Bloggin BOR: Not in My Bedroom You Don't

Amendment 3: No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

In my re-reading of the Bill of Rights at had a 3rd Amendment epiphany. This one is like that 5th commandment, honor thy mother in father. Keep holy the Sabbath, Thou shalt not kill; these are easy to remember. But when asked about the 5th Commandment, you’re likely to make something up along the lines of, “Thou shalt not vote for more than one on American Idol in any given week.”

Maybe we are so removed from the days without multi-trillion dollar defense budgets, but the whole idea of soldiers sleeping in citizens’ homes seems so quaint. I imagine these days some military support organization sends soldiers into homes for fundraising or something. In these days of the Active Duty" porn site controversy, the concept gets completely redefined.

However quaint it seems today, I have a feeling 200-plus years ago this was probably one of the most important amendments. I mean, really, who wants a bunch of soldiers in your home, again, unless they are Paratroopers from ActiveDuty.com?

While it may seem like a relic today, my interest is piqued with this part, “but in a manner prescribed by law.” Really, doesn’t that make this whole amendment useless? Couldn’t Congress just pass a law saying, “during war, solidiers gotta sleep in Muffy’s bed, although the homeowner can restrict the use of said Strawberry Shortcake sleeping bag.”

I’ve noticed that “prescribed by law” shows up a couple of time in the Constitution, especially when saying something is forbidden unless “prescribed by law.” Call me stupid here, but isn’t this document supposed to be law?

I’m starting to think this whole Bill of Rights was never meant to be read by normal, everyday citizen a la the Kaballah.



NOTE: Does it seem like I just used this post for a bunch of hot photos?