Updating the Constitution
As the consummate dilettante, Vidal flashes to a false conclusion by his failure to do basic homework. He ignores the 21 most vitalizing, dignifying words in our national charter--the Ninth Amendment reads: “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
Herein reside the rights to privacy, health, choice, work, marriage, love and death with dignity.
An American public that callously dismisses homelessness as a lifestyle and AIDS as a sin, demands choice for cable but not for women, and promotes excess over responsibility from drinking to baby-making cannot be trusted to rewrite the rule book of governance.
I expect all citizens to fight for social justice by invoking the Ninth Amendment. Put an end to sexism, racism, ageism, ableism, homophobia, anti-Semitism and classism. Therein lines our survival as a nation.
ROBERT BIRCH
Northridge
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