The cynic in me wants to say that many (perhaps most) people are too scared to call attention to this since it’s the type of thing that might get them a one-way trip where habeas corpus for them is ignored and they’re never heard from again. The sad part is, I’m not sure that’s really cynicism and not healthy realism nowadays.

Of course it does, but these are rights that the people themselves must insist on. One of the very subtle changes that has gone on in American society during the Boomer generation is is the elevation of the Constitution into some form of Holy Writ rather than a living expression of the people’s will. In fact, as stunning it may seem, the Boomer generation will be the first generation to never meaningfully amend the Constitution. Former generations lowered the voting age to 18, banned booze then unbanned it, changed who could be Senators, and so on. The legacy of the Boomer generation: a technical change to congressional pay.

At it’s root a “right” is nothing more than a gift the people give to themselves. Unless we create that gift for ourselves, instead of treating it like so long lost family heirloom, the present set of conditions in the political environment will continue.