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Manny--
I appreciate your concerns about the intent of the Framers, but I'd suggest to you that what the Framers/Founders did should continue to be the paradigm for understanding civil rights in this country because they basically got it right. They got it right for this reason: they understood that people have basic rights and that government can only act to limit or take away those rights. So, they articulated a number of fundamental rights that cannot be taken away under any cir stance: the right to free speech, the right to a free press, the right to free exercise of religion, the right to be free from governmental establishment of religion, the right to due process of law, the right to be free from unwarranted searches and seizures, and other such rights.
Your quarrel, it seems to me, is that they didn't initially extend those rights to every person. I agree with you that it is a fair question about their commitment to equality. But, I think it is worth noting that the Framers/Founders successors have managed to extend those fundamental rights to everyone in our society -- in essence, they've improved on the product that the Framers/Founders produced by protecting the fundamental rights identified by the Framers. In that respect, I think the intent of the Framers must continue to be a guiding principle in how we understand the scope of our rights and the limitations on the government's power to infringe upon those rights.
