the ideals of our founding fathers should not be the basis for how contemporary america is run.

when we think of our "founding fathers" , names like thomas jefferson, patrick henry, and benjamin franklin come to mind. we typically think of the late 1700s era, when important documents like the constitution of the united states of america was written. however, people began settling in america (on a large scale) since the early 1600s. people came to america for a number of reasons, most notably in pursuit of religious freedom (to practice whatever religion they chose without punishment or imposition from the government), and for economic and political gain. our founding fathers came up with a cohensive document that outlined american goals, laws and ways of life. however this document, the constituion, has been ratified and amended a total of 27 times since its completion in 1787. this is because times and opinions have changed. for instance, women are now granted the right to vote, whereas they were unable to according to the original laws of the constitution. this important change should set a precedent for future ratifications of the constitution. additionally, personal opinions and beliefs of our founding fathers should not weigh so heavily in terms of contemporary american politics. for instance, i see references to the founding fathers and their intentions numerous times a day on this website. especially from libertarians and republicans. now i would argue that our founding fathers were indeed libertarian in nature in terms of their political beliefs. yet the primary political parties in this country are democrat and republican, not libertarian. on a personal note, however, most of the founding fathers identified as christian, and therefore upheld christian values and ideas in terms of what they felt should and should not be legal. an example is their belief that the term marriage be restricted to include only women and men. republicans are essentially governmental libertarians. however they want to impose the judeo-christian beliefs of our founding fathers into the law. this type of governmental imposition is what our founding fathers were trying to avoid. and while guys like tom jefferson and ben franklin may have disagreed with ideas like gay marriage and abortion, their view on morality should not be the basis for today's laws. our culture and society has shifted and changed over time due to movements such as women's suffrage, civil rights and more. circumstances from the 1700s are different from circumstances today. an additional example is gun rights. back in the 1700s, the united states feared the british militia and other enemies entering their homes and posing a real threat to their families. plus, the population and population density, plus overall way of life, is completely different from today. thus the right to an individual's ability to bear arms is completely understandable. however in today's day and age, due to the current american culture (and other factors), it is completely unnecessary and in fact harmful for many people to own handguns or other fire arms. yet conservatives argue that our founding fathers believed it right to be able to have them, and so we should think that way too. that way of thinking is flawed. i can list other examples of irrational comparison, but i digress for now. i await my opponent's response before providing additional argument.