When will Americans finally have their rights? | Mark Rienzi | BRI’s Constitutional Conversations

0:00 so as this discussion never final and if it’s not final where does it go from here what do you see coming I think it actually falls to each and every generation of Americans to make sure that they protect their rights if you think that the rights are important if you want to live in a society where you have the freedom to believe and speak and interact with people as you like you

0:21 have to be willing to fight for it and protect it it was the framers knew right but the reason we have a bill of rights is that they knew that the natural temptation of government the natural temptation of majority rules will be to squash out ideas that make people uncomfortable that they don’t like that our minority ideas or practice right that will always be the temptation of the majority and of the people in power

0:41 and so it’s up to every generation to both be vigilant for protecting their own rights but also be cognizant of the rights of people around you in other words like one thing that I think is really great about America is that we actually have a pretty good track record in recent years of being willing to accept people having different beliefs and different ideas than we do and not seizing the power once you have the

1:01 majority to crush somebody who’s different from you that’s a good thing but that takes work that takes education for people to understand the rights takes people learning about civics and learning about their societies they understand how to value the rights and it takes some self-discipline right just saying well just because I’m empowered doesn’t mean I’m going to beat up everybody who disagrees with me those are not natural human things the things

1:22 we all have to work on but if you want a society where you and your kids and your grandkids have that kind of freedom then we all have to invest in making itself