From an e-mail received more than ten years ago.

I got this as an e-mail forward in 1998, while the Clintons were still president, and I was still in college. It's even more important today, because everyone seems to have forgotten what people don't have a right to.

The following was written by State Representative Mitchell Kaye from Cobb County, GA.

We, the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid any more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior and secure the blessings of debt-free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt-ridden delusional and other liberal, bed-wetters. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that a whole lot of people were confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim that they require a "Bill of No Rights".

ARTICLE I:
You do not have the right to a new car, big screen TV or any other form of wealth. More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything.

People seem to have decided that "legally acquiring" includes having the government seize the means from those who have them to redistribute those means to those who don't. I really don't like the idea that someone else has the right to money I earn.

ARTICLE II:
You do not have the right to never be offended. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone - not just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc.,but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be.

This one goes out to Nancy Pelosi et. al., who are terribly offended by the realization that we don't think they know what's best for us. In fact, the community organizer in the White House is offended by communities organizing in protest of government deficit spending that's ballooned up into the trillions of dollars. Of course, communities organizing against them isn't grassroots organization, but astroturfing paid for by big business and Rush Limbaugh.

ARTICLE III:
You do not have the right to be free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful, do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy.

ARTICLE IV:
You do not have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes.

ARTICLE V:
You do not have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we're just not interested in health care.

Of course, the generation after generation of professional couch potatoes that believe they're entitled to freedom from responsibility for their decisions to have unprotected sex, and entitled to free health care (including free abortions paid for by those who may or may not believe in abortions used for birth control) are the ones who keep voting for the status quo, with this administration in particular. Of course, what that means is that the government believes that yes, the parasites do have the right to be free from harm, do have the right to have money sent to them for merely breathing, and do have the right to mandatory Medicaid.

ARTICLE VI:
You do not have the right to physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric chair.

Unless, of course, you're black. Then, you have the right to do what you want to whom you want (and most hate crimes cannot be prosecuted as such, because they're black on white, rather than the reverse), and no jury would dare convict you, much less sentence you to the death penalty, for fear of being labeled racist.

ARTICLE VII:
You do not have the right to the possessions of others. If you rob, cheat or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don't be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won't have the right to a big-screen color TV or a life of leisure.

Again, if you're black, then you're not responsible for your bad behavior--the white power society that's keeping you down and poor (rather than your lack of education, your lack of ambition, and your own leaders) is responsible for you taking what you're owed. And you are now entitled to cable TV and gourmet food while you're in prison. Thanks to those same leaders that tell you that nothing you do is your fault.

ARTICLE VIII:
You don't have the right to demand that our children risk their lives in foreign wars to soothe your aching conscience. We hate oppressive governments and won't lift a finger to stop you from going to fight if you'd like. However, we do not enjoy parenting the entire world and do not want to spend so much of our time battling each and every little tyrant with a military uniform and a funny hat.

Agreed. However, when the little tyrants with the funny hats send their irregulars to attack us on OUR OWN SOIL, then by God, we want to attack them on theirs to keep them off ours. If they're too busy fighting us off at home, they won't send their people abroad to attack us.

Unfortunately, there are a whole lot of people (mostly in the current administration and their supporters) who don't comprehend that.

ARTICLE IX:
You don't have the right to a job. All of us sure want all of you to have one, and will gladly help you along in hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities of education and educational training laid before you to make yourself useful.

Yeah. If you're too stupid to count out change, you don't have the right to a job. What you have the right to, that you're not getting, is education to prepare you to enter the workforce. However, your federal government and its appendages (i.e., the department of education) want you to stay stupid so that you stay dependent on them, and keep voting for them. Therefore, in their opinion, you have the right to that job, and the businesses don't have a right to insist that you have key skills before they hire you.

ARTICLE X:
You do not have the right to happiness. Being an American means that you have the right to pursue happiness - which by the way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an overabundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.

No one has the right to stay happy, all of the time. The attempt to is distinctly unhealthy, and fuels the ever-increasing demand for over medicating for psychological issues. I will not say that there are no cases that demand anti-depressants; however, much of the time, what people need is nothing more than something bigger than themselves to believe in, and someone to talk to. And, thanks to the ACLU's demonization of the sharing of religious beliefs in the public sphere, rather than looking for a congregation to belong to--whether that congregation is Christian church (my choice), pagan coven, synagogue, or mosque--people look for the quick fix of Prozac, which masks rather than treats the symptoms.

The saddest thing about this Bill of No Rights is not that so very many people believe they do have these rights, it's that it seems that the federal government is beginning to believe that the people should have these rights, despite the Constitution and its amendments, and the local, state, and federal laws that state otherwise.

God help us all.