Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: robertpaulsen
I have no idea what that means.

It means that I believe the Constitution provided for a much more libertarian republic as the default, meant to limit government to the bare minimum necessary to protect and defend our liberties -- but that we find ourselves today in an entirely too statist and socialist state of being, that has crept in incrementally over many years.

The Founders also provided for Amendments to the Constitution, making them deliberately difficult to pass (so that people wouldn't tinker with the fundamentals every time they wanted to win a political battle). I believe you are being disingenuous by suggesting that any Amendment that was not part of the Bill of Rights somehow goes against the intent of the Founders, when they purposely made provisions for these Amendments as legitimate additions to the Constitution.

338 posted on 04/24/2006 9:51:32 AM PDT by Ryan Spock (Former Internet Addict -- Making good progress with help from an online support group)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 332 | View Replies ]


To: Ryan Spock
It was the original intent of the Founders to have the Bill of Rights restrain solely the newly formed federal government. Case in point. In the deliberations of the constitution, Madison proposed:

"Fifthly, That in article 1st, section 10, between clauses 1 and 2, be inserted this clause, to wit: No State shall violate the equal rights of conscience, or the freedom of the press, or the trial by jury in criminal cases."

It was rejected. The Founders did not want such constitutional limitations placed on the states.

Yes, the Founders also provided for Amendments to the Constitution. But an amendment like the 14th (which supposedly applied the BOR to the states) was totally contrary to the original intent of the Founders!

For you to sit there say that because it was an amendment it therefore complied with original intent is, excuse me, absurd.

The second amendment was, and is, a restriction on the federal government only. Whether the second amendment protects an individual right or a collective right is moot when it comes to state law, since every court in the land has ruled that the second amendment does not apply to state laws. Period.

Your RKBA is defined and protected by your state constitution. That's just the way it is, and coincidentally, that is the way the Founding Fathers wanted it. They trusted their state over everything else. They identified themselves by their state, as a Virginian or a Georgian, and took pride in the things that made their state different.

To think they would press for some kind of constitutional federal uniformity is ludicrous.

340 posted on 04/24/2006 10:27:14 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 338 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson