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To: Captain Jack Aubrey
We have all rights not ceded to the Government as powers through the mechanism of the constitution. The constitution does not limit or list the rights of the people but the powers of government. It is not vital to know what the founders considered to be a comprehensive list of retained rights as that isn't how they created the constitution. If one has a question concerning a unenumerated right one must ask if the government has the delegated power to legislate this right. If the Federal government does not have that enumerated power then one looks to the state. If the state does not have that enumerated power then it a right retained by the people.
63 posted on 11/04/2005 7:36:59 AM PST by Durus ("Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." JFK)
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To: Durus

You said: "We have all rights not ceded to the Government as powers through the mechanism of the constitution. The constitution does not limit or list the rights of the people but the powers of government."

I think you are confusing "rights" with "powers."
Governments have powers, people have rights.

You said: "It is not vital to know what the founders considered to be a comprehensive list of retained rights as that isn't how they created the constitution."

Again, governments don't have rights, people do. The constitution created a form of government. If you want to know what rights of the people were preserved and protected by the ratification of the Constitution and its amendments, then one MUST look to the understanding of the people who did that at the time. Otherwise, we're just making it up as we go along.

You said: "If one has a question concerning a unenumerated right one must ask if the government has the delegated power to legislate this right. If the Federal government does not have that enumerated power then one looks to the state. If the state does not have that enumerated power then it a right retained by the people."

You are mixing up rights and powers again.


65 posted on 11/04/2005 8:22:20 AM PST by Captain Jack Aubrey
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