We often talk about "our rights" but we seldom talk about what that means. In both our State and Federal Constitutions certain rights are enshrined, these include popular things like freedom of speech and the right to keep and bear arms and the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. We have a multitude of other rights that aren't necessarily codified but, exist if we choose to enforce them. All these rights are absolute and unalienable, meaning there are no limits to those rights and those rights may not be justly infringed by government under any conditions.
Throughout history, governments have persuaded people to cede those rights to them. The most egregious of these takings has been under the auspices of an emergency. We have agreed to allow the government to "declare an emergency" and we would suppress our rights voluntarily for a time to achieve a specific end, the end of the emergency. This has been seen as a necessary evil to maintain our way of life or to overcome a situation so dire that the sacrifice was worth the resulting peace. This is no longer a sustainable or responsible practice. Our government has become accustomed to declaring emergencies to expedite their own ends, often not in our best interest.
As of this writing, there are 40 declarations of Emergency in effect in the United States. The oldest active emergency declaration is the "Blocking Iranian Government Property" in response to the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979. We resolved the Iran hostage crisis in 1981 but have been antagonizing Iran because of it since 1979! In 1995, President Clinton declared an emergency to "Prohibit Transactions with Terrorists who threaten to Disrupt the Middle East Peace Process", it is still an active state of emergency today. The big question is why? Why are we living under the fear and special powers of emergencies that are spurious at best and primarily coercive and unjust? If we had a responsible and liberty minded government, would these "emergencies" and their associated special powers be retained decades after the justifying events were resolved?
In light of the abuse of a special privilege by a government seeking special power, I propose we strip the government of their ability to gain special powers through the declaration of an emergency. I advocate for an immediate end to all current emergency declarations and their related special powers. I would furthermore call for a repeal of any law, or administrative rule that empowers government to suspend, alter, restrict or otherwise infringe on our natural rights. I don't believe that our government is responsible enough or focused enough on the best outcome for the people to be trusted with the ability to restrict or otherwise infringe on our natural rights.