Originally Posted by pocketkangaroo

The constitution expressly discusses slaves (although it is careful not to use the word slave). Not to mention that slaves were never even considered to be covered under the constitution. They were considered property and ruled under individual slave laws in each state that were in part written by our founding fathers. Lets not forget that many of our founding fathers owned slaves of their own.

And our founding fathers didn't mention women. "All MEN are created equal". To believe that they assumed men to mean mankind is absurd. Women were treated as second class citizens with no rights. The laws our founding fathers put in place didn't allow them to have these rights.

You can pretend our founding fathers were somehow card carrying members of the ACLU, but they weren't. Few of them fought to have women's rights expanded, and fewer to abolish slavery. The term "consent of the governed" specifically meant men who owned property. It is why they were the only ones allowed to vote.

And the irony in this whole discussion is that you take the liberal position in this argument. You take the position Barack Obama would on the interpretation of our rights. It is conservatives who didn't believe those documents gave the right for women to vote, blacks to be free, or you to promote porn. If those are your true beliefs, you should be voting for Barack Obama.

Nonetheless, you didn't answer my question. What freedoms and liberties are we going to lose? It is my opinion that we have much more freedom now than we ever did. Women can vote, blacks can do whatever they want, and I have the ability to protest my dislike for the government. How can you possibly believe that we had more freedom back then?