The BOR

Mr. Perfect

Let's all not forget that the US Constitution and the BOR in particular DO NOT grant citizens (or states, for that matter) any rights whatsoever. Individuals' rights PREDATE the US Constitution. The founders acknowledged that the rights were granted BY THE CREATOR, and drafted the BOR to restrict the government from engaging in activity that would do damage to those rights.

Once you have that proper perspective you begin to read the BOR differently. You will properly understand that the BOR is a specific listing of things the federal government can not do, rather than some hastily assembled foreshortened list of how the feds can control people within some framework.

jimdeere

It seems simple to us, but the founding fathers had little to work with. The urgency to come up with a viable set of rules required a lot of compromise among the varying factions.

Can you imagine the gridlock if today's representatives had to come up with something as important?

Mr. Perfect

Another important point to consider (particularly when arguing with prog softies):

The actual BOR was largely drafted by, and was included at the insistence of, the Anti-federalists. This was done precisely to limit the power of the central government. More importantly, it was included because they refused to ratify the constitution without it. This is the central concept that makes any change to the BOR so problematic. To do so would be to break the original contract that created the union.