the Constitution: let's get something straight

In the comments section of this post discussing Rumsfeld's newfound love for the Geneva Conventions, someone comented that the US Constitution only applies to US citizens. While the reaction of legal imigrants to this assertion would be rebuttal enough to this assertion, I just want to make clear that the US Constitution is NOT a set of rules and limits on citizens. It is a set of rules and limits on the actions and authority of the US Government. It is not bound by geography, it applies for all time and for all places to the government and its actions.

Likewise, the statement "the Constitution is not a suicide pact" is equally misguided. The role of the Constitution is to secure liberty, which is fragile and vulnerable. Such a delicate construct must be safeguarded with higher regard than mere life. That is, after all, the reason that we have brave men and women fighting for it in our armed forces.

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -- Thomas Jefferson

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security." -- Benjamin Franklin

"Live Free or Die." -- Gen. John Stark^[1]

^[1] designated the official motto of New Hampshire by the 1945 Legislature.