On a message board where I contribute regularly, the question continually arises as to whether or not we should try to press cases against CPS on appeal for Constitutional law violations. I thought I'd share with you my response:

There is much debate about whether a family should set the basis for appeal in their encounters with CPS and family court. While an appeal can be lengthy and can effect a family emotionally, and thus should never be undertaken lightly, it is absolutely crucial for us to press our rights continually to prevent our government from abusing its powers.

If you read this board regularly, you will note that Constitutional law violations of agents of CPS, and, in fact, often of their own policies and procedures are both routine and egregious. They must be held accountable to the law, just as you and I are accountable to the law.

In his book "Good to be King", 2004 Libertarian Party Presidential candidate Michael Badarik rightly points out that the Constitution does not give us any rights as individuals. These rights were believed by our founding fathers to be inalienable and bestowed upon us by our Creator, a concept they clearly expressed in the Declaration of Independence, and chose to enumerate in the first ten amendments we know as the Bill of Rights. The Constitution was written to spell out the powers of the government, and their limitations, and that is why the Bill of Rights are worded in such a way as to forbid the government from infringing upon them.

These rights are so crucial, so essential, that a revolution was fought to defend them, and the blood of patriots was spilled on numerous battlefields throughout what were then the American colonies. Our founding fathers felt them so dear, so precious, that they were willing to risk their lives to provide them for all Americans.

Where would we be if American citizens did not appeal their rights to higher courts? Slaves would still be on the plantations, and the African Americans who were free would still be subject to Jim Crow laws and eating at separate lunch counters, drinking from separate fountaints, and swimming in separate pools. Women would still be forbidden the right to vote or to hold public office. The theory of evolution would still be banned in public schools across America. The slaves who rose up against their captors on the Amistad would have been returned to chains and summarily executed to provide an example to all those who would choose to rebel.

We are a nation of laws, and even our lawgivers are themselves subject to those laws. While we have the police, the highway patrol, and other law enforcement agencies to ensure our compliance with the laws, our government and its agents have only the citizens to ensure their compliance. And if we never exercise our rights to hold our government accountable, our government will increasingly violate the laws it created, meaning that none of our rights are secure. We cannot and must not let that happen.

In third world countries, revolutions are bloody and occur on the streets, and in the ghettoes. In the United States of America, we are blessed with the rights to fight our revolutions within the courts and the halls of our various legislatures. But if noone is there to fight, we can be sure that the right will never prevail.