Many of us have forgotten our Bill of Rights constitutionally guarantees inalienable rights for all of us and protects us from our government. An inalienable right is, by definition, impossible to be taken from or given away. In addition, hiding in plain sight is the greatest gift of all. It is liberty. Some of us are openly and foolishly choosing to exchange their liberty for government promised free stuff. A large group of nationally elected others are currently attempting to do the generally assumed impossible. They are clearly seeking to take our liberty from us through dictate, mandate, or statute. These same men and women continue their personal assaults on liberty each and every day and are clearly demonstrating their unbridled desire to marginalize our liberty fought for, acquired, and now taken for granted. At some point, force will likely be their tool of choice to bend our stiff backs and encourage us to reject our nation’s purpose, goals, and history and meekly accept our return to servitude.

Even as he carried the weight of a divided nation and the possibility of a great war, Abraham Lincoln observed in his first inaugural, “It is safe to assert that no proper government ever had a provision in its organic law for self termination. Continue to execute all the expressed provisions of our national Constitution, and the Union will endure forever — it being impossible to destroy it except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself.”

Benjamin Franklin’s frequently quoted words to the question, what kind of government did you give us, were: “A republic if you can keep it.” Focus on “if you can keep it” and remember our republic cannot exist without liberty.

DELBERT BEYER,

Alpena