[ExI] Words don't mean what they used to mean.

[spike at rainier66.com]

...> On Behalf Of BillK via extropy-chat
Sent: Monday, 4 July, 2022 12:14 PM
...
Subject: [ExI] Words don't mean what they used to mean.

The Constitution was written about 250 years ago by US colonists rebelling
from the rule of UK King George...

See this article by Stanford historian Jack Rakove for more explanation.
<https://news.stanford.edu/press-releases/2020/07/01/meaning-declaratnce-cha
nged-time/>

Rather a big change in meaning!

BillK
_______________________________________________



BillK, 

We owe King George for being such an authoritarian.

The Jeffersonian phrase quoted was the declaration written and ratified in
1776.  The constitution was later.  It was not ratified by all the former
colonies until the bill of rights were codified.  In that sense, they were
not amendments, they were really part of the original document as was
universally ratified.

The Bill of Rights defined the rights that existed in the colonies before
the formation of the US government, so it clarified that the formation of
the confederacy of states was not taking away existing rights.  States can
be totalitarian if they wish, but they cannot stop people from leaving, nor
can they stop people from coming in to take advantage of that system.  The
federal government's powers must be carefully and intentionally limited, for
without those limits we are sliding down the slope to totalitarianism.
Unlike leaving a state, leaving the US may not be an option, for other
countries do not want us either.

The colonists did not trust the concentration of power at the federal level.


Other than that, most things are different now.

spike