Sunday, February 24, 2013

The Right to Declare Rights.. If the Founding Fathers Had Blogged


When James Madison wrote the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution, Gouverneur Morris polished it with the genius phrase “We the People.” 
Imagine if Madison had blog commenters who could have made suggestions. 
What would the Bill of Rights have become?
Would it have been different?

            As a “rightsmaker” blogger, two years of writing posts declaring over 100 rights has made it clear that feedback has influenced my thoughts and my writing of these rights. There is no question that, if the founding fathers had been able to have the help of a public forum, we would have many more rights than we have now.

            Many of us take our rights for granted.  But the truth is that Madison was very lucky to even get the original 10 rights of the Bill of Rights ratified at all. Between the contentious debates and the summer heat in which the discussions were held, Madison held his ground, and we have him to thank for holding his own.

If only Madison had a blog. His commenters would have come up with so many more rights than we have. Why? Because the people of 1789 had so many more needs than the upper-class founding fathers. 

Here’s a few.
The Right to Food. All the founders were farmers. These founders had no desperate, unfilled need for food. Many had slaves that grew and prepared the food for them. They also didn’t live in a drought like Oklahoma farmers found themselves in the 1930s.
The Right to Water. Abundant rivers in America made water plentiful. Americans in 1789 did not live in the desert terrain like much of the people of Africa.
The Right to Life. Did any of the founding fathers suffer directly from abusive life-threatening torture or genocide? Why didn't they consider the lives of those who did?
The Right to Migrate. No one had stopped anyone coming to America in the 1700s, but surely, a blog commenter of 1789 would have written something about how he had escaped persecution from where he came, and how America had given him an opportunity for another life.
So many Americans of that time had used this right. Did the founders just forget the
preservation of this right they had so well used?
The Right to Security. Well, they almost got this one. The 2nd Amendment mentions security, but it is mostly interpreted as the Right to Bear Arms. Wouldn’t someone living in rural America in 1789 have pointed this out? Civil rights lawyer, Connie Rice, has pointed out in her recent book, Power Concedes Nothing, that the Los Angeles teen living in a gang neighborhood of the 21st century could really have used the right to safety more than the right to free speech.
The Right to Reproduction. How can the human race be without this right protected? It is highly likely that a women blog commenter in 1789 may have thought this one up.
The Right to Body Care. Maybe someone who had been publicly tortured and left with disabilities for untreated wounds would have anonymously brought this up. Maybe a husband with a wife who died in childbirth because there was no local doctor would have suggested this.

So, the founders had no blogs. But it’s never too late. We can still have these rights. Can’t we? We the People.


43 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes "we the people" can have these rights. That is mostly here in the US because other countries don’t have the right to speech like we do, and even though many people take our rights for granted, at least “we the people” in our beloved country do.

JDF

Anonymous said...

We can all have these rights. Everyone in the world should have these basic humane rights but there are countries that don't have the liberty we do yet there are still people here that take their rights for granted. If the Founding Fathers had blogs, they would have gotten countless feedback and it could of resulted in more rights and other countries could have used these blogs as an example to make their own.

JB

Anonymous said...

Even though these rights are from the 1700's, they are still rights that are for today. If the bill of rights were made now a days, Americans will think more differently then how Americans would think back then. For example, I think people would actually think about the need of water back then now, when you can get water easier.
-NAT

Anonymous said...

If they were able to blog back in the days, then "we the people" would move life much faster. The Bill of Rights would be greater and more unclear but people would have express their needs quicker. They fought for our rights back then and we still fight for it now.
So yes "we the people" can still have these right.

JA

Anonymous said...

'WE THE PEOPLE,' is a powerful statement. We underestimate the power of it! We all have basic rights. Rights in the past, is evidently totally different from the present.Although the same rights are used, people apply them to their lives in a different way. If everyone was to create a right it would be chaotic. People would create rights that would only be beneficial to themselves and not others.
SN.

