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Posted by Sherman in Idaho [72.47.9.37] on Saturday, December 15, 2012 at 16:59:38 :
In Reply to: Re: The right to self-defense posted by birdog [174.1.26.66] on Saturday, December 15, 2012 at 16:03:09 :
Our founding fathers made it hard to change the constitution for a reason. Sometimes I think they made it too hard, and not Democratic enough, but maybe I'm not as smart at they were. If we had public referendums on every thing where the people were split pretty close to down the middle, the constitution could change every few years. There would probably have been a time when the people would have voted to expel or kill all Chinamen, and then all Germans. We might have had death to all drug users or to all bankers. Abortion and gay marriage could have become instantly legal everywhere or could have become capital offenses. Maybe the people would have voted to make FDR or Reagan Emperor for life.
Make the constitution too easy to change, and what we get is mob rule and lynch law. There's a very wise line in the Declaration of Independence that reads, "governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes." There's nothing much lighter and transient than one day's news headline.
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