reply to post by Sherlock Holmes
What makes it ambiguous ?! The wording. The Bill of rights contains such shortly written, multi-interpretable statements, as to render
the Amendments ridiculous in any kind of normal legal sense.
''The states are supposed to handle the rest''. That is exactly why Ron Paul and his supporters are crazy kooks. US society will devolve backwards to
pre-1960s times and earlier, if this were to be the case.
I'm not sure why you feel that way. The federal government handles national security, ensures everyone's treated equally, coins money and regulates
it value, and a few other big things.
The states are experiments in liberty. They're free to craft the outcome as they see fit, they have their own constitutions, governments, law
enforcement, and so on. They are (or were, anyway) essentially to be fairly autonomous. Is it so weird that Sweden handles its own affairs, even
more so than US states? What's the problem? Do they need some overseeing authority to take care of them?
Who overturns Supreme Court rulings ? A future set of nine politically-appointed judges in the SCOTUS.
Yes. And? The court is not infallible, being the obvious implication. That doesn't mean something was both constitutional and not at different
times - it means the court was wrong at one time.
LOL.
So, suddenly, the Constitution goes out the window, and an extremely subjective interpretation of the ''intent'' of the writers of the document comes
to the fore. How convenient !
So, tell me, what was the founding fathers' ''intent'' in their writing of the First Amendment and Second Amendment (considering that these have been
consistently restricted over the years) ?
You can use a clairvoyant, if that helps you.
No, not out the window at all. The US has a long history of very smart people reviewing and clarifying exactly these points, mostly in its early
history, from the vast amount of literature and communications left by the founders.
What exactly about the 1st and 2nd amendment aren't you clear on? Are you trying to get at the incorporation argument and if the states have a right
to judge contrary to the amendments? Again, I'll fall back to what I said previously as these two are generally clear, and yes, government tends to
overstep its bounds at times. Historically, children were raised in households with guns at a young age and taught to be proficient and trustworthy
with them, and people were free to speak their minds, follow their faiths, report news, and so forth without government interference.
Sadly, the US has become perverted in these understandings, and the people negligent and lazy in understanding their heritage.
Citation for what ? That Paul wouldn't have intervened in WWII or that it didn't benefit the US getting involved ?
You said:
But he said that he opposed the US fighting the Nazis.
I want to know where and when he said this, and what the context of the conversation was.
Student of history ? Verified citation needed.
I recommend Youtube or picking up a copy of his book "A Foreign Policy of Freedom: Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship" (a collection of his
speeches before the House) and checking up on his discussions of american history for yourself.
EDIT:
I suppose it is a fair question. We'll start with the fact that he warned us about the terroristic responses and loss of liberties prior to 9/11 as a
result of his understanding of history and foreign policy, as well as warning us about the housing bubble and coming economic collapse for the same
reasons as pertains to economic history.
Please give examples of these ''intelligence experts'' being in pre-war agreement with him; that is to say, before late 2001 in Afghanistan and
before spring 2003 in Iraq.
Superfluous. You asked how he knows the US isn't in danger in the current wars, and I don't think anyone should know better than actual intelligence
experts from multiple governments. Don't try to talk around things.
It's a logical fallacy to assume that because someone has supposedly predicted something in the past, then they'll be able to predict a vaguely
similar thing in the future.
I'd say that he has far from a solid grasp on things, other than realising that he's got a way to pander and exploit a worryingly large market of
uncritical thinkers, professional discontents and directionless messiah-seekers.
And I'd say it's a logical fallacy to claim hyped up threats constantly drummed at us by media and politicians who disagree with their own
intelligence agencies and their analyses carry more weight than those intelligence agencies and their findings themselves.
And you're also free to disagree with these experts all you want. But as Paul agrees with them and they with he, I'll trust his judgement over yours
any day...
edit on 1/6/2012 by Praetorius because: (no reason given)