To My Fellow Patriots & Lovers of Liberty,

For years, academics have assigned our noble Third Amendment to the dustbin of irrelevancy. According to their logic, the idea that soldiers would ever be deployed domestically against their own citizenry was a delusion dreamed up by the paranoid; any deployment would not only be for good (and decent) reason, but also conducted with the support of the people. A foreign invasion or natural disaster, perhaps.

Hogwash! Witness the military and its jackboots immediately bend to the will of the executive branch. They have been deployed, in flagrant violation of the Constitution, the rights of the states (and its governor), and basic moral decency. Their deployment to suppress protest stands in defiance of the First Amendment, but much praise has already been said in its favor.

Today, good citizen, I ask you to take a brief moment in thanks of our quiet but ever-present defender: the Third Amendment to the United States Bill of Rights. While many a joke has been made at its expense, even the Federal government and its apparati dare not challenge it. They'd prefer to let their minions sleep on the cold floor of a building than take it to the courts.

Many a family sleeps undisturbed in their beds tonight, unafraid that a hostile government agent will come knocking on their door demanding quarter. While it seems impossible, this was a real issue for those living in the formative years of our society. In the 1700s, British officers often requisitioned private dwellings throughout the Thirteen Colonies, and the British Quartering Acts forced colonial governments to accomodate and feed soldiers at their expense.

Our Founding Fathers understood the importance of private domicile, the one place safe from government intrusion. A haven against the many intrusions to our privacy, our dignity, and our liberty. The Third Amendment exists as a testament to its sanctity. No government goon can tread on our homes!

Thank you, Third Amendment!