I've seen alot of people citing things like Thomas Jefferson's letters and the Federalist Papers as if they were bona fide pieces of legislature. This is not true. Just because one framer or two or three framers had a personal opinion does not mean that that is a part of the US Law & Government. These people, like law makers and justices should be, were trying to be as impartial as they could when framing the workings of our country, so to cite their personal beliefs towards religion or any other topic is invalid. Most of the framers believed in slavery and the necessity thereof; however, almost no one will cite that as US law. If you're going to make a case regarding the law, use the law as your foundation.
Another thing I've seen is people trying to protect foriegn nationals with US law and the US Constitution. The US Constitution and Law applies only to natural citizens of this country and cannot be applied to prisoners of war (or prisoners of conscience) of other countries. For this, it would be most appropriate to cite the Geneva Conventions (even though the US has yet to follow any of these accords) or any other form of International Law.
Last thing, most of the Constitution does not apply to personal actions. The amendments of the constitution principally apply to laws which lawmakers are allowed to pass. In personal issues (freedom of speech, right to bear arms, etc.), you should first consult US Law and court decistions before consulting the constitution. The Constitution is used principally to call these laws into question.
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YOu missed all the progressives who try to quote the laws of other nations as US Law.
But a good peice none the less
That I did. The people who say, "Holland does it, France does it, England does it, why not us?" Except they usually forget the "why not us" part.
--Mike