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Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 09:01:38 -0600
To: Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com>
From: "G. Adam Stanislav" <adam@whizkidtech.net>
Subject: Re: Rights and the Constitution
Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG
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At 03:43 29-03-2000 +0000, Terry Lambert wrote:
>The U.S. Constitution does not _grant_ rights,
>it _acknowledges_ rights.

A very important distinction it is! I was just wondering recently (totally
independent of present discussion), how many people realize that.
Especially in these strange times when many of our supposed representatives
are more concerned with symbols (attempting to ammend the Constitution with
the ban on burning the flag) than with basic human rights.

Yes, rights are rights. Period. For millenia human rights were violated
because it was up to the law to dictate what you could or could not do. And
in many parts of the world that still is the case.

The US Constitution was an important step in recognizing that rights come
from human nature, not from the whim of a king (so was Magna Charta and
other documents, I am not saying the US Constitution was the first, just
that it was an important step).

Adam


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