From the Library of Congress:
On December 15, 1791, the new United States of America adopted the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, confirming the fundamental rights of its citizens. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, speech, and the press, and the rights of peaceful assembly and petition. Other amendments guarantee the rights of the people to form a "well-regulated militia," to keep and bear arms, the rights to private property, fair treatment for accused criminals, protection from unreasonable search and seizure, freedom from self-incrimination, a speedy and impartial jury trial, and representation by counsel. [...]
Mr. Nitpick would like to point out that the Second Amendment does not give the people the right to form militias. It says that since properly trained militias are necessary to the security of a free state, people have the right to have their own firearms. And, despite the protestations of some, that right is not only a collective right, no more than any other personal right enumerated within the Bill of Rights. It is both an individual and a collective right, but most assuredly not a right of the government.But, beyond that nitpick, it is worth noting (again) that the United States as we now know it did not come into being in 1776, but rather with the ratification of the Constitution in 1789 (and probably it could be argued not truly in its final form until the ratification of the Bill of Rights.) That's thirteen to fifteen years of turmoil before we ever got anything worked out. It's worth remembering that as the people of Iraq go to the polls, democracy is an ongoing process. And sometimes progress is slow. But we do everyone a disservice to insist upon immediate perfection.
Posted by Terry Oglesby at December 15, 2005 11:58 AM