From: cescript@mtu.edu (Charles Scripter)
Subject: Re: So... Why have a standing military?
Organization: Michigan Technological University
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1992 23:05:25 GMT

In article <84193@bcsaic.boeing.com>, rwojcik@atc.boeing.com
(Richard Wojcik,snake) writes:

> Andy Freeman (AF) writes:
> AF> "Original intent" is the name of a school of constitutional
> AF> interpretation.  It makes vague references to 1790s documents when
> AF> convenient but doesn't feel bound by them.  It is a name chosen
> AF> for rhetorical reasons.
> 
> Here is a better definition from Levy's Original_Intent_and_the_Framer's_
> Constitution, p. x:  "The term `original intent' (or `original intention')

What's so great about Levy? (Who the hell *is* Levy?).  Personally,
I prefer Jefferson's quotes:

"On every question of construction (of the constitution) let us
 carry  ourselves  back  to  the time when the Constitution  was
 adopted,  recollect  the  spirit manifested in the debates, and
 instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text,
 or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it
 was passed." (Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, June
 12, 1823, The Complete Jefferson, p.322)

> stands for an old idea that the Court should interpret the Constitution
> according to the understanding of it by its Framers."  Most of the arguments
> surrounding the 2nd have assumed original intent, whether you want to admit
> it or not.

Hmmm...  "Assumed original intent".  Let's see what's assumed:

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
 (Thomas  Jefferson,  proposal Virginia Constitution, June 1776,
  1 T. Jeferson Papers,334 (C.J. Boyd, Ed.,1950))

"The strongest reason for the people to  retain  the  right  to
 keep and bear arms is, as a last  resort, to protect themselves
 against tyrany in government." (Thomas Jefferson)

"I ask, sir, what is the militia?  It is the whole people.  To disarm
 the people is the best and most efficient means to enslave them."
 (George Mason)

"A  free  people  ought...to be armed..."  (George  Washington,
 speech of January 7, 1790 in the  Boston Independent Chronicle,
 January 14, 1790)

"Arms  in  the  hands  of citizens [may] be used at  individual
 discretion...   in  private  self-defense..."  (John  Adams,  A
 Defense of the  Constitutions of the Government of the UAS, 471
 (1788))

"That  the  said  Constitution  shall  never  be  construed  to
 authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press or
 the  rights of conscience;  or to prevent  the  people  of  The
 United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own
 arms..." (Samuel Adams)

"Besides  the  advantage  of being armed, which  the  Americans
 possess  over  the people of almost every other  nation.    ...
 Notwithstanding the  military  establishments  in  the  several
 kingdoms of Europe,  which  are  carried  as  far as the public
 resources will bear, the  governments  are  afraid to trust the
 people  with  arms." (James Madison,  author  of  the  Bill  of
 Rights, in Federalist Paper No. 46. at 243-244)

"Are we  at  last  brought  to  such  humiliating  and debasing
 degradation, that we  cannot  be  trusted  with  arms  for  our
 defense?  Where is  the  difference  between having our arms in
 possession and under our direction,  and  having them under the
 management of Congress?  If our defense be the _real_ object of
 having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more
 propriety,  or  equal  safety  to  us, as in  our  own  hands?"
 (Patrick Henry)

"The right of the  people  to keep and bear...arms shall not be
 infringed.   A well regulated militia, composed of the body  of
 the  people,  trained  to  arms,  is  the best and most natural
 defense of  a  free  country..."  (James  Madison,  I Annals of
 Congress 434, June 8, 1789)

"A militia,  when  properly  formed,  are  in  fact  the people
 themselves...  and  include  all men capable of bearing arms."
 (Richard Henry Lee, Senator, First Congress, Additional Letters
 from the Federal Farmer (1788) at 169)

"To preserve liberty, it is essential  that  the  whole body of
 people always  possess  arms,  and  be taught alike, especially
 when young, how to use  them..."  (Richard  Henry  Lee,  1788,
 Initiator of the Declaration of Independence, and member of the
 first Senate, which passed the Bill of Rights.)

I think the original intent is pretty clear.

> AF> The Constitution isn't written in stone.  We can change it whenever we
> AF> want.  Therefore, it is unreasonable to "amend" it by less formal
> AF> means, however convenient that might be.  There's nothing wrong with a
> AF> "what they wrote simply isn't appropriate to a modern society"
> AF> argument, but the proper way to implement such a decision is through
> AF> the amendment process.

Correct.  And this is the only way it should be changed.

> The amendment process was intentionally designed to be difficult.  If you could
> change it at the drop of a hat, it wouldn't be worth much.

Correct, and correct.

> I would personally
> support a repeal of the 2nd if it were interpreted according to what you
> insist was the original intent of the framers.

You are perfectly welcome to support whatever you believe.  But
remember that we are also allowed to believe what we will.  And
until the Constitution is changed, it remains the "law of the land".

> But the courts appear not to interpret it that way, and most of
> the public is satisfied with the status quo in that regard.

The average person couldn't tell you when the Constitution was signed,
much less anything about it's contents.  Studies have found that
approximately half the people know little or nothing about the Constitution
(e.g. What it does, what the Bill of Rights is, and what the President's
power w.r.t. to Rights are).

Do you really find it surprising, or significant, that most of the
population is satisfied with the status quo?...

-- 
Charles Scripter   *   cescript@phy.mtu.edu
Dept of Physics, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931
-------------------------------------------------------------------
With your one remaining eye, please do NOT look back into the laser