Last October 17, President Bush quietly signed into law two measures that seriously undermine the foundations of our republic.

The first, called the Military Commissions Act, effectively abolishes the habeas corpus guarantee.

Habeas corpus is the constitutional principle forbidding the detention of a criminal suspect without a trial. Amazingly, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez insists that this due process protection is not guaranteed by the Constitution.

The second measure signed on October 17 gives the president power to mobilize National Guard units without the request of their state governments in times of emergency.

As the New York Times points out, because of that measure it is now possible for a president to ?override local control of law enforcement and declare martial law? by using ?military troops as a domestic police force.?

There are bills pending in the Senate to restore the habeas corpus guarantee and the traditional National Guard command structure. Introduced by Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, both bills have Republican co-sponsors. They should be supported by Americans from across the political spectrum who cherish our Constitution.

Let us stand in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.

There is a concept in law known by the Latin phrase ?parens patriae? -- a phrase that refers to the State as the chief parent. This idea represented a view of government that was abhorrent to the framers of our Constitution, who understood government to be an occasionally useful, but always dangerous, servant ? and a deadly master.

The Founding Fathers had no intention of creating a system in which the State was considered the father or mother of our children. Yet that view is woven into policies too numerous to list. Think of it: How often do we hear a politician or pressure group make a casual reference to ?our? children ? as if the State somehow has a property interest in every child born in this country?

Sometimes that assumption is laid bare, as when Texas Governor Rick Perry, a Republican, recently issued an executive order requiring all female schoolchildren in his state to receive a vaccination for a sexually transmitted disease. That order was rescinded after it provoked a furious reaction from Texas parents who don't subscribe to the view that their children belong to the State.

Let us stand in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.

In addition to being Washington's birthday, February 22 was the anniversary of the martyrdom of the German resistance group called the White Rose. Led by Hans and Sophie Scholl, the group included five young students and a college professor, who wrote and circulated six pamphlets urging resistance to the Nazi regime.

?It is certain that today every honest German is ashamed of his government,? proclaimed their first pamphlet. ?Do not forget that every people deserves the regime it is willing to endure!?

They urged their fellow German Christians not to be deceived by the official depiction of the pagan Hitler as a providential national savior. And they appealed to those who still harbored a love of freedom:

?[W]hy do you allow these men who are in power to rob you step by step, openly and in secret, of one domain of your rights after another, until one day nothing, nothing at all will be left but a mechanized state system presided over by criminals and drunks??

Despite the fact that it cost them their mortal lives, the White Rose stood fast in the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free.