The Emerald editorial of May 28 (“Separate but equal, but for how long?” ODE, 5/28/09) contains a major error. It states, “But the provision of equal, federally granted rights to all citizens …”
In some countries, such as France, the government reluctantly grants rights to its citizens. In the United States, the people grant limited powers to the government. This is a major and very important distinction.
The Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness … That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
The constitution begins with the words, “We the people of the United States.” The Bill of Rights was adopted not to grant us rights, but to limit government.
It is scary to think that any group of American university students, but especially a group that publishes a newspaper, would think that our government grants us rights. Our founders saw those rights as coming from God, and saw that the government had only power that we, the people, granted it. Historically, our Constitution would not have been adopted without those limits.
[email protected]