There are many laws and rules we have created in the past that seek to be universally applicable. The golden rule, Kant's categorical imperative, the non-aggres

There are many laws and rules we have created in the past that seek to be universally applicable. The golden rule, Kant's categorical imperative, the non-aggression principle are all attempts at this, and each one has accumulated an extensive list of exceptions and footnotes. The golden rule breaks down with masochists, the categorical imperative breaks down with increasing specificity of the action in question and the NAP flat out ignores externalities. The world is too complex for simple rules, honourable though their intentions may be, and older attempts at this are guiltier than modern ones. The steadfastness to which America cleaves to an 18th century charter has posed significant roadblocks to establishing effective policy in the 21st century. While very readable, the Constitution is frustratingly unspecific. An enormous effort is spent in "interpreting" it in a way that can support policy, in the same way that the Bible or Koran is bent to suit the individual ideologies of their adherents. With the right to bear arms, all that can really be agreed upon is that "arms" is something more than a butter knife and something less than nuclear ordinance. Free speech shall be guaranteed, except when it comes to advertising speech, fighting words, death threats and the list goes on. In these debates, the opinions of the framers should be only slightly more relevant than those of Plato, Hume or Rousseau, and what should dominate the debate is the actual consequences of the policy in question. What's more, the absence of certain rights in the constitution has hindered recognition of the right to shelter, or safety, for example. When Ruth Ginsberg was asked to recommend new founding policy for a revolutionary Egypt she said this: "I would not look to the U.S. Constitution, if I were drafting a Constitution in the year 2012. I might look at the Constitution of South Africa. That was a deliberate attempt to have a fundamental instrument of government that embraced basic human rights, had an independent judiciary. … It really is, I think, a great piece of work that was done. Much more recent than the U.S. Constitution." http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/ginsburg-likes-s-africa-as-model-for-egypt/ http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/ginsburg-likes-...