Defend your right to own a car.

[David88vert]

The word allow is confusing things here. A grill "allows" you to grill a steak. It doesn't give you permission. When I say the government allows us to determine our freedoms, I mean government is only a tool through which citizens can collectively decide and enforce those freedoms. It's still the citizens deciding, not the government as some separate entity. Also, freedoms may not last long if you don't have any way to enforce them. Of course governments are just as capable at taking away freedoms as it is protecting them. There is no solution to that problem that I know of. Checks and balances are the best we have.

Very true, but God and nature do not enforce those freedoms.

The constitution was and still is that agreement. The founding fathers were not dictators, they provided us a method to change the constitution. If enough citizens disagreed with the first amendment, it could be repealed through our constitutional process. The fact no one is trying to do that is reflective of our ongoing agreement.

I think some people are too caught up on the difference between a democracy and republic. The central issue in this discussion which you mention is that there is a process for the constitution to be changed. Thus there is no rule that isn't subjected to the citizens will. True, our republic requires more than 51% to change it but the core principle of collective agreement remains.

I think that we share mostly the same view, but are expressing it from different viewpoints.

The process to amend the Constitution is not a simple majority vote, and was designed to be a detailed process in order to make sure that the Amendments would be at a more fundamental level than regular laws. If the people were to amend the Constitution through just a popular vote, that would be a Popular Amendment. This has never been done in the US, and is not mentioned in the Constitution.

Our current Amendment process has only been done 2 ways, of the 4 possible ways.
1) Proposal by convention of states, ratification by state conventions (never used)
2) Proposal by convention of states, ratification by state legislatures (never used)
3) Proposal by Congress, ratification by state conventions (used once)
4) Proposal by Congress, ratification by state legislatures (used all other times)

Right now, for an Amendment to pass, you have to have both the House and the Senate pass it by 2/3 vote each, then have it ratified by 3/4 of the state legislatures. It's not just a simple vote by Congress to pass an Amendment - and that is by design.

[bu villain]

I think that we share mostly the same view, but are expressing it from different viewpoints...

Yep, we both understand the details of how a constitutional amendment is passed. Sinflix seemed to imply that whatever the constitution says is more or less written in stone, can never change, and is not subject to the will of the people. That is what I was refuting. While our rights may be god given, the enforcement and collective recognition of those rights are written in the constitution and thus can change.

[BanginJimmy]

and is not subject to the will of the people.

You are wrong here. We the People do not get a vote on Constitutional Amendments.

[David88vert]

You are wrong here. We the People do not get a vote on Constitutional Amendments.

I just explained that - read again - I am not wrong. The people do not get to vote directly, that would be a Popular Amendment, which is not described as the process to amend the US Constitution. This is the same as what you are saying.
Constitutional Amendments - How is the Constitution amended?
Constitutional Amendments - The U.S. Constitution Online - USConstitution.net