I agree that the measures taken by government are almost invariably to strengthen it. However, with regard to a felon. You know the line. We are all endowed with certain inalienable rights...
If you accost me, you are robbing me of those precious rights which I cannot sell away. Therefore, society (government) has determined that you must forgo some of yours permanently.
I don't disagree with it completely.
Rights that government can take away are not rights. The fundamental principle of our Constitution and that the Founders worked for was a government that could NOT take away rights. Rights that the government can take are not rights at all; they're privileges.
I do not disagree with this. But I think there are limits.
I also think Jitsie, as evidenced by his fantasies, should not be armed. For the safety of anyone who disagrees with him.
In the United States, at least how it is supposed to be, we punish for crimes committed rather than for the psychological inclination to commit a crime. There are limits, though, you're correct. They're defined in the Constitution as limits on government, not limits on people's rights.
Think of it this way. You are, or at least I am, by nature free and no man has any natural authority over us. By consent of our forefathers, government was created to provide for those things we cannot reasonably accomplish as individuals and that government was created by our Constitution. Similar to covenants on a home or property, their agreement on the Constitution binds their descendants. Others, who came later, voluntarily accepted the same covenants that now binds their own descendants. So now we have a government that has some authority - as created and limited by the Constitution.
If you think government has some authority to restrict a person's liberty then you should be able to define from where in the Constitution that authority comes. Otherwise, you must accept that they have some power simply by being "government"; that they have some natural power, by birth perhaps, over you.
I accept the role of government, as defined and limited by the Constitution, and accept the authority that grants to the Government. I do not accept any other authority, not traceable to the Constitution, or any natural right of any man to rule over me. No doubt, there are those who, unjustly, exercise authority over me by the power of their guns and prisons, and I succumb to it while I must, but I do not accept it as their right or just authority.
All those who exercise power by threat or by any means other than the authority of the United States Constitution, or State Constitutions where they are compliant with the United States Constitution, do so only through tyranny and are, themselves, tyrants.
So, if you think the Federal Government has the authority to strip convicted felons from any of the rights, privileges, or immunities of the United States, please provide the constitutional authority to back it up.
