You know what would be handy? If you were to codify these reasons and purposes unambiguously in a single, agreed upon, authoritative place (say, a law book or s

You know what would be handy? If you were to codify these reasons and purposes unambiguously in a single, agreed upon, authoritative place (say, a law book or something), so you don't need to divine meaning from ancient texts and have the same silly discussion every time the subject comes up. Take a look at the legal system of just about any non-English speaking country, to see how this could possibly work. (Admittedly, it makes for great film scripts and courtroom scenes, which are valuable and important export-products of the US, but having clearly defined and agreed upon laws and rules is kind of important too)