On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 19:38:40 +0000, Alistair J Murray was popularly supposed to have said:
The Bill of Rights is actually no bad thing at all. It prevents the authority of the state being undermined by other lesser bodies, and prevents such bodies from extending their depredations to the citizenry.
Bill of Rights contest 1489It can't be worse than McGonagall A Humble injectione Twas at the Seige of Matagarda, during the Peninsular War, That a Mrs Reston for courage...
Bill of Rights contest 1490Thank you for visiting soc.culture.scottish in pursuit of education. Today's (Dec 10th 05) poetic gem is Mcgonagall's An Address to the...
As things stand under the Bill of Rights, to impose a fine you have to be a court. Courts are appointed and regulated by the State, which is effectively regulated by the People. So, we the people consent to be ruled by representatives of what we more or less think overall, and in return the State jealously protects it's rights and priviledges under the Bill of Rights and in doing so acts in our best interests too.
Erode that and any stupid bugger can impose a fine, and can enforce that fine by having enough money and influence to make non-payment a complete pain for the common man.
That takes us right back to the days of the Norman Conquest, where the authorities (feudal lords) could effectively take what ever they wanted off the local populace with no hope of redress offered to said populace.
We have come a long way since then, and life is better for it. Let's not go back through stupidity or laziness.
-- By caffeine alone I set my mind in motion, By the beans of Java do thoughts acquire speed, hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning, By caffeine alone do I set my mind in motion
