The big clash over the US Constitution is a Living Document vs. a Permanent Document.
There are those that argue the Constitution is a Living Document designed to change with the times. They feel it is a document that can be adapted to meet the changing culture and times.
On the other side are those that feel the document is a Permanent Document and you need to look for the original intent. Most would agree there is flexibility to meet a changing world, but that the values, intent, and limitations of the Constitution are Permanent Features that can only be changed by amendment.
The problem with a Living Document approach means that a small number of people (Judges) can limit my freedom and take away my rights based on thier interpretation of the changing values they believe are going on in our culture or worse yet based on what they believe the values of our culture should be.
A popular misconception is that the Constitution Grants rights in the Bill of Rights and elsewhere. The Constitution does not grant rights. It prohibits the Government from taking away Rights. Where do the Rights come from if not from the Constitution? The Constitution views the rights protected as inherent rights and coming from God.
This country was born with a birth defect - Slavery. Many people knew it was wrong at the time, but like parents welcoming a child into the world with a defect, hoped we would grow out of it. If not for the explosion of King Cotton due to the Cotton Gin slavery may have ended without the Civil War.
Even when Slavery became unacceptable during and at the end of the Civil War the leaders in our country affixed this to the Constitution. There was a reason these Freedoms where affixed to the Constitution - To keep them being taken away at a whim. The document was not considered alive and just to be reinterpreted based on changing values.
Those that look to the Living Document also tend to look to the Constitution for thier "freedom." You will not find "freedom" in the Constitution. What you do find in the Constitution is lines of demarcation telling the government how far it can go and affirming our rights that come from God.
Those that look for Freedom in government will be sadly disappointed and not have any Freedom. My Freedom comes from God. The government is crossing the line, it is our duty to put the government back on the right side of the line.
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