The United States of America, as a political construct, was sold to the early population of Americans as a panacea to right the wrongs done to them by the British crown. Whether the Constitution actually sought to establish those rights for the people or was a ruse in itself to retain control of the population by a powerful elite has been thoroughly debated elsewhere. What was established, regardless of intent or purpose, was that in order to be free, one must not only possess, but be protected in exerting certain individual rights. The right to free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom to defend oneself with firearms from others and a tyrannical government (in this case a hostile competing ideology), freedom from government forces in our homes, freedom to have papers, effects and the sanctity of the home free from unwarranted searches and seizures, freedom from being forced to testify against oneself and to enjoy life, liberty and property unless forfeited through due process of law, freedom from being imprisoned without cause or accused by some anonymous person, freedom to a jury trial of peers, freedom from excessive bail and other cruel and unusual punishments, freedom to enjoy other rights not otherwise listed, freedom of states to exercise rights not otherwise prohibited to them. The harm done to any of these rights anywhere on the continent harms them all and for anyone who seeks to exert those rights in the future. The rights, once harmed, disappear.
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Gary Tolbert: 