The Federalist Regained

An American writer offers a riposte to Alexander Hamilton and a fresh interpretation of the Bill of Rights.

Author's note: As of 18 July 2012, I have slightly modified this piece to emphasize the view that corporations cannot be considered citizens and therefore should not be able to claim constitutional protections (under the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment's due-process and equal-protection clauses) clearly intended for citizens, i.e. human individuals. The test, I believe, should be whether you can vote. If you can vote (or have a realistic prospect of being able to vote at some point, i.e. when you turn 18 or pass a citizenship test) then those protections apply to you. If not, they don't. Pretty straightforward. Are you following along at home, you justices of the U.S. Supreme Court?