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To: robertpaulsen
State government is closer and more responsive to the people. People within a state have more in common with each other, such that their laws reflect the majority will. A violation of "natural" rights would/could lead to an exodus of citizens (and their taxes) to a friendlier state.

History proves this wrong. In the 80 or so years before the 14th Amendment, "Natural" rights were violated at will by the states. For example, look at the civil rights abuses perpetrated on whites in the south who opposed slavery.

That majority rule in a state somehow ensures that rights will be respected is just wrong. If you are given a dollar to split among three people, majority vote determines how it is split, it is likely that two of the people are going to band together in a majority voting block to take the dollar all for themselves. That is a simplified version of the danger of factions that Madison spoke about in the Federalist Papers. If it can happen with three people, how will it not happen with a state of three million.

119 posted on 06/09/2004 8:28:24 AM PDT by Texas Federalist
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To: Texas Federalist
"That majority rule in a state somehow ensures that rights will be respected is just wrong."

Not what I said. I just said that the law would be more likely to reflect the will of the majority.

Take flag burning, for instance. Legal in the U.S. If Texas could vote on the issue independently from the rest of the U.S., would flag burning be legal in the state of Texas? I think not. (Hey, don't you guys respect "rights"?)

"In the 80 or so years before the 14th Amendment, "Natural" rights were violated at will by the states."

Hmmmm. Couldn't have been that bad. It took another 50 years after the 14th amendment before the BOR started to be incorporated.

121 posted on 06/09/2004 9:01:32 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
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