spalz/Re: smart_sassy- Founding fathers
Instead of debating which interpretation we should follow, why don't we go back and read what the founders had to say?
On every question of construction [of the Constitution] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or intended against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.
— Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), letter to Judge William Johnson, (from Monticello, June 12, 1823)
Go back to when the Constitution was written? OK. I have just lost my right to vote, as did blacks. But the blacks don't matter because they are still slaves.
While you may think that is OK, I have got a great problem with it. If that is your interpretation of the Constitution then I hope you never succeed in trying to have America conform to your beliefs. You want us to go back and live in the 18th century - I think not.
Times have changed in case you have not noticed. There are things that the FF never thought of nor dreamed would occur. Hell, they never considered that women would vote at some point in time let alone deal with the issues of privacy, pornography, welfare, etc. You have to bend a little, spalz, and you are not even willing to consider the option. And that is just wrong.
