[ThinkDifferent]

Many of our rights are routinely violated. The law weights the rights of one person against another. As I said, laws can only take rights away. Whether or not that taking is justified depends a lot on the consent of the governed.

Then those rights are not immutable.

IOW, our Constitution is just a piece of paper... There is zero basis for most of our laws.

The does not follow from the former. The Constitution is a piece of paper, with a lot of good ideas that were arrived at via reason and experience. (Of course there are some bad ideas too, e.g. Amendments 16 and 17).

[GoLightly]

Then those rights are not immutable.

We are men, not gods. We do the best we can. Assumed immutability is the best set point before we begin to tinker with the scale of justice.

The does not follow from the former. The Constitution is a piece of paper, with a lot of good ideas that were arrived at via reason and experience. (Of course there are some bad ideas too, e.g. Amendments 16 and 17).

Paper with good ideas on it without the motion to implement it leaves it collecting dust on a back shelf somewhere. Takes beliefs of the governed to put it all into motion & one of those beliefs, a strong motivating belief is the belief in immutable rights. BTW, I agree with you about the 16th & 17th Amdts.