You're right, John

From paragraph 2 of the Declaration of Independence:

....We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government....

My 16 year old son and I were talking about this last week in his Am Govt class. He caught right away that our rights have been endowed by our Creator God and not by our government. We got into a discussion that our government often "gives" us things that are ours in the first place, or that have been stolen from someone else (case in point: real estate/property). But if we believe the "government" has given us anything, then they can take it away.

So we all need to be on our toes as these sheriffs and others have been. Not only that, we need to be asking ourselves, "would I be willing to go to court over (XYZ), or even jail?"

Thanks for the inspiring post, DQ.

Donna