|
celticlord2112 -> RE: Well regulated? (11/14/2008 8:05:44 PM)
|
quote:
Seriously, you see a "free state" as on the verge of dissolution from an angry armed citizenry at any moment, and the intent of the Constitution?
Doesn't that just makes us subject to different tyrants?
"At any moment"? No.
Consider for a moment part of the text of the Declaration of Independence--which I submit gives insight into the mindset and philosophy of our Founding Fathers on this point:
quote:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
I do not believe the framers of the Constitution intended the citizenry to be in a state of constant agitation. I do believe that, coming out of their experience of the American Revolution, they were cognizant of the potential for a "long train of abuses and usurpations" even as they were designing a government to reduce that potential. Having risked everything--including their lives--to throw off the monarchy of Great Britain, does it then follow these same people would so order their new government as to prevent future generations from having the same option, should time and circumstance prove it necessary?
|
|
|
|
