Replies

To: H.Akston
You seem to be suggesting that our unalienable rights are given to us by the Constitution..."
# 20 by MadameAxe
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To: MadameAxe
That must be true because
I don't have those rights as an American in another country, do I?
# 49 by afraidfortherepublic
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You, and every other man, have God-given, inalienable rights.
Our government is legally, by man-made laws,
required to refrain from interfering with those rights.

If you go to another country,
you may find yourself in a place where government
does not have man-made laws telling it to leave your rights alone.
That foreign government can legally infringe upon your rights,
but the rights given to you by God, as part of being a man, are still there.
They are just being interfered with by man-made laws.

"You seem to be suggesting that our unalienable rights are given to us by the Constitution."

"That must be true because I don't have those rights as an American in another country, do I?"

Yes, in many cases you do. The Supreme Court has held that the rights protected by the Bill of Rights against ACTIONS BY OUR GOVERNMENT apply to actions taken BY OUR OWN GOVERNMENT in this country or in other countries. But this is an area in which I do believe that they have made a difference between citizens and non-citizens. For example, if you are in Mexico and the DEA follows you and illegally searches your luggage, your 4th Amendment rights have been violated even though the acts did not occur in this country. This is pretty much a common sense approach. You wouldn't want the government to be able to stalk, trick, lure, or drag you until you were out of the country and then beat a "confession" out of you.

The constitution is a document designed to limit the power of government, it details HOW it should work, and the specific reponsibilities of each branch. IOW, it is an employee manual for public servants. The Bill of Rights again addresses the government telling them VERY specifically what rights are not up for discussion, they are ours and "Congress shall make no laws..."

The short answer lies in the Declaration of Independence. Where the constitution is a practical document, the Declaration deals with principles, and beliefs, the ideas drove the Founders to revolt. I don't think that you can read one without the other.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by God with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness..."

Rights are granted by God to all men, and in THIS country, they are protected from government by a Constitution.

Having said that, foreigners do have rights under the Bill of Rights, AND they are expected to obey the laws of the land as well---a citizen of Denmark traveling in the US on vacation WILL be arrested for possesion of marijuana because US laws apply while he's here. If US laws apply to him while he's here, so does due proccess. He will be deported, but a Judge has to say so, it isn't a case of the arresting officer driving him to the airport and telling him to leave.

One last thing, if the Bill of Rights does not apply to foreign nationals visiting the US, what stops me from grabbing a bunch of people traveling in from Japan on their way to a Disneyland vacation and making them my slaves?

You seem to be suggesting that our unalienable rights are given to us by the Constitution

That must be true because I don't have those rights as an American in another country, do I?

Wrong supposition. Unalienable rights exist without governments. Our Consistution requires our government to recognize and respect certain rights. Other governments don't necessarily recognize them. Our rights aren't GIVEN by our government, they are PROTECTED by our government through our Constitution.