Beyond Light and Transient Causes: The Constitution Revisited

By Frank Cochran Nugent

The Constitution...revisited

Fellow citizens, the chimes of time echo revolution! The frustrated voices of Adams, Paine, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, et al. cry out for change! Millions of graves from Bunker Hill to Iwo Jima demand it.

Our Constitution, once the bible of free men, must now be resurrected on the blood of tyrants. Those lifetime-tenured November criminals, those Marxist apostles of greed and socialism spawned by the New Deal, the Great Society, and today's cabal of political czars have rendered the ballot box and our present Constitution less than worthless; but before they come after our firearms, we must vote with flint, ball, and gunpowder. If we hope to remain free, we must let the rattle of musketry be heard by those unindicted coconspirators inside the Beltway. No need for another Continental Army; with designated targets of opportunity, a strategic liquidation here and there will surely tip the scale in our favor. America, God's hallowed ground, must again be drenched with despotic blood. Capitol Hill must become another Bunker Hill.

Minutemen, Sons of Liberty, volunteers, and hired liquidators, over three hundred million subjects await our making them free American citizens again.

But all aforementioned carnage will be avoided if two-thirds of both houses of Congress and threefourths of the states ratify the amendments detailed in this book.

This book will prepare the reader to see into the minds of the Founding Fathers and examine their original intent, confirming that America is not a democracy, as many uninformed politicians claim, but a constitutional republic.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9781684983858

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Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Preface

Chapter 1: Capitalism, Socialism, and the Constitution of the United States of America

Chapter 2: The Declaration of Independence's Influence on the Constitution

Thomas Jefferson's Grievances Became Provisions in the Supreme Law of the Land

Chapter 3: The Original Constitution

The Constitution of the United States of America

Article I. Legislature

Article II. Executive

Article III. Judiciary

Article IV. Full faith and credit; privileges and immunities, extradition; admission of new states, Republican form of government

Article V. Amending the Constitution

Article VI. Debts; supreme law of the land; oath or affirmation

Article VII. Ratification, signatories

Bill of Rights and Succeeding Seventeen Amendments

Amendment I. Freedom of religion; press; assembly; redress of grievances

Amendment II. Right to keep and bear arms

Amendment III. Quartering troops

Amendment IV. Unreasonable searches and seizures; probable cause

Amendment V. Indictment; double jeopardy; self-incrimination; due process; eminent domain

Amendment VI. Public trial; venue; accusation; witnesses; legal counsel

Amendment VII. Trial by jury in civil cases

Amendment VIII. Excessive bail; cruel and unusual punishment

Amendment IX. Certain rights do not deny others

Amendment X. Supremacy powers of the states and the people

Amendment XI. Restrictions on judicial power

Amendment XII. Electing the president and vice president

Amendment XIII. Abolished slavery

Amendment XIV. Citizenship; privileges and immunities; due process; equal protection; representatives apportionment; persons guilty of insurrection or rebellion; and public debt and obligations

Amendment XV. Race suffrage

Amendment XVI. Income tax authorized

Amendment XVII. Senators elected by popular vote instead of by state legislatures; filling vacancies in the House

Amendment XVIII. Prohibits manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages

Amendment XIX. Women's suffrage

Amendment XX. Presidential and vice-presidential terms; when Congress shall assemble; death of president

Amendment XXI. Repeals Amendment XVIII

Amendment XXII. Presidential term limits

Amendment XXIII. District of Columbia suffrage

Amendment XXIV. Poll tax suffrage

Amendment XXV. Removal of president; president nominates a vice president; presidential disability

Amendment XXVI. Eighteen-year-old suffrage

Amendment XXVII. Congressional pay raises

Chapter 4: Revising the Constitution

Preamble

Justification no. 1

Article I. House of Representatives

Section 1. Congress; composition

Justification no. 2. Congressional term limits

Section 2. House of Representatives; qualifications

Justification no. 3. Qualifications for House members

Justification no. 4. Taxes; census; representatives

Justification no. 5. Filling vacancies in the House

Justification no. 6. Prohibits reference to foreign laws during impeachment hearings

Chapter 5: Article I (Continued) Senate

Section 3. Senate; composition

Justification no. 7. Senators elected by popular vote

Justification no. 8. Repeals state executive authority to fill Senate vacancies

Justification no. 9. Revised qualifications for Senate members

Justification no. 10. Laws regarding impeachment

Justification no. 11. Impeachment and punishment

Chapter 6: Article I (Continued) Congress

Section 4. Election of House and Senate members

Justification no. 12. Repeal of Congress's authority over state legislatures regarding elections

