Scott M. Stolz

2025-03-30 08:47:08

scott@loves.tech

If you read the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, you will notice that it guarantees rights to people... not just citizens... to people.

I don't care what your political persuasion is. Rights aren't just for you. They are for everyone.

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2025-03-30 11:09:14

Scott M. Stolz

scott@loves.tech

@hosh I understand you point of view, but you have to remember that not all of them were slave owners. In fact, half of them were abolitionists, who wanted to end slavery. And the abolitionists weren't stupid. Even though they had to compromise on slavery to get the Constitution ratified, they inserted language into the Constitution that they hoped would be interpreted to apply to all people in the future. Slavery was a worldwide institution at that point, and they did not have the power at that time to stop it. After slavery was abolished and after the Civil Right Act was passed, their vision for a better future was finally be implemented, at least in law. We are still waiting for certain parts of the population to catch up, but at least the law is pretty clear. It is illegal to violate anyone's rights, regardless of the color of their skin.

Think of it this way. Just because your neighbor is a thief, that does not make you a thief. And, likewise, just because some of the Founding Fathers had slaves, that did not mean all of them had slaves. A large percentage of them we very vocal abolitionists.

2025-03-30 11:13:57

Scott M. Stolz

scott@loves.tech

Personally, I think it is important, especially in this political environment where people's rights are being violated, that we point out that the U.S. Constitution clearly says the U.S. government cannot violate your rights. Regardless of where one wants to draw their moral stance from, U.S. government officials are bound by the Constitution and laws, and nothing else. I could cite various declarations of human rights, but none of that matters. The courts will enforce the U.S. Constitution, not other documents.

2025-03-30 13:26:28

hosh

hosh@hub.vikshepa.com

Agreeing with both of you - we are speaking of laws (rather than morals) here, and precedent of legal interpretation. It's only that, just as laws can be improved by constitutional ammendments, they may also be degraded, such as by filling the courts with corrupt or illiberal judges and by discovering similar loopholes to those that allowed the constitution to be passed in the first place. I don't think that a system has been invented that cannot be corrupted. Weaknesses can be exploited. The bedrock is shown to be cleft with fissures; so that, before you know it, you find Guantanamo Bay sized gaps. Here in Israel, where there are fewer checks and balances than in the US, the power of the judiciary is under attack. Netanyahu is claiming that the courts are "anti-democratic", and that they should not be permitted to overrule the bills passed by politicians, because their rulings do not respect "the will of the people". Similar backsliding has been taking place in countries all around the world, so that we should see these processes as being very much as the same trend.