Point, Counterpoint: Where the Left Would Take Us

This morning I read this item from Chris Enloe on The Blaze: "Law Professor Wants to Edit Bill of Rights." Since the link I provided probably won't last forever, I'll summarize here.

This wasn't just the maniacal rantings of your garden-variety left-wing loony college professor, though I'm sure similar ideas have been floated before. This one got printed in the Boston Globe, and I'm sure it found many pointy-headed liberals scratching their noggins and nodding in dimly enthusiastic agreement. The premise of the essayist (a professor from the University of Miami Law School named Mary Anne Franks) was that, in her words: "The First and Second Amendments tend to be interpreted in aggressively individualistic ways that ignore the reality of conflict among competing rights." Her recommendation was to rewrite the Constitution's first two amendments in the following way:

1st Amendment

• "Every person has the right to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and petition of the government for redress of grievances, consistent with the rights of others to do the same and subject to responsibility for abuses. All conflicts of such rights shall be resolved in accordance with the principle of equality and dignity of all persons."

• "Both the freedom of religion and the freedom from religion shall be respected by the government. The government may not single out any religion for interference or endorsement, nor may it force any person to accept or adhere to any religious belief or practice."

2nd Amendment

• "All people have the right to bodily autonomy consistent with the right of other people to the same, including the right to defend themselves against unlawful force and the right of self-determination in reproductive matters. The government shall take reasonable measures to protect the health and safety of the public as a whole."

So, to pick out just a couple of the ramifications of these proposals, the left would have us give up our freedom of religion in order to accommodate a freedom from religion. Imagine how that would play out in practical application. And the right to bear arms somehow magically transforms into a right to abortion! Voila! Not only that, but the right to defend ourselves against an unjust government gets transformed into the right of that same government to ride roughshod over the its citizens in the name of public welfare.

I was reading this item to my wife Susan and sounding pretty negative about the way we would be headed were it left to the powers that be. And she read to me the very thing she had just been reading when I interrupted her with this story, and confirmed my trust in the Power that Is.

God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling.

There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.

Come, behold the works of the Lord, Who has made desolations in the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire.

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. (Psalm 46)