[5703] in Central_America
Re: New quotes for Fri Dec 16
sethf@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (sethf@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Mon Dec 19 00:42:45 1994
> (from some mail I got, with the subject line: ``How far we have come''
> A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every
> government on earth.
> Thomas Jefferson 1787
> If you give the people the power to interpret the Bill of Rights,
> the Bill of Rights is a dead letter. It is meant as a barrier
> against the people.
> Justice Antonin Scalia 1994
These two quotes are not nearly as much in conflict as the
sender would like you to believe. In fact, they say pretty much the same
thing. I'll bet the sender wants you to get the idea that the first is
against government power and the second is for government power (i.e.,
as the reverse of "the people"). But they are both saying that the Bill
of Rights is NOT a majority-rules document, it is in fact meant to go
against "the will of the people" (as theoretically expressed in government).
And I think Scalia's absolutely right. A substantial portion of
the population won't sign the Bill of Rights, and describe it as
Communist, subversive, propaganda. I have severe doubts that it would
ever pass on a national referendum.
