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The Constitution Applies to Government, not People

By politicoid Dec 11 118

Constitution of The United States (We the People Banner)

Conservatives often argue that the constitution does not apply to foreign peoples. It is only for citizens of the United States. Neither is correct.

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The Constitution a Contract

First, we must realize that the constitution is a contract which gives validity to our political and legal systems. It grants the government authority so long as it abides by a following set of rules. Both the authority and the rules are established in the constitution. Because of this, the constitution does not address what the people can and cannot do. It also does not confer rights to the people. Rights are absolute.

Evidence

This is pretty apparent once you start reading through the constitution. Let’s take the second amendment as an example, since many people interpret it as only applying to U.S. citizens. If the constitution granted a right or privilege to U.S. citizens allowing them to own guns, one would expect the wording to go something like this “citizens have the right to own guns.” But that’s not the wording at all. The second amendment says that “the right the right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed.” First, it assumes that the right exist naturally. Second, it tells the government that it cannot act in opposition to gun rights. This is how the other amendments and how pretty much all of the constitution is laid out.

In theory, the authority of the government does not extend beyond those who implicitly or explicitly agreed to the contract and so only those who were born here or who immigrated here would be bound by the contract. This does not mean that the restrictions do not extend to these people however. This would require that the restriction list only U.S. citizens. The rules in the constitution do not have this limitation.

Pages: 1 2

Tags: constitution, contracts, due process, government, rights Categories: Essays

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