Bill of Wrongs?

For the old Sunday Drive we're taking a brief look at the Bill of Rights. A man named Ira Krakow recorded a podcast (available at irakrakow.com) titled, "Is the Bill of Rights Really Necessary?"

But first a little quiz. How many of the first ten amendments can you name? Don't worry about matching the amendment with the correct number, just name as many basic rights as you can. The wife and I both got three. I'm sure you can beat us. Check the comments for answers.

Krakow ponders the question of the Bill of Rights and cites a Federalist Paper (guess we aren't done with those yet) written by Alexander Hamilton as the main argument against the first ten amendments. Hamilton felt that listing the specific rights of individuals opened the door for the government to take away any and all other rights not specifically listed. In rebuttal Krakow notes that the Soviet Union did not enumerate individual rights in it's constitution, and later legally murdered millions of citizens.

I wonder if the Soviet Union analogy is relevant. Hamilton was no dummy. In fact I've considered referring to him as "The Hammer" because he deserves a nickname befitting his intelligence and testiclitude. The Hammer thought the Constitution alone was enough to reign in the dark side of human nature.

Then again, Ira Krakow sounded pretty damn smart too. This one might be over me head.