Re: CDT Policy Post 3.08 - Senate Committee Approves Key Crypto Bill (fwd)

[Jim Choate <ravage@ssz.com>]

Forwarded message:

> Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 16:41:30 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
> Subject: Re: CDT Policy Post 3.08 - Senate Committee Approves Key Crypto Bill

> The United States is not a pure democracy, it is a constitutional
> republic. I believe I have a constitutional right to privacy. I also
> believe that I probably have a constitutional right to anonymity. It
> doesn't matter what "most senators" think, or indeed what "most Americans"
> think, if their thinking is contradicted by the Constitution. We do not
> have simple majority rule, here. In fact the founders of the country went 
> out of their way to insure that the simple majority could not easily 
> violate the principles upon which the country was founded.

Actualy with the wording of the 9th and 10th you as a citizen are reserved
ANY right you choose and the benefit of the doubt goes to you, the citizen.
For the government to prove their side they MUST demonstrate a
constitutional mandate.

Also notice the heirarchy of prohibition detailed in the 10th. The people
are NOT mentioned at all. In effect it says that the final say in ANY
discusssion of federal powers versus citizen rights falls to the people
since only they are specificaly NOT mentioned as a party the Constitution
even has the power to prohibit.

 
				ARTICLE IX. 
 
	The enumeration of the Constitution, of certain rights, shall 
not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 
 
 
[ This in effect says that my rights as a citizen are not limited by those
  that may be listed explicity in the Constitution. In effect an admission
  that my rights as a citizen, or even as a human being, are not limited
  by the Constitution by explicit intent of the authors.]
 

				ARTICLE X. 
 
	The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, 
nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, 
or to the people. 
 
[ The powers which are not assigned to the federal government by the
  Constitution OR prohibited in respect to the states falls to the
  states (acting per their own individual constitutions as the deciding
  factor within their borders) and if not covered in the state constitution
  then to the poeple to decide (assuming a popular vote). It is critical
  to note that no explicit limit is placed on the issues decidable by the
  people, a difference explicitly pointed out with the federal and state
  governments.] 
 
[The first ten amendments went into effect on 15 December 1791.] 
 
A perfect non-crypto example is the current brew-haha over assisted suicide
and a Constitutional right to die. The question is not whether I have a
right to kill myself (assisted or otherwise). The 9th clearly states that
just because a right I might claim is not listed does not mean I don't have
it. Now the 10th says that if the federal government wants to control it
they must show a delegation of authority in the Constitution. So, despite
what the esteemed Supremes may think the question is not "Does the
Constitution allow a citizen to do this?" which is what they announced as
their 'first' question but rather, " does the Constitution delegate the
authority to decide when or how a citizen may die?" If not then each
individual state should decide the issue until or if an amendment can be
passed. Should individual states not cover such decisions in their own
constitutions then the poeple decide the issue individualy until a vote
can be arranged. The problem with our current operation is that we don't
have enough plebicites.

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