Justification no. 13. Treason disqualifies candidacy for public office; denies reparations

Justification no. 14. Expiration of congressional terms

Section 5. Legislative rules of procedure

Justification no. 15. Limitation on congressional power in election process

Section 6. Congressional compensation

Justification no. 16. Congress denied power to set its salary

Section 7. Monitors bills for raising revenue; spending

Justification no. 17. Three-fifths majority vote; automatic expiration; independent oversight board; penalties

Justification no. 18. President given line-item veto power

Chapter 7: Article I (Continued) Congress

Section 8. Congress's power to collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises

Justification no. 19. Congress denied power to tax estates and inheritances

Justification no. 20. Limitations on Congress's power to regulate commerce

Justification no. 21. Deploying military forces

Justification no. 22. Defines Congress's war powers

Justification no. 23. Limits Congress's war powers

Justification no. 24. Regulation of armed forces

Section 9. Migration or importation of people

Justification no. 25. Immigration and naturalization

Justification no. 26. Ex-post facto laws clarified; non-exemption of congress; prohibits burden of proof on accused; public school education; prohibits abridgement of Ninth and Tenth Amendment rights

Justification no. 27. Prohibits Congress's taxing estates and inheritances

Justification no. 28. Congress's public accountability and expenditures

Justification no. 29. Prohibits titles of nobility or perks from foreign agents

Justification no. 30. Prohibits lobbying

Section 10. Constitutional limits on the states

Justification no. 31. Powers denied the states granted to the national government

Justification no. 32. States limitation on laying duties; keeping troops or ships of war; entering into foreign alliances; engaging in war

Chapter 8: Article II Executive

Section 1. Executive powers; term of office; electoral college

Justification no. 33. Electoral college process revised

Justification no. 34. Qualifications for the presidency

Justification no. 35. Removal of the President

Justification no. 36. Term of President and Vice President

Justification no. 37. Presidential compensation

Justification no. 38. President must strictly enforce laws

Section 2. President as commander in chief

Justification no. 39. Denied power to grant reprieves, pardons or amnesty

Justification no. 40. Appointments filibuster limited

Justification no. 41. President denied authority to fill recess vacancies

Section 3. Laws be faithfully executed

Section 4. Impeachment

Justification no. 42. Treason, bribery, malfeasance, other high crimes and misdemeanors

Section 5. Further limits on presidential powers

Justification no. 43. Denies President assumed power to issue executive orders, decision directives, signing statements

Chapter 9: Article III Judiciary

Section 1. Supreme Court

Justification no. 44. Number of justices; 12 term limits; Compensation

Section 2. Judicial authority

Justification no. 45. Limit on judicial authority

Section 3. Treason

Justification no. 46. Treasonous and seditious acts redefined

Section 4. Sovereignty

Justification no. 47. Authority; challenges by foreign governments; violating Tenth Amendment rights; mandating new taxes or changes; limits authority on marriage, planned parenthood, religion, flag desecration, school prayer, firearms control, etc.

Section 5. Judicial oath

Justification no. 48. Prohibits litmus tests for judicial nominees

Chapter 10: Article IV Full Faith and Credit; Privileges and Immunities; Admission of New States; Republican Form of Government

Section 1. Full faith and credit given all states

Justification no. 49. At the discretion of the states

Section 2. Privileges and immunities

Justification no. 50. Applies to all individuals

Justification no. 51. Extradition of slaves repealed

Section 3. Admission of new states

Section 4. Republican form of government

Article V. Amending the Constitution

Justification no. 52. Can be amended by popular referendum without Congress's prior approval

Article VI. Debt; Supremacy Clause; Oath

Justification no. 53. Repeals the original Constitution

Justification no. 54. New Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land

Article VII. Equal Rights

Justification no. 55. Prohibits preferential treatment

Article VIII. Right to Life

Justification no. 56. Prohibits abortion, euthanasia

Chapter 11: Additional Articles

Article IX. Marriage

Justification no. 57. Protects sanctity of traditional marriage

Article X. Flag Protection

Justification no. 58. Prohibits desecration of flag

Article XI. Voting Qualifications

Section 1. Legal citizens; employed; retired; military personnel; minimum age limit