Anonymous said...

Every person, everyone,everybody has rights like peace, dream, love, friendship, liberty, and more, but “we the people” in many occasions use any of that rights to remove rights of other people.

JC

Anonymous said...

I believe the rights they made back in the 1700's is accurate, even to this day. We as American's of today, have the need and desire to have everything in writing, so we can fall back on it. The right to water, food, migrate, and most importantly, to live are rights that are, and will always be, common sense. We live in such a complex time that requires us to document and be able to prove things beyond reasonable doubt.

Mercy

Anonymous said...

I agree with what Mercy stated. We should all have these rights automatically regardless of them being on paper, but whether or not they are given to us by those that can enforce them such as the Right to Migrate is a different story unfortunately. What we have is taken for granted and as the saying goes, we don't know what we have until it's gone.

- Dav. P

Anonymous said...

New Technologies have changed the way we interact and communicate. This is the new voice of “We the people”

MS

Anonymous said...

I like to think the founding fathers would have taken the comments of 18th century bloggers under consideration during the drafting of the Bill of Rights. However, I feel the leaders of today are more interested in increasing their own power, even if that means putting our rights as citizens in jeopardy.

Jo L. Lo

Anonymous said...

It’s true, if Madison had a blog, he would have commenters coming up with many more rights. His commenters wouldn’t be the ones making the right legit though, it would just be ideas, since the founding fathers would have the last word. Of course “We the people” could have these rights and we do because many that were mentioned are human nature, but at the end of the day it’s always what the higher power agrees to have and, not to have. Now a day “We the people” are able to voice our choice by voting, the power that wasn’t around when the bill of rights was made. JAP

Anonymous said...

As Americans we have rights that we sometimes take for granted. We are blessed to even have these rights and should be thankful to our founding fathers. Even with these rights, there are many more rights we could use. Such as, the right to food and water. All over the world people suffer everyday from poverty, and are unable to eat or drink clean water. It would have been interesting if blogs were around at the time. SG

Anonymous said...

I do believe that we the people can have any of these rights. I think people need to learn how to appreciate the rights given to them and not take them for granted. I believe that if the founders had blogs they would have gotten a lot of commenting on what rights the people should have. It would also depend a lot on the mentality of people; it is different now than it was back then and most people won’t appreciate what is given to them now. -KV

Anonymous said...

"We the People" has become one of the most powerful phrases that unify a nation. As the human race continues to grow different natural rights have been discovered, we are entitled to these rights and with the correct ammo we would probably be able to fight for those rights and have them be applied into our society. "We the People" should never stop fighting for what is just and righteous.
~GEA

Anonymous said...

I believe that if Madison had blog commentators it would be a little useless. In most blogs, the comments that are most read are the first ten to fifteen after that things can get repetitive. Things may have changed but not to a great extent.

KDP

Anonymous said...

The idea of blogs one century ago is great; at least I suppose they had proof readers. I would like to add to these rights the right to work. Maybe blogs to review the old and the ones will be great.
RC

Anonymous said...

I think that if James Madison had a blog back in the years, he would definitely gotten many more suggestions. Resulting in so much information and commenters that would make the Bill of Rights look more like a Bible instead.
Sdeya

Anonymous said...

An old biblical proverb says "in the counsel of many there is wisdom." It's true maybe rights would have been different.

-Sunshine

Anonymous said...

It certainly would have been interesting for Madison to count with blogger’s suggestions. However, I like to think that nowadays, we the people have a voice when we vote, when we actively call our government representatives, or when we vote for a petition. As technology advanced, it gave us more power and access to participate in the new direction of our country. / A.R.

Anonymous said...

PLEASE CONSIDER THIS COMMENT:
They were egoistic men all well-educated with means and who were leaders in their communities, most of them had extensive political experience. They knew that there was hunger; they knew that there were disparities between poor and rich, they just didn't care enough for the people. I believe that even if they had the access to blog comments they would have realized the power of rights, and would have used it to benefit themselves and control the power of rights.
N.

