'We the People' Against Tyranny: Seven Principles for Free Government

As history teaches us, if the people have little or no knowledge of the basics of government and their rights, those who wield governmental power inevitably wield it excessively. After all, a citizenry can only hold its government accountable if it knows when the government oversteps its bounds. Precisely because Americans are clueless about their rights—because their elected officials no longer represent them—because Americans have failed to hold government officials accountable to abiding by the Constitution—and because Americans continue to place their trust in politics to fix what’s wrong with this country—the American governmental scheme is sliding ever closer towards a totalitarian police state. This steady slide towards tyranny, meted out by militarized local and federal police and legalistic bureaucrats, has been carried forward by each successive president over the past fifty years regardless of their political affiliation.

"Battlefield America with John W. Whitehead," part of a new weekly series produced in partnership with The Rutherford Institute and Newsbud, is hosted by constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead.