The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #81107   Message #2075078
Posted By: pattyClink
12-Jun-07 - 04:31 PM
Thread Name: BS: The First Amendment verbatim.
Subject: RE: BS: The First Amendment verbatim.
Another subtle point is that the 10 in the Bill of Rights are only our 'enumerated' rights, the ones specifically spelled out to make a clear bright line for future would-be tyrants.   They are not the only 10 we 'get'. The idea of the republic was that the people would hold all rights to self-determination, and the government was to do only those tasks specifically directed by the citizenry. Thus there are 'intrinsic' rights such as privacy, that are not enumerated, yet this government was intended to have no power to usurp.   

The constitution writers had a tussle over bothering to include a bill of rights, because to some it was unnecessary to spell out a few rules if we were to have general rights to our own lives, liberty, etc. Now we are fairly glad they did, yet also we have given people the idea that ONLY those 10 are 'allowed' us by government which rules over us. We have a lot of people who just don't get it.