Michel Souza said...

If only he could blog! It would be tremendously interesting to see what some of the suggestions might have been. It would have become a more community based type of situation, were Madison would be influenced by many different views. Luckily for him however because the amount of suggestions would have been extremely overwhelming. On that same note lucky for us to have such modern technological advances that allow us to voice our opinions.

-Michel Souza

Anonymous said...

I`m sure some people communicated with each other on giving ideas on Rights, maybe by post card or people votes. i don't believe just one person came up with them all. but its a good thing that we have Rights. people from other countries migrate here, to be free and better life.
-MC

justuff said...

Let’s not be critical and armchair quarterbacks on 200 year old decisions. Our "sustaining fathers" do have blogs. They are the ones "we the people" (democrat or republican) have to influence to make changes in our better interests.

Who is to say that the original fathers didn’t get it right. We are here now as one of the most influential players on the earth.
Let's be the change we want to see in the world (Mahatma Gandhi) and make our own influences based on some of the rights this blogger suggests.
That way our way of life and choices we enjoy (this blog) are perpetuated for our children’s children.

Anonymous said...

These privileges are from the 1700's, but they are still used to day. If there were certain right that would have been used today, U.S. as people of the United States would have thought in a different way then how they thought back then. For instance, I believe people would essentially think about the want of water back in the day then now. Now it is a lot easier to retrieve water.

E.O

Anonymous said...

If the Founding Fathers had given the people the right to comment on their blogs, the United States Constitution would be much different from the one we have today. For example, the First Amendment would have been unnecessarily stated because regular people would have had the freedom to express themselves freely. What is interesting, though, is that politicians today don’t pay much attention to what people have to say. Partisan interests and lobbyists play a much more important role in the law-making process of our state and our nation in general.

ATM

Anonymous said...

"We the people" would not appreciates the rights blog if are founding fathers would have been able to have the latest technology in there time.

L.S

Anonymous said...

Yes, I agree that if the founding fathers would have let other people comment and express their own opinions and views, we would have ended up with many more rights in the bill of rights because people had different needs depending on the economical background that they were from. However, if we really feel this strongly about it, it’s never too late to inflict change. That is why the phrase “we the people” is as powerful as it is because it makes us all feel like we are a part of it and that we have a say.

AJR

Gus said...

Making information accessible to the public is a key factor in the development of a nations' governmental backbone. If our "Founding Fathers" had blogged we might have even had the right to blogging rights back in the day.

--GV

Anonymous said...

It is true that if our "Founding Fathers" would of heard from us the people back then, they would have considered on putting rights that will benefit "We the people". However, I believe we are born with the right to life, the right water, and the right to food. Not being able to afford it or find it, it's a different situation. (D.R)

Anonymous said...

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms of our great country, specially proclaiming inherent rights of all men and women as human beings. A distinction has to be made thou; self-proclamation of rights is not the same as self-declaration of rights. We all should proclaim, speak-up and participate, nevertheless governments should protect and safeguard the common well of its people by reserving the right to declare rights. Rights should be evaluated for the society as a whole, not only for individuals.
- IDO

Anonymous said...

Thanks to modern technology " We the people" have the opportunity to express and share our opinions through different sites that can definitely help improve our lives and make society a better place. It is now our chance to use this communication tool to continue with the work of our Founding Fathers and declare more rights to benefit our society.
Anay

Anonymous said...

[controversial to what it is said in the original post].
If the U.S Founding Fathers were to have a blog, and actually have had enough care about what the people were saying, the rights we have today would be totally -different. By having a blog, you give the reader a voice he otherwise wouldn't have. Back-then, it would have given everybody the power to express their needs. And, with that said, many people would have seen the chance to abuse that little power by forming riots, if their needs were not being met at the founding father's final decision. And my point is, once you give somebody a chance to voice their opinion, you better be prepared with the outcome. -And that! is exactly what the Founding Fathers did NOT have time for. In the voice of James Madison, " We ain't got time for that"...
FP.