Section 2. Removes barriers to voting rights

Section 3. Citizens of District of Columbia voting rights

Justification no. 59. Defines those eligible to vote

Article XII. Federal Employment Qualifications

Section 1. Establishes American English as official language

Section 2. Prohibits dual citizenship

Section 3. Defines qualifications for federal employment

Section 4. Prohibits preferential hiring practices

Section 5. Prohibits government sanctioned public sector union monopolies

Section 6. Government employee compensation determined by Congress

Justification no. 60. Prohibits public sector work stoppages

Article XIII. Official Language

Section 1. Establishes American English as sole, exclusive and official language

Section 2. Ability to read, write and speak American English language required

Justification no. 61. Common language essential for national unity

Article XIV. Citizenship

Justification no. 62. Limits automatic citizenship

Article XV. Protection of Constitution

Justification no. 63. Subversives shed constitutional immunity

Article XVI. Official National Observances

Justification no. 64. Guarantees respect only for deserving statesmen

Article XVII. Ratification

Justification no. 65. Official ratification

Chapter 12: The (Proposed) Bill of Rights to Be Ratified by a Twenty-First Century Congress

Amendment I. Freedom of religion, speech, press; peaceful assembly; petition

Justification no. 66. Defining scope of rights

Amendment II. Right to keep and bear arms

Justification no. 67. Defining the right

Amendment III. Prohibits quartering soldiers

Amendment IV. Prohibits unlawful searches and seizures

Amendment V. Double jeopardy; self-incrimination; due process; eminent domain

Justification no. 68. Defines scope of rights

Amendment VI. Guarantees in criminal prosecutions

Amendment VII. Guarantees trial by jury

Justification no. 69. Increases value in controversy

Amendment VIII. Excessive bail and fines; cruel and unusual punishment

Justification no. 70. Defines prohibitions

Amendment IX. Peoples guaranteed rights

Justification no. 71. Enumerated vs. assumed rights

Amendment X. Guarantees supremacy of the states

Justification no. 72. Prohibits implied power of national government over state sovereignty

Subsequent Amendments

Amendment XI. Restrictions on Judicial Power

Amendment XII. Electing the President and Vice President

Amendment XIII. Abolished Slavery

Amendment XIV. Rights of Legal Citizens

Amendment XV. Race Suffrage

Amendment XVI. Income Tax Authorized

Amendment XVII. Senators Elected by Popular Vote

Amendment XVIII. Prohibition

Amendment XIX. Women's Suffrage

Amendment XX. Terms of President, Vice President, and Congress

Amendment XXI. Repeals Amendment XVIII

Amendment XXII. Presidential Term Limits

Amendment XXIII. District of Columbia Suffrage

Amendment XXIV. Poll Tax Suffrage

Amendment XXV. Disability and Succession of President

Amendment XXVI. Eighteen-Year-Old Suffrage

Amendment XXVII. Congressional Pay Raises

Chapter 13: Why So Many Changes?

The (Proposed) Constitution of the United States of America to Be Ratified by a Twenty-First Century Congress

Bill of Rights

Epilogue

Chronology of Events Incident to Ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America and the Bill of Rights

Acknowledgments

About the Author

cover.jpg

Beyond Light and Transient Causes

The Constitution Revisited

Frank Cochran Nugent

Copyright © 2022 Frank Cochran Nugent

All rights reserved

First Edition

NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING

320 Broad Street

Red Bank, NJ 07701

First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2022

ISBN 978-1-68498-384-1 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-68498-385-8 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

In memory of my late parents, George Patrick Nugent and Nancy Elizabeth Cochran Nugent, who, with only a fifth- and eighth-grade education respectively, earned what they received rather than be wards of a paternalistic federal government.

On their behalf, I extend eternal gratitude to the Founding Fathers, who unselfishly pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor so my father and mother, who were never rich but always free, could pursue and live the American Dream.

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship.

—Alexander Tyler, Scottish professor

Preface

A diligent study of the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and the Federalist Papers will not alone encourage the reader to appreciate the superior attributes of the capitalistic free enterprise system (the Constitution's foundation) and the material and spiritual corruption of socialism. An objective analysis of both ideologies concludes that capitalism serves all the people in a positive way, whereas socialism denies its subjects every opportunity capitalism guarantees and exists only for the benefit of a few self-anointed government elite.

