| Kasz216 said: I actually bet he would agree with you as well that Guantamo bay is illegal.
Libretarians believe that principles matter and doing things the right way is important because if you do something the wrong way you leave yourself open to a lot of problems. |
I agree that sticking to principles, especially the bright line principles that run throughout the Constitution, is extremely important. These are the principles that should be "shackles" that we should never lose sight of.
But some principles change, and some principles should change. That is just how a society works, which is one of the reasons there is a lot of wiggle room in some parts of the Constitution. The Founding Fathers were well aware that time changes a lot of things. But we should stick to the principles that we can say there really was no question about when the Constitution was drafted based on what would have been within their contemplation at the time.
But in the 2nd amendment example it is unreasonable to construe that people's rights to own missles are protected by claiming that is what the Founding Fathers intended. It just isn't what they intended because it is impossible for them to have intended that. This is the kind of principle that we have to look at from a practical standpoint.
And the possession of automatic weapons is similarly something the Founding Fathers did not consider when they made the 2nd amendment. I don't think it is unreasonable to say that there could be a way to justify the ownership of automatic weapons based on the Constitution, but is that what is best for society and can we reasonably say that the Founding Fathers had automatic weapons in mind even if they did say "arms"?
I guess I am trying to make a distinction between intention and principles, as both are pretty important when interpreting the Constitution. And the Founding Fathers in a lot of ways did not want to hinder our growth as a society by creating a rigid document, so practicality should really come into play when discussing things in the Constitution that were not fleshed out on purpose or situations that have completely changed in a way the Founding Fathers could not have predicted since the drafting of the Constitution.
We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke
It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...." Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson
