We are suffering the results of that legacy today. Thus the drive for states to retake our rights under the ninth and tenth Amendments. And for protesting the unconstitutional acts of the Federal Government, we are accused of racism. The status quo is backed by the courts and the priciple of "stare dicesis", the defense of precedents. If precedents were followed in all cases, Dred Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson, etal, would still be keeping us segregated. Brown v. Board of Education would never have overturned "separate but equal" schools.
The Supreme Court has a chance to overturn a bad preceedent and find "campaign Finance Reform" in violation of the First Amendment, but they probably do not have that much courage. Bush should have vetoed McCain-Finestein in the first place, but he passed the buck, never imagining the Court would find it Constitutional.
Before the WTBS, the Ninth and Tenth Amendments were held to be part of the Bill of Rights. It's time they were again. Jim, I'm sorry if I went too far astray, but, as Shakespeare said in The Tempest, "what's past is prologue".
In Googling history quotes, I found this, by Gerda Lerner: "What we do about history matters. The often repeated saying that those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them has a lot of truth in it. But what are 'the lessons of history'? The very attempt at definition furnishes ground for new conflicts. History is not a recipe book; past events are never replicated in the present in quite the same way. Historical events are infinitely variable and their interpretations are a constantly shifting process. There are no certainties to be found in the past." http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_history.html It is very interesting to see what various people across time have had to say on the subject. Stan