Exercising

I actually got out and exercised a little this afternoon.

I walked about 3 blocks from my parking space (cursing the fact that I'm old and out of shape and that I should have worn my other shoes) to the TEA Party in front of the Arches in downtown Athens that mark the entrance to the University of Georgia.

But that's not the exercise I'm writing about tonight.

I'm talking about the fact that I exercised my rights under The Constitution of the United States as enumerated in The Bill of Rights.

First...Amendment I;

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

I used my freedom of speech to communicate with the people around me and express my opinions. We did assemble peaceably...and even allowed the communist workers party to exercise their right after they showed up across the street about the time the TEA Party was over. Which lead myself and many of the others to hang around and make fun of them. I also..along with other availed myself of the privilege of petitioning my elected representatives (some of whom were present and participating themselves) for a redress of grievances.

Second....Amendment II;

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Nothing really needs to be said here, except that I did so lawfully and safely. No one was harmed in my exercising of this right.


Third....Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

I felt perfectly secure, even though the officers in law were observed riding past in their vehicles and even moved the aforementioned idiots off of the island in the middle of the street. Apparently they had no permit for a street protest and had to move back to the opposite sidewalk where they didn't impede traffic.

Forth.....Amendment X;

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

I reminded myself that The People rights do not come from the government...rather the government has powers granted to it by THE PEOPLE whose rights come from their Creator.

It felt good.

I estimate the crown there to be about 250 or so. Not too bad for a demonstration in the heart of possibly the second most liberal city in Georgia.

There was (gratifyingly) a large percentage of young people there. It is after all a college town. But there were also octogenarians and I saw children as young as about six. There were businessmen, I recognized a lawyer or two. Rednecked farmers and their wives as well as young couples who looked like they may have (or still are) served in our military.

There was no violence (unless you call a little good natured heckling of the workers party crowd), no attempts to deny anyone their free exercise of any of their rights, just good people on both sides of the issue doing what more of us should have been doing all along.

I took a lot of pictures but will only post a couple picked at random. (clicky-click if you want to see them bigger.





There may be something to the advice to get out and exercise...I just might try to do a bit more of it.