As in the eras of the failed New Deal, Great Society, and War on Poverty policies and today's failing Obamanomics, Karl Marx disciples are dedicated to socializing our government, society, educational institutions, industry, every private thought, spoken word, and the personal conduct of all citizens, and to purge from the human conscience all thoughts of and any reference to God by retooling our public education system and news and entertainment media to teach citizens what, not how, to think, and by dismantling the Constitution and instituting a new government by executive order, legislative excess and judicial fiat.

Like Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Josef Stalin, and the Bolsheviks in revolutionary Russia, and Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Chairman Barack Obama in America, their principle artifice is class warfare, that is, playing one group of citizens against another by convincing the have-nots their distressful station in life is a direct result of the rich taking more than their fair share of all created wealth, notwithstanding the fact that it is the rich, not the poor, who create wealth. (Can the reader name one poor person who ever created a job for another?) These social reformers tirelessly demand a redistribution of wealth without demanding a redistribution of the labor required to create that wealth.

Like Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Roosevelt, Johnson, and Obama, they do not understand that punishing the rich does not help the poor, and that the economic pie (Gross Domestic Product) principally created by the venture capital of the wealthy is not static but is constantly expanding. If, through longer labor hours, initiative, and ingenuity, a man who earned $100,000 last year earns $200,000 this year, he took nothing from the poor. The additional $100,000 came from the expanded size of the economic pie. And just as a rising tide lifts all boats, the poor benefit too, because venture capital builds factories that produce goods and services that make life worth living, which in turn creates jobs that make possible a regular paycheck, a higher standard of living, investment opportunities, and a comfortable private pension for Joe Lunch Bucket.

It is these diluted visionaries who indoctrinate those lacking motivation (read: lazy) with promises of a utopian world. Instead of teaching the have-nots they should earn what they receive and receive what they earn, they convince them higher taxes on the rich and wage earners will assure them a lifetime of welfare checks, free entitlement programs, and preferential treatment by making available to them what they should have earned by their own initiative. In exchange for their personal liberties, they want the government to assume full responsibility for solving all of their personal problems: guaranteed lifetime jobs with inflated wages (for those willing to work); pay increases and promotions based on longevity and seniority rather than on merit; a guaranteed lifetime income (for those not willing to work); a free education for their children; guaranteed free family medical programs and retirement accounts (whether they work or not); etc. It is these parasites who see socialism as the wave of the future. It is these freeloaders who vote the straight Democratic Party ticket every election day.

These reformers' second ruse is the use of jurors possessing a like mindset who ignore the Constitution and dispense from the bench their personal socialistic views as the law of the land. They call it a living constitution. Times change, and we must change with them, they say. Being aware of such an inevitability, the Founding Fathers included in the Constitution Article V, the mechanism by which the people, not presidents, legislatures, or sitting judges, can amend it. But today's socialist politicians and judges opt to arbitrarily change the written word and original intent at their pleasure. The Founding Fathers would be appalled.

Who are the principals engaged in this silent revolution to destroy our Constitution and institutions? They call themselves Democrats, Liberal, Moderate, Mainstream, or Conservative Democrats, Populists, Progressives, Secularists, or Collectivists; or Republicans, Liberal, Moderate, or Mainstream Republicans, Compassionate Conservatives, Neoconservatives, or Independents. A few are honest enough to call themselves what they are—Socialists. All consider themselves the final arbitrator as to what is best for the citizen without first asking his opinion (read: Obamacare). All insist that the unenlightened view the world through their eyes.

Their adversaries are Jeffersonian/Reagan Conservatives who embrace strict interpretation of the Constitution; the sanctity of states' rights as guaranteed by the Constitution; a national government with only limited, enumerated, and delegated powers; a strong national defense; low taxes; private property ownership; politically-free educational and social institutions; guaranteed opportunity (not guaranteed results) for each individual; and God-given liberty.

Ideologically, New Deal, Great Society, and War on Poverty Democrats have evolved into socialists, and too many Conservative Republicans have evolved into Neoconservative or Liberal Republicans (read: Socialists). Today one is either a Socialist or a Conservative—there is no middle ground.

It is essential to present in the following chapter an overview of the true nature of capitalism and socialism and their relationship to our Constitution, the virtues of the former, and the vices of the latter, before embarking on the monumental task of not just amending the Constitution but reconstructing portions of it for the purpose of integrating the demands of a changing nation with the original intent of the Founding Fathers. That specific objective is the purpose of this book.

Chapter 1

Capitalism, Socialism, and the Constitution of the United States of America

When the government violates the people's rights, insurrection is, for the people and for each portion of the people, the most sacred of rights and the most indispensable of duties.

