The Five Boxes of Liberty

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The Five Boxes of Liberty

Among an individual's innumerable rights, a critical few defend the others. The US Constitution mentions at least five defensive rights, "The Five Boxes of Liberty."by Simplulo
(libertarian)
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Among an individual’s innumerable rights, a critical few directly defend the others. You should recognize, appreciate and exercise these defensive rights, without which you will eventually lose the rest. The United States Constitution mentions at least five defensive rights, easily remembered under the mnemonic "The Five Boxes of Liberty."* They are:

1. The Moving Box—right of association, in particular territorially via migration
2. The Soap Box—right of free speech
3. The Ballot Box—right to a voice in your government
4. The Jury Box—right to a trial by jury of your peers
5. The Ammunition Box—right to threaten or use appropriate violence in self-defense

The US Constitution guarantees some defensive rights more clearly, completely, and emphatically than others. The freedoms of association and speech are declared immediately in the First Amendment, but while the courts have interpreted speech broadly and forcefully, association had to be detected as a limited penumbral right emanating from the right to assembly. Of the many possible types of associations, only "intimate" and "expressive" associations are deemed protected, and the law now imposes some associations undesired by one or more parties. Even the United Nation’s awful Universal Declaration of Human Rights managed to list the rights of association and movement explicitly. Freedom of association implies the right of secession, though this is mentioned in only a few state constitutions and not at all in the US Constitution. The right to vote runs throughout the US Constitution, even though it was recognized for blacks and women only in the Fifteenth and Nineteenth Amendments respectively. The right to a trial by jury appears in the US Constitution no fewer than four times, first in Article III and then in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Amendments. Finally, the right to bear arms is guaranteed in the Second Amendment, but preceded by the enigmatic qualifier "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state…." The Founders obviously put their faith in the people to defend their own rights, and distrusted elites and centralized power, but they could have been clearer in their language, in particular about the under appreciated right of association.

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