Random Stuff
This post is just some random stuff that I want to say but not really put into separate posts. Here goes:
A list of stuff not in the Constitution:
Congressional Districts
The Electoral College
Executive Order
Executive Privilege
Impeachment means removal from office
Innocent until proven guilty
Judicial Review
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
Of the people, by the people, for the people
No taxation without representation
Number of Justices in the Supreme Court
Political Parties
Qualifications for Judges
The right to privacy
The right to travel
The right to vote
The separation of church and state
SlaveryAnd no mention of the word God either.
This whole homosexual marriage thing:
Bubba has it right, why do people care? Jeff at ALMTTR opines and it has to do with God. God has no place in my government. From a purely legal standpoint, marriage is a contract. Some people get married in the eyes of God (heck, I did) but the state can’t use that because it is respecting the establishment of religion. That’s a no-no.
Why guns?
Some folks falsely think that I don’t care about other civil liberties as long as I have guns. Not true. Why do I devote so much time to the right to arms? Because that right is under special attack and no one significant is looking out for it. The NRA? Yeah, right. The largest pro-gun organization has supported a lot of gun control laws and kowtows to anti-gun stuff pretty quickly.
The right to drive?
Every driver’s handbook says driving is a privilege not a right. Why? I’d say it’s one of those rights that remain with the people, or the state. Of course, the people don’t regulate anything so the state does. I think you have a right to drive as part of your right to get to work, which supports your right the pursuit of life, liberty, etc.
Our country has gotten to the point where we assume a right doesn’t exist before we assume it does.
I updated the links at the left there.
The Mega Blog alliance?
Seems the RTB has allied with the Bear Flag League. As soon as the BFL violates the pact of non-aggression (and they will), we will invade.
Why do birds suddenly appear?
It’s called reproduction.
November 19th, 2003 at 1:30 pm
Ahem . . .
Firstly, the Constitution is not a list of rights, it is a list of powers granted to the government by the People. The Bill of Rights is named that way on purpose as a reminder to the feds and States what they are not supposed to do to the people.
SO, when you write “this right is not in the Constitution”, you are correct. You must find the power given to the government to infringe on that right.
See Amendment IX for a better written version of that.
Who can not be prohibited from voting is covered in the Amendments too, quite well, with authorization to enact enforcement legeslation (like the Voting Rights Act of 1964).
Qualification for Judges: “The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour”, implies that bad behaviour disqualifies them. Not real strict, but it is a qualification although not very quantified.
Article II, Section 1, Clause 2: Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector. Commonly known as “The Electorial College”.
and Amendment XII
The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;–The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted . . .
Right to privacy from unreasonable government intrusion (a portion):Amendment IV: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. Also Amendment V and others.
Sorry, kind of busy at work right now, but there is a good start to shorten the list 🙂
November 19th, 2003 at 3:45 pm
Guy:
If you go to the link Uncle provides, he lists most of those caveats. I agree, it’s misleading to say “these things aren’t in the constitution.” These things may not be explicitly in the constitution, or they may not be worded in precisely that way, but the concepts are generally there, even if only implicitly.
When you have time to read Uncle’s link, you’ll see that they’re mostly splitting hairs.
November 19th, 2003 at 8:26 pm
Rights are arbitrary social constructions. They are what we say they are.
November 20th, 2003 at 7:58 am
tiz a verr thoughtfull post ye dun here, mr. uncle. i lack yer way of presentin stuff even if i dont always agree. but yer a hard’n to pin down.
bes of all, ye made me laff out loud with yer las commint bout them birds.
November 20th, 2003 at 10:35 am
SU,
You got me!
November 19th, 2003 at 1:24 pm
The Grand Alliance
The Bear Flag League and the Rocky Top Brigade are in serious discussions about a nonaggression and mutual assistance pact to deal with threats to members of the kind that threatened Justene over at Calblog. This could be the beginning
December 5th, 2003 at 12:15 pm
Rights Versus Privileges
A couple weeks ago Say Uncle raised a question on whether driving was a “right” or a “privilege.” A few days earlier, the right/privilege distinction was raised in my mind when I read this quote, courtesy of Condoleezza Rice:The US…