—Marquis de Lafayette

Having died on March 14, 1883, German political philosopher Karl Marx, the father of socialism, did not witness the twentieth-century political, economic, social, and intellectual upheaval and carnage his myopic Communist Manifesto's laws of unforeseen and unintended consequences were to have on hundreds of millions of unfortunates whose idealistic disillusions were rewarded only with tyranny. For a hundred years, Marx's socialist experiment has failed to deliver the goods as promised, much to the chagrin of the Ivy League central planners. Yet Harvard's socialist faculty still insists that America's wealth be redistributed while not understanding how it is created or who created it. These pompous, self-righteous, haven't been there but I still done that pseudo-intellectuals fail to grasp former prime minister Margaret Thatcher's words of wisdom, The trouble with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money.

Socialism appeals only to those disenchanted native-born Americans who have never lived under it, whereas it has no appeal to those naturalized Americans who have. Who was in a better position to make this comparison than Ayn Rand, who, after having suffered eight years under Russia's Bolshevik regime, fled to America in 1925, where she established herself as a successful Hollywood scriptwriter and authoress. Her 1936 novel, We the Living, detailed her eight years of near starvation under socialist tyranny; her 1957 novel, Atlas Shrugged, serves as a warning to all misguided Americans who think socialism is superior to their capitalistic free enterprise system. Or Svetlana Alliluyeva, the daughter of Soviet dictator Stalin, who, on March 6, 1967, escaped her father's socialist workers' paradise by defecting to America via the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair also emphasized this difference with a rhetorical question: If America is so bad, why does everyone want to go there and nobody wants to leave? Ayn, Svetlana, Tony; all understood the toxin of socialism far better than America's native-born liberals.

According to Marx's Communist Manifesto, socialism is the transitional phase by which a capitalistic free enterprise economic and political system is theoretically converted to communism. But in reality, communism will never evolve from any socialist system because those in power will never concede their elite status to become just another face in a classless society that communism professes to be.

The author has a friend whose duties with the Central Intelligence Agency include accompanying government officials on diplomatic missions to foreign capitols. Having visited Russia many times, he is always awestruck by the lifestyle of socialist officials and their families as compared to the average Russian. The officials live in grand splendor—extravagant homes with marble ceilings, walls, and floors, a cadre of servants, landscapers and gardeners, expensive automobiles with chauffeurs, and unlimited access to commissaries and other conveniences, all worthy of America's Bill Gates, whereas poor Ivan must live in a seedy public tenement and bide his time away from his state-mandated job waiting in long lines for everything from bread to toilet tissue—while limited supplies last.

Leaders in every socialist country are masters of a tyrannical government who enjoy the fruits of that system but who will never embrace communism. America's 535 unindicted felons on Capitol Hill are converting our capitalistic free enterprise system into a socialist police state for their own power, private wealth, and personal convenience, but will stop short of adopting communism.

Like the word democracy, communism is a commonly misunderstood term. As defined by Marx, communism cannot exist. To evolve into communism, socialism must first succeed. But while American capitalism has succeeded throughout the first 234 years of its existence, in its disastrous 100 years, socialism has either failed or is failing its test in every corner of the world, leaving communism a lady in waiting.

In February 2009, after Chairman Obama's election, Newsweek declared on its front cover, We are all Socialists now, and then crowed, As entitlement spending rises over the next decade, we will become even more French. But in 2010, from Ireland to Greece (including France), the European socialist countries are awash in bankruptcy, massive pay reductions, runaway inflation, corruption, illegal strikes, rioting, immigrant unrest, unsustainable welfare entitlements, and early retirement schemes, leaving Newsweek pondering Thatcher's words about a government running out of other people's money. Has Obama and our other liberal politicians learned anything from the former USSR's, North Korea's, Cuba's, and Europe's failed experiment with socialism? Apparently not, but the 2010 elections proved the American people have.

In his Rerum Novarum of May 15, 1891, Pope Leo XIII declared,

The main tenet of socialism, namely, the community of goods, must be rejected without qualification, for it would injure those it pretends to benefit, it would be contrary to the natural rights of man, and it would introduce confusion and disorder into the commonwealth.

The twentieth-century fountainhead of practiced socialism, the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, used the word socialist rather than communist in its national political identity. Other socialist regimes refrain from giving the term communist any identity or legitimacy. Like communism, socialism is an itinerary without a destination.

