Washington State's Article I
The Evergreen Freedom Foundation has published its first book, To Protect And Maintain Individual Rights: A Citizen's Guide to the Washington Constitution, Article I. It was written by Michael Reitz and Jonathan Bechtle, with a foreward by Washington Supreme Court Justice Charles Johnson.
The book is 116 pages and available for $10, and also available as a free download. Clearly the EFF is more interested in informing the public with this fantastic resource, than making a buck.
The title of the book is fairly self-explanatory, but for those who don't know, Washington's Article I is a 35-section Declaration of Rights. It was written in its original form in 1889, and the record of the proceedings do not exist, as the legislature refused to appropriate money to pay the stenographers, so they destroyed the records.
And while that is a loss to history, it's also a good lesson from history, so good for them. 
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
Leave a comment