[A2J]

I don't care if someone calls themself "liberal" or "conservative" - if they believe that "good/bad for you" trumps individual rights, them screw 'em. Freedom rejects this notion all together.

Then why did the Founding Fathers codify our rights in writing?

[Gunslingr3]

>>I don't care if someone calls themself "liberal" or "conservative" - if they believe that "good/bad for you" trumps individual rights, them screw 'em. Freedom rejects this notion all together.

Then why did the Founding Fathers codify our rights in writing? <<

Because people like George Mason were afraid that unless we specifically spelled out what areas the federal government could not tread Article 1, Section 8 could continually be reinterpreted to unhinge the limited aspect of those delineated powers. Some people might try to outlaw a plant for example, and then use the federal goverment to enforce this provision even though there is no authorization of this power in the Constitution. Respect for the Constitution 100 years ago was great enough that in order for the federal government to outlaw alcohol it had to actually be able to point to a clause in the Constitution permitting it to do so.
Arguments against a Bill of Rights (from Madison for example) were based on the fear that if liberties were codified (instead of just the powers of government), that code could serve as basis for limitation. In short, a list of what the Federal government did not have authority to do is unlimited. An attempt to itemize it threatens the unmentioned (and innumerable) freedoms that exist by changing the view of our federal government's charter from one of what it IS allowed to do to what it ISN'T allowed to do. The response to these criticisms are the 9th and 10th amendments.
Even the federal government's anti-marijuana efforts began with modest observation of the limitations on federal power. Marijuana prohibition began in the 1930's as a tax they simply didn't expect people to pay, thus making their possession (in absence of a tax stamp) criminal.
A2J, can you tell me what clause in the Constitution permits the federal government to make any plant illegal? Is there an amendment I'm not aware of? Are the only limits on our federal government's powers those delineated (and constantly re-interpreted) in the Bill of Rights?