Friday, September 19, 2008

From What Rubbish

If I had to choose 5 of the 10 amendments to eliminate I would most probably eliminate amendment 2,3,4,8 and 10. The second amendment is Bearing Arms, the third is Quartering of Troops, and the seventh is Civil Trials. The last two amendments I have chosen are number eight, Punishment for Crimes, and ten, Powers Reserved to the states.
First of all, the second amendment, Bearing Arms, is one very controversial right. To some it means that it gives the authority of one to own firearms, while others disagree and say it means that it secures the right for each state to have and maintain a militia. Because this is such a controversial r ight and its meaning is up for debate what is the point of the right in general? Well, I think that this amendment should be eradicated altogether because of its ambiguity. A right with more clarity will be less susceptible to such controversy. I believe that the rights should be firm in there meaning if a whole country is entitled to it.
Secondly, I think we should eliminate right 3, Quartering of Troops. This law prevents soldiers from being sheltered in any house without the consent of the owner. I don’t think this is that big of a deal. As Americans we have our duties and if that includes protecting our soldiers then so be it. American soldiers risk their lives for us, for our country, and sharing our homes with them is the least we can do. Third, I think that the fourth amendment, Searches and Seizures can be eliminated. This amendment basically states that the people are protected from their house being searched unnecessarily. Well, as good people one must have nothing to hide. If you do have something to hide well then that’s too bad for you (you should not have anything to hide and that’s my point)!
The fourth amendment I would eliminate would be number 8, Punishment for crimes. This basically means that excessive bail or terrible punishments should not be required. Well, what is an excessive bail money amount? To a making 5 dollars a day 500 dollars would be a lot, but to a man making 1000 dollar a day it is nothing much.
Lastly, I would eliminate number 10, Powers reserved to the state. This law is unnecessary to me. People are people why can’t one nation have all the same rules and regulations? Having different state laws don’t really make sense to me. A country is a country and we should all follow the same laws.
The bill of rights is very important to me and having to relinquish 10 amendments is very hard. I am very grateful that the people of the United States have these rights.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

At the beginning of your post, you said that you would remove 2,3,4,and 8. Then, you said that you would remove the seventh amendment, civil trials. I agree that the right to bear arms should be removed but not for the reason you said. Just because a law is controversial and ambiguous, doesn't mean it is useless altogether. The right to bear arms can be useful when you can't buy food for any particular reason and the only way is to go hunting. You may need a gun to protect yourself or to scare someone off. Finally, at the end, you said that relinquishing 10 amendments would be very hard, but you only eliminated 5 amendments.

Anonymous said...

Would you really want to come home to find soldiers using your house as a base? What if you had a young child in your house? He would see the blood and terror of war before he was ready. He would be scarred for life. What if some soldier caught a deadly disease and gave it to your child? Would you think this law wasn't "that big of a deal" anymore? Not only would America lose a young, innocent child, the parent might be too afraid of losing another child to give birth again. One of her children may have grown up to be the next Albert Einstein. I'm not so sure anymore that you want to give up right 3. You might want to proofread your work. The comment before me tells of two errors and there is another one. To a making 5 dollars a day when it should be to a man making 5 dollars a day.