Many people have no idea about the basics regarding the vision of the founders or why things were set up as they were. Our education system has failed us in this regard.
The first radical idea was that people were created with basic human rights. The idea was that these were “born with” rights. No king, queen, or any other kind of government has the right to take these basic rights away. At the time it was a radical notion.
Many Americans believe the constitution especially the bill if rights give them their rights. That is incorrect. The constitution is not to give rights but protect rights, Further, the first ten amendments to the constitution list some personal rights. According to amendment nine we are not to assume that only the rights listed are all the personal rights to be protected.
DEMOCRACY
Democracy is basically another word for majority rule. But since our founders believed in basic “born with” human rights they structured the constitution so the majority could not vote away basic rights from people, ie. freedom of speech, freedom of religion,etc. They also structured federal elections to be run by the people and their state representatives. They structured the presidential election with the electoral college so each state and its voters would have a say. If presidential elections were ‘majority rule” three or four most populous states could control the presidency, giving most states and millions of voters no say.
I’ll stop here. These are things to think about. So many do not even know what was intended. To have a positive country we must value and protect our freedoms.
Tim's Positive Place 