FREE ESSAY ON A GOVERNMENT FOR THE PEOPLE?

A GOVERNMENT FOR THE PEOPLE?

In 1787, the fathers of our country met at the Philadelphia Convention to ratify the
document
that would soon be known as "The Constitution of the United States of America". This 
Constitution was to be the supreme law of the land. Our Constitution was set up in order
to form 
a more perfect union, and to give the people under its provision certain unalienable
rights. 
Among the rights granted to the people are: the right to free speech, the right to keep
and bear 
arms, and the right of the people to be protected from unreasonable searches and
seizures. Today 
I will demonstrate for you how the Constitution has become only a small stumbling block
in the 
Federal Government's efforts to increase its power through the use of legal precedents.
A prime example of how the government pirouettes around the Constitution is seen in the 
case of Chimel versus The Supreme Court of California. On March 27, 1969 several police 
officers showed up on the petitioner's (Chimel) doorstep to arrest him on charges of
burglary. 
Upon answering the doorbell the petitioner was served with an arrest warrant. Shortly
after the 
arrest, while still at the petitioners house, the officers asked if they could have a
"look around". 
The petitoner knew his rights, and that the officers had no search warrant, so he
respectfully 
denied their request. This was of no consequence to the officers. They went ahead and 
unlawfully searched his three-bedroom house top to bottom, leaving no piece of personal 
property unturned. 
A few months later the petitioner's case was plead in a California District Court. At the

petitioner's trial the illegally seized items were used against him. He was convicted.
Unhappy 
with the district court's ruling, he appealed to The California Supreme Court. Upon 
consideration, the Supreme Court affirmed that the arrest was legal because the officers
had 
sufficient information on the suspect to constitute an arrest. The court also held that
the search 
was justified as incident to a valid arrest. A valid arrest...so what! The fourth
amendment of 
the Constitution clearly states, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons,
houses, 
papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.".
It then 
establishes the acceptable parameters for a legal search and seizure to be, "...upon
probable 
cause supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be
searched and 
the person or things to be seized.". You can't make it any plainer than that! No search
warrant, 
no search. A valid arrest is incidental. This one ruling sets the stage for two huge
governmental 
trends that the American people do not want to see. 
The first is that not only did this infringement of rights affect Chimel, but it set a
legal 
precedent. That means that any case that resembles Chimel's will be decided not on the
basis of 
the information presented at the trial, but on the ruling of his case. So not only does
this injustice 
directly affect Chimel, it affects anyone who may be in his same situation for years to
come.
The second, most detrimental effect this ruling has on our society, is the Federal 
Government's uncontested dismissal of a Constitutionally guaranteed right. When the 
Constitution was drafted, it was done for the benefit of the people, with the idea that
the people 
would be the main shareholders of power. When rulings like this go uncontested, it takes
the 
power away from the people, and gives it to the Federal Government. If they can toss away
the 
fourth amendment, why not the first? Hell, why not bring back slavery? I'm sure the 
government could justify that by contorting the international commerce clause that's
found in 
article 1, section 8 of the Constitution. You can probably see my point by now; if they
can 
violate us once, why not two or three times?
The underlying principle here is that the Federal Government is abusing what little power

was enumerated to it, in an effort to expand it's size and authority. General welfare,
liberty, and 
posterity are the things that America is made of. As Americans, we can't sit idly by and
watch 
our rights get thrown out the bureaucratic window, as they did with Chimel. The geniuses
who
wrote our Constitution did so with us, the people, in mind. If we can hold their spirit
in our 
hearts and interpret the Constitution the way it was meant to be interpreted, America
will be a 
proud and sovereign nation for centuries to come. 
Bibliography
Constitution of The U.S.