Originally Posted by Bulgaroctonus

What Clegane is writing about is the fact that all of our rights are ultimately priveledges given by a government. We often have the misconception that rights are written in stone or exist in a comparably indelible format. Unfortunately, the truth is that rights are an indicator of a government's clemency, and can be taken away.

Our rights have their foundation in the Constitution. However, the Constitution is only the legal construction of a few men. I like the Constitution, but I have realized that government preceded rights. That is, the writers of the constitution (and their affiliate government) existed before the Bill of Rights was created.

It is usually in our interest that government adhere to the original principles of the Constitution. However, we must also remember that we cannot trust the Constitution to defend itself. Our rights can only be defended through continuous action. As much as we might not like it, the Constitution could be negated.