Comparing capitalism in practice with communist theory is akin to pursuing a will-o'-the-wisp suitor, so attention will be directed toward the world's two competing ideologies, capitalism and socialism.

The Founding Fathers recognized the existence of a power greater than that of government. Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence contains the phrases, Laws of Nature and of Nature's God, they are endowed by their Creator, the Supreme Judge of the world, and on the protection of Divine Providence…

The Constitution contains the phrases, but no religious Test… in the Year of our Lord, and establishment of religion…

John Jay's Federalist No. 2 used the phrases, Providence has in a particular manner blessed… and that Providence has been pleased…

James Madison's Federalist No. 37 contains the phrase perceive in it a finger of that Almighty hand… His (or Alexander Hamilton's) Federalist No. 43 makes reference to law of nature and of nature's God… and Federalist No. 57 speaks of religious faith.

Under capitalism, God is the acknowledged source of all natural rights, and the government is answerable to the people. Under socialism, God does not exist, a central government does not acknowledge the existence of natural rights, and the people are answerable to that government.

Under capitalism, a written constitution ratified by the people guarantees unalienable individual rights to all, and the First Amendment specifically guarantees freedom of religion, speech, the press, peaceable assembly, and a petition for redress of grievances. Under socialism a written constitution, if one exists, is interpreted by a partial government-controlled judiciary with no right of formal appeal. Religious freedom is discouraged or prohibited; speech, the press, and assembly are under strict government censorship, and a redress for injuries sustained is nonexistent or extremely limited.

Under capitalism, the Second Amendment guarantees the right of its citizens to keep and bear arms, which in turn guarantees all other constitutional rights. Under socialism, private ownership or possession of firearms is either prohibited or severely restricted.

Under capitalism, the Third Amendment guarantees that no soldiers may be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner. Under socialism, such permission is not required.

Under capitalism, the Fourth Amendment guarantees the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and personal effects against unreasonable search and seizure, and warrants cannot be issued except for specific probable cause. Under socialism intrusion of private homes and indiscriminate searches, seizures, and arrests without a warrant are standard police procedure.

Under capitalism, the Fifth Amendment guarantees that no person shall be held to answer for capital or infamous crimes without an indictment of a grand jury; nor be tried more than once for the same offense; nor be a witness against himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor have his property taken for public use without just compensation (eminent domain). Under socialism, a person may be declared an enemy of the government and can therefore be charged without probable cause, face double jeopardy for the same offense, be coerced by mental and physical persuasion to testify against himself or others, and can be deprived of life and liberty without due process of law. (He cannot be deprived of property, because private ownership is prohibited.)

Under capitalism, the Sixth Amendment guarantees a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury; that the person be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; that he be confronted by witnesses; and that he have access to witnesses and independent legal counsel for his defense. Under socialism, the person charged might languish in prison under primitive conditions for an unreasonable period of time, be denied a public trial before an impartial judge and jury, be falsely charged with an offense, and be denied access to friendly witnesses and independent legal counsel.

Under capitalism, the Seventh Amendment guarantees a trial by jury in suits of Common Law. Under socialism, a trial by an impartial jury is denied; the government sits as judge, jury, and, if deemed expedient, executioner.

Under capitalism, the Eighth Amendment guarantees that no excessive bail or fines be imposed, nor cruel and usual punishment inflicted. Under socialism, bail is usually denied, excessive fines may be levied, and cruel and unusual punishment is the norm.

Under capitalism, the Ninth Amendment guarantees that certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. Under socialism, the people have no guaranteed individual rights or liberties.

Under capitalism, the Tenth Amendment guarantees that only limited, enumerated, and delegated powers are granted the national government; all others not denied the states are retained by the states or by the people. Under socialism, all absolute powers and authority are vested in a central government.

Under capitalism, the Thirteenth Amendment prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude. Under socialism, government slave labor camps exist to cruelly punish criminals and to reeducate those who oppose government policy.

Under capitalism, the Fourteenth Amendment makes citizens of all persons having been born or naturalized in the country and state and subject to the jurisdiction thereof; prohibits states from making or enforcing any law that abridges the privileges and immunities of citizens; prohibits depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; and guarantees all citizens equal protection of the laws. Under socialism, a person is treated as a subject rather than a citizen; laws do not grant privileges or immunities, due process of law, or equal protection of the laws.

Under capitalism, the Fifteenth, Nineteenth,