There are years of jurisprudence and years of common law precedent that form the true vision of what the First Amendment means today.
I always find this argument irritating. You don't need to be an attorney or a jurist to twist words around, postulate social contexts, and invent hidden meanings. The minute that society agrees that the phrase "Congress shall make no law" means something other than "Congress shall make no law," I'm as qualified as you are, or as qualified as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is, to decide what that phrase really means. At that point, we can no longer even pretend to be honoring the founders' intents, so we might as well go full retard.
I rather like the Bill of Rights the way it was written, but I would understand if the nation decided to hold serious discussions about if, and how, amendments such as the First, Second, Fourth, and Fifth should be modified and adapted to better accommodate modern society's needs. Even though I might disagree with the outcome, I still think it would be better if we reviewed the Constitution regularly and changed it where we felt it was necessary, than to continue paying lip service to the entire document and the intent behind it while ignoring both at will.
The question isn't so much about whether you're as qualified as the courts to interpret the Constitution, but rather that particular debates have been litigated already and a particular interpretation chosen.
Serious discussion of revisions feels like a core part of jurisprudence.
What if constitutional language-seeking behavior were more human, and evolved with us?
It is philosophical, but psychologically healthy to recognize what needs governing now. Is a government contextually present more able to fit reality?
If no question is stupid. "A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer."..... Why is it felt governing and law is unquestionable? Sometimes our definition of stable is wrought?
A different angle, in same direction. Better constituting our futures is important.
I always find this argument irritating. You don't need to be an attorney or a jurist to twist words around, postulate social contexts, and invent hidden meanings. The minute that society agrees that the phrase "Congress shall make no law" means something other than "Congress shall make no law," I'm as qualified as you are, or as qualified as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is, to decide what that phrase really means. At that point, we can no longer even pretend to be honoring the founders' intents, so we might as well go full retard.
I rather like the Bill of Rights the way it was written, but I would understand if the nation decided to hold serious discussions about if, and how, amendments such as the First, Second, Fourth, and Fifth should be modified and adapted to better accommodate modern society's needs. Even though I might disagree with the outcome, I still think it would be better if we reviewed the Constitution regularly and changed it where we felt it was necessary, than to continue paying lip service to the entire document and the intent behind it while ignoring both at will.