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To: robertpaulsen

Do you believe who gets to exercise free speech rights is a state decision? Should the state decide who gets to go to church or who gets to have a jury trial?

Does the state decide who gets any rights at all, or just the right to keep and bear arms? Is your view based on incorporation of the certain protections from the bill of rights or is it just your personal feeling?


740 posted on 01/16/2007 3:13:24 AM PST by Old Dirty Bastiat
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To: Old Dirty Bastiat
Should the state decide who gets to go to church or who gets to have a jury trial?

A defendant in a small claims action may demand a jury trial in New York, but not in California.

Perhaps you can petition Ginsberg or Souter to seize that power as well.

742 posted on 01/16/2007 3:51:30 AM PST by Mojave
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To: Old Dirty Bastiat
Rights are not assigned or handed out by any government. So let's get that straight from the beginning. Rights are either protected or they're not.

The Bill of Rights, as written by the Founding Fathers, only applied to the federal government. In other words, those rights could not be infringed by the federal government.

The states were free to infinge (and many did), guided only by their state constitution. This is called federalism. Which I favor.

So to answer your question, yes, I believe your rights are protected by your state and should be protected by your state. You, as a citizen, have the most control over a local government.

I do not want five federal justices interpreting the free speech clause of the first amendment and applying that interpretation to all 50 states. Or any other amendment.

"Does the state decide who gets any rights at all, or just the right to keep and bear arms?"

Not "gets rights". When it comes to the the right to keep and bear arms, each state decides whether to protect that right and to what extent they will protect it. The second amendment (which has not been "incorporated") has nothing to do with your individual RKBA.

743 posted on 01/16/2007 5:35:14 AM PST by robertpaulsen
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