutherford Institute contends with every day in our efforts to hold the line against those who would completely eradicate our God-given freedoms. Indeed, as the government takes greater liberties with our liberties, and as Americans find their freedoms restricted on almost every front, our legal hotline is being bombarded with calls for help. As a result, our attorneys are battling in and out of the courts daily as we challenge the government’s repeated power grabs.
We are fighting to remain not only a free nation but a free people—free to worship as we choose, free to speak our minds without fear of reprisal, and free to hold our government leaders accountable and prevent them from overstepping their bounds. Unfortunately, too many Americans are remaining silent and still on the sidelines, while a small few fight for the very lifeblood of our country.
Freedom needs a voice. We are that voice, but clearly, we cannot fight these battles alone. Please do what you can to help us stand strong in the battles to come.
God bless you,
John W. Whitehead
President
P.S. With less than a week to go before the $100,000 matching gift challenge grant campaign ends, I need to know that you stand with us. If you respond before May 1, your 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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