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To: Old Teufel Hunden
"That means that the federal government has a duty to protect our civil rights as outlined in the bill of rights."

The Bill of Rights, as written, was to protect those rights from federal infringement only. States were free to infringe on those rights, and were guided only by their state constitution.

The concept is called "federalism". One of the things the 14th amendment destroyed.

171 posted on 06/03/2007 6:17:14 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: robertpaulsen

“States were free to infringe on those rights, and were guided only by their state constitution.”

So you believe that at one time a state could confiscate everyone’s guns if they wanted to? Violate other civil liberties as guaranteed in the constitution and set up a dictatorship? That the federal government would have nothing to say about that? I think you are mistaken.

Please don’t say that would violate their own state constitution. Acording to your reasoning, someone could come in and abolish the state constitution and the federal government would be okay with that also.

See my recent replies on this subject. The federal government guarantees certain liberties to all citizens and no other government underneath that could ever take those things away.


175 posted on 06/03/2007 6:38:20 AM PDT by Old Teufel Hunden
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