Back in the day, people in government compromised. The new Constitution of the United States of America, featuring more power for a central government, only came to pass because of the compromise to include the Bill Of Rights. These Rights are laid out in a specific order and there are ten of them. Let's look, shall we?
The 1st Amendment is all about freedom of and from religion, freedom of speech and assembly and that good ol' right of the people to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Pretty astounding when you think about it. But, rather pointless without the 2nd Amendment, which, without coincidence is second. You can't write something like the 1st Amendment, with it's pesky rights, and they are our rights, without a way to defend those rights. And by golly, the 2nd Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms and defend that precious 1st Amendment. Yep. Damn pesky. For one cannot exist without the other, and those folks in government who are really, really tired of people having ANY RIGHTS are presented here with a part of a document that is not only pesky, but damn irratating for them as well. Not only that, the intertwining of these two Amendments, is pesky and irritating for people who believe they have a left wing or right wing view of the whole thing.
But, wait!!! There's more!
It's the 3rd Amendment! A close examination of this Amendment by the jaded, terrorist fearing crowd of the 21st century, reveals cries of antiquation! Oh, come on, really? Troops being quartered in my house? What is this, the 18th century? Regardless of all the misery and death that the military/industrial complex heaps upon the people on a daily basis, the heart of this amendment has had a lasting effect. Even today, in the 21st century, you'd be hard pressed to find some CIA backed dictator in Africa infringing on this, uh, American Right.
Which leads us then to the important, "I've been arrested for something and I can't get up" Amendments. The 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Amendments all deal with the fact that the rights of the accused supersede those of the accuser. In other words, America believes in an axiom that was expressed, ironically if you prefer, by English jurist William Blackstone in 1765, "Better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer".
And, now we fall upon the 9th and the 10th Amendments, which not only strengthen support of the "you can't have have the 1st which is defended by the 2nd, which also defends the 3rd Amendments" but also uses language so simple that one may be shocked to learn over 200 years later that the words were written by lawyers! And we all know how pesky lawyers can be.
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| (The pesky Bill Of Rights.) |
But, wait!!! There's more!
It's the 3rd Amendment! A close examination of this Amendment by the jaded, terrorist fearing crowd of the 21st century, reveals cries of antiquation! Oh, come on, really? Troops being quartered in my house? What is this, the 18th century? Regardless of all the misery and death that the military/industrial complex heaps upon the people on a daily basis, the heart of this amendment has had a lasting effect. Even today, in the 21st century, you'd be hard pressed to find some CIA backed dictator in Africa infringing on this, uh, American Right.
Which leads us then to the important, "I've been arrested for something and I can't get up" Amendments. The 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Amendments all deal with the fact that the rights of the accused supersede those of the accuser. In other words, America believes in an axiom that was expressed, ironically if you prefer, by English jurist William Blackstone in 1765, "Better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer".
And, now we fall upon the 9th and the 10th Amendments, which not only strengthen support of the "you can't have have the 1st which is defended by the 2nd, which also defends the 3rd Amendments" but also uses language so simple that one may be shocked to learn over 200 years later that the words were written by lawyers! And we all know how pesky lawyers can be.
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