[Tublecane]

“I can well remember federal forces converging in the South to enforce civil rights mandates.”

Actually, the federals came to enforce their sovereignty against rebel usurpers. It wasn’t about anyone’s civil rights until at least two years in. And even that was more about strategy and PR. The real civil rights reckoning came in the usual Constitutional way, with the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

The point is thzt the federal government wants to pick and choose when it comes to constitutional issues. The Bill of Rights addresses issues that have been major bones of contention throughout recorded history, with a view toward settling them once and for all. It isn't hard to see that governemt may resent any restrictions on it's actions, and it is foolish to allow government to define it's own limits. The same must be said about the potential excesses of democracy.

The Founders intent was a bulwark between the power of government, and the whims of popular opinion, and the rights of an individual citizen.

Any reading of the Bill of Rights counter to this is invalid, whether it comes from a court, or not.

"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine". Thomas Jefferson