A few weeks ago Clyde had a question about the Bill of Rights. So I presented him a copy of the Constitution for his own. (I always carry a few with me.) I asked him to study the first ten amendments and told him there he would find his answer.
Today I went in and Clyde waved that little book over his head as he called out, “I got it Bunkie, here, hold the book on me.”
Now I haven’t heard that phrase since grade school, but I knew what he meant. I took the little Constitution from him and followed along as he continued.
“Here we go. Took me a while figure some of these out, but they are actually pretty simple once you do.
“Amendment 1: You can go to whatever church you want to. Or not go to nairn at all. You can say whatever you want to. Or print whatever you want to. You can party with anybody you choose, and write your Congressman or President about all your gripes and complaints. (Might want to discuss some of these with your Momma though.)
“Amendment 2: You can go buy a gun. And keep it. As long as you’re not a convict or a nutcase. If your Grandpa brought something home from the war and left it to you, you can keep that too. And carry it around with you. As long as you’re not a convict or a nutcase.
“Amendment 3: You can invite a soldier to live in your home. Government can’t force you to though.
“Amendment 4: Your house might get searched, but they better have a damn good reason.
“Amendment 5: They can’t make you tell on yourself in court. Even if you did it.
“Amendment 6: If they take you to court they have to play fair, and they gotta do it speedy-like.
“Amendment 7: You can ask the court to pick some folks a lot like you to hear both sides of the story.
“Amendment 8: They can’t make the cost unreasonable to get bailed out of jail. And even if you done something Momma wouldn’t approve of, they can’t treat you like a yeller dog.
“This next one took me a while. After writin’ it down I finally got it.
“Amendment 9: Just ’cause it’s not listed in here, don’t mean you ain’t got the right to do it. Don’t mean you do neither. We got legislators and judges for that.
“Amendment 10: If it’s not listed in here as something the government can do, Washington can’t do it. It’s up to the states to decide.”
He sat back and smiled his signature smile. I believe the man has 120 teeth, and he shows every one of them when he’s particularly pleased with himself.
“That’s pretty good Clyde, I think you nailed it.”
“Thanks Bunkie, I’m gonna keep studying and I’ll get the other 20 or so down pat too. Give me a week or so to work on it.”
