Why isn't more attention paid to the 9th Amendment???

[Drjones]

Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

That just about kills any fight the antis could dream of ever having.

Oh wait, they don't care about the stupid, ancient old Constitution...

 

[Preacherman]

It's never been about the Constitution, really... it's all about power and control. Anything and everything that gets in the way of that fight is either twisted until it can be used as a weapon, or discarded, or ignored. Just to give another example, besides guns: the Left isn't making much fuss about the Homeland Security Act, despite their oft-proclaimed commitment to civil liberties, etc. Ever wondered why? Just think what a Clinton or a Schumer could do with an act like that if he/she ever came to power... it'd make Filegate, Travelgate and Zippergate seem like Sunday school picnics! Guns are simply another convenient symbol to use in the real battle - the fight for control, the struggle for power.

 

[BogBabe]

The Ninth really says it all: Individuals are sovereign, except within the specific spheres in which we have delegated specific powers to the government.

And in the endless gun control battle, of course, even if the 2nd disappeared tomorrow, we still possess our innate right to keep and bear arms.

 

[Kaylee]

Why? Because reading it as written, along with the 10th Amendment, would mean tearing apart most all of the Federal and a good chunk of State governence and legal codes in a great big swath.

Pointing this out is enough to get one branded a radical, a nutcase, an unrealistic troublemaking idealist, and out to starve people's grannies and newborn babies.

Thus, easier for both politicos and the folks on the sidelines to ignore the elephant in the living room.

-K

 

[Jeff White]

It's words on a paper.....

You would be right...if the Constitution were the law of the land. Unfortunately since about 1861, we've steadily chipped away at it whenever it got in the way of what we wanted to do. When is the last time anyone here heard someone in governemnt actually stand up and say "No, that action would be unconstitutional!"? The words that our founding fathers put down on paper to ensure that they and their descendants lived free, became just words, the first time someone in governement chose to disregard them and got away with it.

Many other bastions of freedom in the world, like the former Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Vietnam, Zimbabwe all have constitutions or charters that say similar things about individual rights as ours does, but they were never free. Their leaders always looked at what their constitutions or charters said as pretty words on paper, but certainly nothing they had to abide by.

Our elected leaders are on the same road. To them the Constitution is meaningless words on paper. We can't let the ravings of some rich, white revolutionaries get in the way of progress. So every year on the 4th of July they trot it out and pretend to respect it. Then on the 5th of july, they go back about the business of governing, like it wasn't there. And they get away with it because we allow them to. Too many of us are willing to look the other way when bending the constitution would personally benefit us. We say, well that's unconstitutional, but the founders couldn't have conceived of this problem.

I have friends here and at TFL and family members who are willing to cancel the Bill of Rights for the GWOT. "The founders never could have conceived of a threat like al-Queda", they say. Or "Thank God, that the Bush administration is in power" This is the most dangerous attitude of all. Does anyone actually believe that the Bush administration wll be in power forever? The Patriot Act and every other power we're gladly handing over to this administration will still be the law of the land when the next administration takes over. Will the next administration use it wisely and judiciously? I'm not willing to take that chance. A dictatorship is a good efficient form of government when you're in power. It's not so good when your not.

Jeff

 

[MitchSchaft]

I guess our only solution is to vote them out of office.

 

[RobG]

SCOTUS decides constitutionality. They are being relatively complacent and legislators now have a power trip.

"The Greeks called it Deus ex Machina. The God in the machine drops from the sky and saves you from yourself. We call it therapy and leave out God."
-Solomon Short

 

[G-Raptor]

Originally posted by MitchSchaft
I guess our only solution is to vote them out of office.

That is the preferred solution, not the only one.

 

[Blackhawk]

I have friends here and at TFL and family members who are willing to cancel the Bill of Rights for the GWOT.

You're stuck with your family members, but you can do something about your friends....

 

[pax]

Pointing this out is enough to get one branded a radical, a nutcase, an unrealistic troublemaking idealist, and out to starve people's grannies and newborn babies.

Kaylee,

You are right on the money.

pax

You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence. -- Charles Austin Beard

 

[80fl]

G-Raptor:



quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by MitchSchaft
I guess our only solution is to vote them out of office.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That is the preferred solution, not the only one.

Right you are sir...right you are!

 

[PATH]

Vote them out and raise hell while protecting our rights.

 

[Jeeper]

Wait a minute.... The USA has a constitution?