Framers Quotes

"If you look at the course of western history you`ll see that we`re slowly granting basic rights to everyone. A long time ago only kings had rights. Then rights were extended to property-owning white men. Then all men. Then women. Then children. Then the mentally retarded. Now we`re agonizing over the extension of basic rights to homosexuals and animals. We need to finally accept that all sentient creatures are deserving of basic rights. I define basic rights as this --the ability to pursue life without having someone else`s will involuntarily forced upon you. Or, as the framers of the constitution put it, the ability to have "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". By what criteria can you justify denying basic rights to any living thing? Realize that by whatever criteria you employ someone could deny basic rights to you if they objected to your species, sexual preferences, color, religion, ideology etc. Would you eat your housecat, or force a mentally retarded child to ingest oven cleaner? If not, then why is it ok to eat cows and test products on sentient animals? I believe that to knowingly commit actions that cause or condone suffering is reprehensible in the extreme.I call upon you to be compassionate and treat others as you want to be treated. If you don`t want to be beaten, imprisoned, mutilated, killed or tortured then you shouldn`t condone such behavior towards anyone, be they human or not."

The framers of our Constitution meant we were to have freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.

(That, in part, is why the Constitution`s framers gave justices life tenure - to enable them to rule wherever the law and the Constitution led them, without obligation or fear of political reprisal. Former Republican president Gerald Ford recently paid tribute to John Paul Stevens , his only appointee to the Supreme Court, who is also far more liberal than Republicans expected.) He has served his nation well, ... with dignity, intellect and without partisan political concerns.

(That, in part, is why the Constitution`s framers gave justices life tenure '” to enable them to rule wherever the law and the Constitution led them, without obligation or fear of political reprisal. Former Republican president Gerald Ford recently paid tribute to John Paul Stevens, his only appointee to the Supreme Court, who is also far more liberal than Republicans expected.) He has served his nation well, ... with dignity, intellect and without partisan political concerns.

The framers of the Constitution ... were not at all opposed to citizen participation and self-governance, but they wanted it done in a way that required deliberation. Part of the problem with the initiative process is that it`s not deliberative or informed decision making.

Neither Aristotle nor the Framers were known for self-indulgence. All believed that happiness is a legitimate goal in life; perhaps, one of the reasons we are here.

The Framers of the Bill of Rights did not purport to "create" rights. Rather, they designed the Bill of Rights to prohibit our Government from infringing rights and liberties presumed to be preexisting.

It is impossible to build sound constitutional doctrine upon a mistaken understanding of constitutional history. . . . The establishment clause has been expressly freighted with Jefferson`s misleading metaphor for nearly forty years. . . . There is simply no historical foundation for the proposition that the framers intended to build a wall of separation (between church and state). . . . The recent court decisions are in no way based on either the language or the intent of the framers.

Statutes authorizing unreasonable searches were the core concern of the framers of the 4th Amendment.

The Framers of the Bill of Rights did not purport to "create" rights. Rather, they designed the Bill of Rights to prohibit our Government from infringing rights and liberties presumed to be preexisting.