by Shafiq
Democracy is a set of values; democracy is not a set of rules. If the people of the land cannot contain the values within themselves, no set of rules can keep democracy going. The English people claim to be the world’s oldest continuous democracy based on a continuum of reign that do not have a written constitution. The 1787 constitution of the United States is regarded as a towering landmark in the political history of the civilization. But people seldom realize that the main safeguard of US democracy is not the constitution but the Bill of Rights that ratified the first ten amendments of the constitution. The Bill of rights explicitly enumerates the inviolable rights of the people such as freedom of religion, freedom of speech, a free press, and free assembly; the right to keep and bear arms; freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, security in personal effects etc. Time and time again in the last two hundred years when complex issues of constitution and people came into debate in legislature and judiciary, the Bill of Rights was deemed the final arbiter.