Anonymous said...

As individuals we have “The Right to Declare Rights”. One of our founding fathers Thomas Jefferson, a learned lawyer and the primary author of The Declaration of Independence; I believe he would have appreciated comments from bloggers back in the 1700’s. Since reading was one of his favorite past times. He would have taken his blogger’s ideas, suggestions and comments into consideration and made substantial changes to The Declaration of Independence. It’s immortal words remain essentially his own: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and pursuit to Happiness”.
SAMROG

Anonymous said...

Madison was either very talented or very lucky. With only 38 years old and no experience in politics he wrote, in a short amount of time, the Bill of Rights with a futuristic vision about the upcoming of USA. The benefit of a blog dedicated to his work in that time could have been helpful, the founding fathers lacked of proofreaders in different social classes to be sure that the Bill of Rights was addressed to everybody. In order to write the bill, Madison was triggered by the “excessive democracy” of his time that was an obstruction to every social project. One of the bill discarded from the original document is the actual 27th Amendment, maybe a blog would have done the difference.
RC

Anonymous said...

If the founding fathers ever had a blogged, I would hoped that the people would have computers and internet accesses to give constructed feedback and new ideas to add. -LL

Anonymous said...

I'm sure if our Founding Fathers had a blog post in the 1700's more rights would have been improved or added. I'm sure "we the people'
voice would have been heard more and many possible new rights could have been looked at for the benefit of our country. Unfortunately our country does take some of their rights for granted and thinks everyone has the same rights like us which is not the case.. J.J

Anonymous said...

If only technology was as advanced in the 1700's as it is today... Without a doubt, things would have been different. A blog back then would have given the people an opportunity to voice their opinions and worries. Truly, as you mentioned, the Bill of Rights would have been quite different if internet existed during such time. But, would Madison or the rest of the founding fathers really pay attention to the plebeians? Madison was quite an intellectual man; let's not forget that, besides the Bill of Rights, he is also credited with the famous Federalist Papers. The average person during the 1700's wasn't probably literate, so, most likely, Madison was not going to pay attention to their comments. However, with time, I do believe that we will eventually have those rights mentioned above. WE THE PEOPLE need to push for those rights.

AYS

Anonymous said...

I believe if the founding fathers had a blog it wouldn't be read by an average person in that era. Primarily, because most average people in that era couldn't read or write unless they were educated, which not a lot were. But if they were Jefferson would probably be the best blogger. -AC

Anonymous said...

We the people should not be able to get any of those (and many more) rights restricted, as long as we can be able to live with each other in peace and harmony. Having our rights respected and respecting everyone else's rights would be a big part of making our community a better place to live, and our grain of sand in making the world a better place.

GV

Anonymous said...

Undoubtedly the Bill of Rights would have been enlightened if many people would have commented. The main inconvenience is that probably slaves or women would have not commented because of discrimination. Besides, not all the opinions have the same importance because not everybody want to achieve a common good. In some cases what is a right for some is a harm for others.
HA

Anonymous said...

Why should anyone be entitled to any of these rights? Why should people be entitled to rights at all? No one deserves anything for just existing. Everyone has to work in order to earn anything.- ID

Anonymous said...

I’m interested in how the idea of the Bill of Rights came about. Rights are a big issue now but in the 1700s, it seemed that people were more concerned with propriety than having a voice. You were supposed to stick to tradition and know what was expected of you. The bill of Rights was the flame that affirmed to the majority that the matter.
~LLSE

Anonymous said...

It is right, "it is never too late". The founder fathers had no blogs, but our current "lawmakers" do. Technology has brought innumerable advantages we can use to express our opinions or necessities to our authorities. We can use it to promote the changes we consider are needed to be done.