> Nobody in 1789 would have said that gay marriage is a fundamental right.
That's one of those assertions that relies on present-day society always believing they are more socially advanced than earlier ages, and that society moves forward monotonically in lock step around the world.
In fact, modern American society is a lot more prudish about same-sex unions of various types than earlier societies in Rome, Greece, and China at various times. It's very likely that one could find contemporaries of the authors of our Constitution, in comparable circumstances of economic and cultural development, who thought same sex unions are perfectly OK.
The men of 1789 who wrote the Constitution wrote a document they aspired to. Pretty obviously in the case of slavery, but in many other ways.
They explicitly said they could not enumerate rights. If you think otherwise, I'd like to know what you think of the following:
If someone invented a brain accelerator that imparted god-like intelligence, would you have a right to use it, or would the government grant such a right?
If someone cured old age, would you have a right to access that cure? Or would government have a say in this novel, unprecedented thing?
If someone invented an unbreakable code, would you have a right to what amounts to an uncrackable safe for your "documents and effects?"
If someone invented a personal spaceship, would you have a right to go to space, assuming you could do it without endangering others?
That's one of those assertions that relies on present-day society always believing they are more socially advanced than earlier ages, and that society moves forward monotonically in lock step around the world.
In fact, modern American society is a lot more prudish about same-sex unions of various types than earlier societies in Rome, Greece, and China at various times. It's very likely that one could find contemporaries of the authors of our Constitution, in comparable circumstances of economic and cultural development, who thought same sex unions are perfectly OK.
The men of 1789 who wrote the Constitution wrote a document they aspired to. Pretty obviously in the case of slavery, but in many other ways.
They explicitly said they could not enumerate rights. If you think otherwise, I'd like to know what you think of the following:
If someone invented a brain accelerator that imparted god-like intelligence, would you have a right to use it, or would the government grant such a right?
If someone cured old age, would you have a right to access that cure? Or would government have a say in this novel, unprecedented thing?
If someone invented an unbreakable code, would you have a right to what amounts to an uncrackable safe for your "documents and effects?"
If someone invented a personal spaceship, would you have a right to go to space, assuming you could do it without endangering others?