Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 18:46:52 -0700
From: Jeff Chan 
To: Akhil Amar
Subject: Thanks for speaking with me at conference, comments


Hello Professor Amar,
It was a pleasure to get a chance to speak with you at the Second
Amendment Conference today, if however briefly.  I apologize for
not introducing myself properly.  I feel a bit awkward attending
events such as these essentially as an interested lay person who
has done some personal research.  I'm not sure if you were trying
to contact me before you departed, but I would like to take this
opportunity to thank you for participating.  I certainly found
your comments interesting.

The idea that a libertarian view of rights is a relatively recent
development while the founders may have been more "conservative"
is intriguing.   It does seem that proponents of a broad view of
individual rights seem to have (re)ascended in the academic  and
legal conscience in the 20th century.  For example first, fourth
and fifth amendment cases the ACLU backed come to mind. 

That said, it's clear that issues at liberty were of significant
interest to the founders.  I think it's fair to say that freedom
from religious persecution, self-incrimination, censure of
political speech, and so on were lively issues prior to
Independence.  If anything these issues of freedom may have been
fresher to the colonists who experienced them first hand.  If we
had become complacent about them after they had been enshrined in
the Bill of Rights and allowed them to erode, then perhaps it's
healthy that the ACLU and others reminded us of their relevance
more recently, especially in protecting views in the minority.
I wonder if this might explain a return to the ideas of liberty?

I'm glad to see that the Second Amendment is finally seeming to
at least become an acceptable topic of discussion.  Professor
Levinson's characterization of our attitudes towards it are
entertaining because they're pretty accurate.  Being a
libertarian, I find it consistent to take a broad view of all
rights, including the right to arms, especially as a balance to
the tremendous expansion of government power throughout our
nation's history.  (I believe this perspective could also be
categorized as classically liberal.)  I hope that a similarly
broad view of the Second Amendment becomes possible.

Again, it was a pleasure to hear you speak in person.

Sincerely,

Jeff Chan
-- 
Jeff Chan
http://www.jeffchan.com/