Rights Before Rules

Many people believe their rights come from the Constitution.

That’s not true.

Your rights exist because you are human — not because a government granted them.

The Constitution was written to protect those rights, not invent them.

You don’t have free speech because of the First Amendment.

The First Amendment exists because you have free speech.

This is why the Constitution mostly says what government cannot do:

• It cannot ban your speech

• It cannot search you without reason

• It cannot punish you without trial

The document is full of limits — not because the government is the source of all power,

but because it is not.

The order matters.

First came people.

Then came rights.

Then came government — to protect those rights.

“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people,

it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.”

— Patrick Henry

The Constitution is a cage — not for you, but for the beast of power.