Florida has started Confication..Good!

[cory]

The Founders' intent in writing the Constitution was to create a blueprint for government.

Almost correct. The Founders' intent was to create a government to only the extent necessary so that society could exist. Society without rules and regulations is just a mob. The mob is a direct threat to the Individual's Rights. Therefore we created a necessary evil, i.e. government, to protect the Rights of the Individual.

d. "Rights" are nothing like energy. Energy exists independent of mankind. "Rights" exist only in the human mind.

I take it you don't believe in Freewill.

e. It would be illogical to assume you are right, when you are logically and factually wrong.

If you can't extend enough goodwill to perform a simple intellectual exercise, then any attempt at a conversation with you is a waste of time.

The Founders' intent in writing the Declaration of Independence was to create propaganda meant to try to prevent other European monarchies from viewing the rebellion as a threat to their own rule, and then deciding to help Britain in fighting the Americans. (The Founders didn't actually believe that stuff about all people being equal and having "rights" to life, liberty, etc.)

You've never actually read Washington's or Jefferson's thoughts on slavery have you? As a young idealist politician Jefferson actually fought against slavery. Washington wanted to move from a slave labor to a paid labor business model. Why didn't they just free their slaves and set an example? The colonial laws on inheritance made this very complicated and almost impossible.

Whether the Declaration of Independence was propaganda is irrelevant. It's still the ideas on which this country was founded. Period! Whether we've lived up to them is a different story.

As for the question of who determines what are our "rights," the answer is clearly: The government. Not God. Not Nature. The government.

The government's Rights come from the Individual, not the other way around. Hence the Constitution's Preamble.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

It is from the Individual that the government derives its Rights (power). As such unless explicitly allocated to the government in the Constitution all Rights are maintained by the Individual.

And before you indulge in knee-jerk protest, note that it was members of the government who wrote the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

What the hell does that have to do with anything. Either the ideas are correct or they're not. Who it comes from is irrelevant.

It was also the government that proclaimed driving on public roads and flying on airliners are privileges, not rights.

They're wrong, but not completely.

In order to understand this we have to understand a couple of things. What is government? It's the people. We, Americans, are the U.S. government. Therefore everything the government owns, we the American taxpayers own. And hence our first Right of Life (Property) extends to US property.

It's much like owning stock in a company. I own small amounts of stock in many different company's. Therefore I have ownership in everything those companies owns, it's my property. However, I only own a small fraction of ownership in that property. Therefore, I can not do whatever I want in or with the company like I could with a piece of land that I own outright. I must operate within the rules set fourth by the company.

This same is true for Public Roads and Airports. I, like other Americans, own and have Rights to it. However, I only own a small fraction, so I must operate within the rules set by the collective (government).