4 ms·
ryeights gave a cite below, but consider this: If the First Amendment had been written as "A well-educated legislature being essential to the governance of a f
by Turing_Machine 7y ago
ryeights gave a cite below, but consider this:
If the First Amendment had been written as "A well-educated legislature being essential to the governance of a free state, the right of the people to keep and read books shall not be infringed", you would argue, what, exactly?
That only the legislature had the right to books?
That only "well-educated" people had the right to books?
No, you wouldn't. Neither would anyone else, because that would be a tortured interpretation of the language.
- yongjik 7y agoThis is a really weird argument, considering that the First Amendment is emphatically not written as such, and that's what this debate is about: maybe there's a reason why such a phrase appears in 2A but not in 1A, or maybe there's none, but you're begging the question.
- Ididntdothis 7y agoIf the first amendment was written that way I think we shouldn't just ignore the phrase "well-educated". Otherwise you can choose to ignore other sections too. Either all words have meaning or they don't. You can't pick and choose.