Atlantis
06-22-2022, 07:01 PM
Sounds crazy, right?
Well, hear me out.
People have the right to their life being protected by their government. I.e. nobody wants to live in a society where anyone can kill you and the government doesn't do anything about it.
So we pass a law that says murder is illegal and then punish people who are convicted of it.
Nothing in the Constitution needs to spell it out even though it's a foundational right to every political entity. I.e. no "Ten Commandment"-style "Thou shalt not Kill" is needed in a secular society.
That's how it should be for the Bill of Rights.
If they are that important, then the instruments of government that have been spelled out by the Constitution will preserve that right as the people of each generation see fit.
Countries in which the freedom of speech, assembly, etc is not officially protected by a stated law in their constitutions still provide reasonable protections for this.
Countries in which cruel and unusual punishment is not officially disallowed by their constitution have banned capital punishment, while we still have it. They aren't boiling people in pots or burning them alive either.
The 2nd amendment isn't the only problem.
The Entire Bill of Rights is.
It's a superfluous list of rights that aren't even the most important to be singled out in a modern state that makes people overly attached to and defensive of these rights, and unaware when an exception has to be made for them. It sacralizes and fetishizes what should be treated as just another right, subject to legislation, executive action, and judicial decision.
No Ten Commandments-style laws that elevate certain rights to the status that the Bill of Rights has elevated them. The only amendments to the Constitution should be regarding the process and procedure by which the government is structured and administered, not specific laws that are the output of that governing process.
Well, hear me out.
People have the right to their life being protected by their government. I.e. nobody wants to live in a society where anyone can kill you and the government doesn't do anything about it.
So we pass a law that says murder is illegal and then punish people who are convicted of it.
Nothing in the Constitution needs to spell it out even though it's a foundational right to every political entity. I.e. no "Ten Commandment"-style "Thou shalt not Kill" is needed in a secular society.
That's how it should be for the Bill of Rights.
If they are that important, then the instruments of government that have been spelled out by the Constitution will preserve that right as the people of each generation see fit.
Countries in which the freedom of speech, assembly, etc is not officially protected by a stated law in their constitutions still provide reasonable protections for this.
Countries in which cruel and unusual punishment is not officially disallowed by their constitution have banned capital punishment, while we still have it. They aren't boiling people in pots or burning them alive either.
The 2nd amendment isn't the only problem.
The Entire Bill of Rights is.
It's a superfluous list of rights that aren't even the most important to be singled out in a modern state that makes people overly attached to and defensive of these rights, and unaware when an exception has to be made for them. It sacralizes and fetishizes what should be treated as just another right, subject to legislation, executive action, and judicial decision.
No Ten Commandments-style laws that elevate certain rights to the status that the Bill of Rights has elevated them. The only amendments to the Constitution should be regarding the process and procedure by which the government is structured and administered, not specific laws that are the output of that governing process.