The reality is: we can NEVER relax on safeguarding our rights. Not for one minute.
We cannot depend on a "government" to guarantee those rights. In fact a "government" is a threat to those rights. ANY form of "government". It's NEVER in the interest of a government for it to have citizens in a superior position then it does.
That's why the bill of rights were so amazing. It's really the only time that it was put on paper in the founding documents of a government that people had over riding rights over a government. Some of the founders wanted to avoid putting them in. Some insisted they be included. For good reason.
Maybe that is part of the reason why we have the problems we have. They were a after thought in too many ways, not built into the entirety of the constitution. Maybe its not possible to make a government that won't violate human rights at some point. So government ends up doing what they normally do, they trample rights, even if it takes time. Even with the rights clearly outlined, and the powers held back from the government and left with the people.
People forget that the government does not grant those rights (how could it?), they are our rights as human beings. Christians often describe them as God given rights. Others may describe them as natural rights.
So the government has no right to take something it didn't give in the first place. The best a government can do is to not violate them. Unfortunately our government is not doing it's best these days.
The first major cracks in the bill of rights occurred during the civil war. Yes, the civil war. But that is a whole other subject.
There will alway be those who want to take our rights. That is a REALITY as well. A more "advanced" society does not stop that. In fact it can make it worse. Just look at Germany before WWII.
Some will be power hungry individuals who want them just for their own personal gain. Those people are easier to demonize, and some will even be open about their hunger for power. Few people today like Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Castro, just to name a few. Yet most can inflict enormous damage, because so many will bury their heads in the sand when they are rising. Only government bodies make it possible for those few to do so much harm. Hundreds of millions paid with their lives just because of these few individuals. Just because they wanted CONTROL.
Another type are in some ways more dangerous. These are the people we face today. They think they know better then the "rest of us". They are both the islamists and the elite of our own nations. Ever wonder why they are allied now? Even with their major differences? Just look at Nazis and Communists in the 1930's, most see them today as enemies. However back then they were allies. Same basic major goal CONTROL, it's the little differences that end those alliances. It will end badly for those two groups as well.
Today's groups are insidious in their power grab.
It is all done in the name of our "own good".
Since they know better then us, we have to stop our activities that they have deemed wrong. We eat the wrong things, smoke the wrong things, practice the wrong religions, drive vehicles that are too big, make too much money just to name a few. If we object, we are demonized for various "crimes". Like racism. Or destroying the planet. Stealing the future from the children. Or practicing the wrong religion, or for being a gun nut.
Its hard to fight these people. They can use unlimited resources from taxes and invented "money". They work for the government full time in thousands of government agencies. So they will always be at "work". Plus they fool wealthy (or not so wealthy) into spending their riches on things they should be opposing. So many "foundations" work 24/7 destroying freedom. They use the poor as dupes as well. They can be used for protesting 24/7, and some are all too willing to destroy their own communities. Don't get me started with the so called press and media.
We on the other hand, have to do our regular jobs before we can defend anything. Tea party people can only protest on the weekends or evenings, because we have our own thing going. Like work, church, family or whatever. We cannot be on 24/7. That's why we are losing. We can only "do" politics in our free time.
Its taken a century to get where we are today. A Republican president in 2017 won't change it, because many of that party are part of the elite. We can only slow the "progress".
The only way to stop it is to not allow the government to be a job. First we have to end the "career" politician with term limits for starters. Second, we have to end lifetime government work. We may need "term" limits not only for politicians but for all public sector employment.
Also when "laws" are passed, they should first limit government power, not limit the actions of private citizen. Most laws are backwards in that re-guard.
We are probably past the point where politics can fix things. We cannot pass these government controls in todays political climate.
People have gotten used to mostly peaceful political change. That era is passing away quickly. It didn't need to happen and we all will pay the price.