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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: Does the Bill of Rights Give You Rights? Does the Bill of Rights Give You Rights? In a recent issue of USA TODAY they had an online poll asking people if they agreed that the second amendment gave them the right to keep and bear arms. At the time I read it almost 15,000 people had taken part in it and an astounding 98% of them said yes. I say it was astounding because 98% of the people who took part in the poll were wrong. Neither the second amendment nor any other amendment confers any rights upon anyone. A Supreme Court ruling from 1884 is instructive in this issue. Here is a short excerpt from the ruling and a link to the entire case for those who may want to read it: As in our intercourse with our fellow men, certain principles of morality are assumed to exist without which society would be impossible, so certain inherent rights lie at the foundation of all action and upon a recognition of them alone can free institutions be maintained. These inherent rights have never been more happily expressed than in the declaration of independence, that new evangel of liberty to the people: "We hold these truths to be self-evident" -- that is, so plain that their truth is recognized upon their mere statement -- "that all men are endowed" -- not by edicts of emperors, or decrees of Parliament, or acts of Congress, but "by their Creator with certain inalienable rights" -- that is, rights which cannot be bartered away, or given away, or taken away, except in punishment of crime -- "and that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and to secure these" -- not grant them, but secure them -- "governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Among these inalienable rights, as proclaimed in that great document, is the right of men to pursue their happiness, by which is meant the right to pursue any lawful business or vocation, in any manner not inconsistent with the equal rights of others, which may increase their prosperity or develop their faculties, so as to give to them their highest enjoyment. The common business and callings of life, the ordinary trades and pursuits, which are innocuous in themselves, and have been followed in all communities from time immemorial, must therefore be free in this country to all alike upon the same conditions. The right to pursue them, without let or hindrance, except that which is applied to all persons of the same age, sex, and condition, is a distinguishing privilege of citizens of the United States, and an essential element of that freedom which they claim as their birthright. It has been well said that "the property which every man has in his own labor, as it is the original foundation of all other property, so it is the most sacred and inviolable. The patrimony of the poor man lies in the strength and dexterity of his own hands, and to hinder his employing this strength and dexterity in what manner he thinks proper, without injury to his neighbor, is a plain violation of this most sacred property. It is a manifest encroachment upon the just liberty both of the workman and of those who might be disposed to employ him. As it hinders the one from working at what he thinks proper, so it hinders the others from employing whom they think proper." Butchers' Union Co. v. Crescent City Co., 111 U.S. 746 (1884) http://supreme.justia.com/us/111/746/case.html ************************************************************************************************ It is unreasonable to believe that one group of men could grant anyone any rights by listing some of them on a piece of paper. If that were the case then another group of men with bad intentions could take away the same rights by writing different words on another piece of paper. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 5.
#2. To: James Deffenbach (#0)
Heh. Maybe next time they should ask what the Ninth and Tenth Amendments do!
Yes, or ask the same bunch which amendment gives them the right to freedom of speech. And the ones that don't look at you like a deer in the headlights will almost automatically tell you the first amendment if they answer at all. But it doesn't say it grants anyone any rights, says that "Congress shall make no law..." All of the Bill of Rights is a restriction on the power of government and nothing in it gives anyone any rights that didn't exist before the formation of government.
Yup. Unfortunately, people don't understand that and they also don't understand that they should rightfully be putting MORE limitations on Government. Civics education in this country is very sorely lacking.
#6. To: mirage (#5)
The dumbing down is almost complete. Or appears to be.
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