Comment by Bill Holmes

Entered on: 12/16/2008 10:30:10 PM

As Madison feared, the Bill of Rights has been a disaster. Why specify rights when the federal government was expressly limited by the Constitution? Thanks to the Bill of Rights, people have come to believe that they are the only rights they have, and that there is no limit on the federal government.

Without the Bill of Rights, people would have focused on the Constitution and its enabling document, The Declaration of Independence. They would not have allowed the welfare clause (copied from the Articles of Confederation) to be misinterpreted as the welfare of individuals instead of the States. They would not have allowed the commerce clause to be misinterpreted as allowing the federal government to regulate commerce within the States rather than eliminating duties between the States ... ad nausium.