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Another Assault on the First Amendment

Since they don't teach proper history in school anymore, a discussion on how totalitarian rule begins has been eliminated or is just used as a footnote somewhere along the line. But to those of us who do like to learn from history, there are two things that precede dictatorships - even those that pretend to be democracies. Those two things are:

  • To get rid of guns in the hands of the people, which is why there is a constant assault on the second amendment. The founders had known history and new the republic would not stand if only the government and criminals had firearms.
  • To get rid of religion, which is why there is a constant assault on the first amendment. Dictatorships demand allegiance to the state and religion gets in the way of that because of people believing in morals and all the stuff that gets in the way of way the state wants.

So, today it didn't surprise me to hear about another instance of the current ruling class wanting to wage an assault on our religious liberties. A newly leaked internal memo from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shows just how authorities under the Biden administration want to revise the First Amendment and make changes to religious liberty protections under its rights.

The leaked memo showed the government’s plans to “sign delegation of authority on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and religion clause of the First Amendment” to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford showed displeasure on these new developments, claiming that it would endanger Americans’ religious liberty protections and disregard the First Amendment.

The leaked memo from the HHS was written by OCR director Lisa J. Pino and recognizes the potential backlash the changes to the First Amendment rights and religious protections will create. The memo said, “The action will likely be well-received among civil rights advocates and litigators, as well as groups advocating for the separation of church and state.”

The memo also read that groups who were in favor of the Trump administration’s “broad view of the application of RFRA” and those who would “interpret this action as an indication that the Department is abdicating its responsibility for compliance with RFRA” will most likely have “strong negative reactions” to the changes.

The leaked HHS memo called on its Secretary Xavier Becerra to immediately sign it. However, Sec. Becerra claimed he would support religious liberty. When he was narrowly confirmed by the Senate with a 50-49 vote, he pledged to defend religious protections, saying, “I will not only respect the law when it comes to these issues of religious freedom, but I will enforce them as Secretary of HHS within my department.” But people will say anything to get confirmed, so this doesn't give me much assurance.

As per Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver, the RFRA is a crucial legal obstacle for the Biden administration, as it hinders them from enforcing the federal COVID vaccine mandate. And that says everything there. Just as all dictators throughout history, they need to get rid of everything to stops them from doing what they want.

The unique thing about the United States is those pesky first ten amendments to the constitution that has kept them from doing it. But those that crave power have been trying hard for the last 100 years to destroy or find ways to get around them. And if the American people don't do some serious housekeeping in the Federal government, they may eventually accomplish it.