After listening to the descussion on Joe Wilson insulting the Pres, I decided to put out some levity. Feel free to reply with your own.
"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire"--Winston Chirchill
"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure"__Clarence Darrow
"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary"--William Faulkner about Ernest Hemingway
"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it"--Groucho Marx
"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it"--Mark Twain
"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends"-- Oscar Wilde
"I'm enclosing two tickets to the first night of my play; bring a friend..if you have one."--George Bernard Shaw to Winston Chirchill, the reply to which was "Cannot possibly attend the first night, will attend the second, if there is one".
"I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here"--Stephen Bishop
"He is a self-made man and worships his creator"--John Bright
"I've just learned of his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial"--Irvin S. Cobb
"He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others"--Samuel Johnson
"He's had delusions of adequancy"--Walter Kerr
"Some cause happiness whereever they go; others whenever they go"--Oscar Wilde
Lady Astor once remarked to Winston Chirchill at a dinner party, "Winston, if you were my husband, I would poison your coffee" to which he replied "Madam, if I were your husband, I would drink it"
A simple one that I use at work is "I didn't you were that stupid, my bad"
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Easy guide to nullification & secession
Easy guide to nullification & secession
In light of current acts of Congress, believed to be unauthorized by the Constitution, and against the wishes of the people of the various States, there has been talk of nullifying these laws. To that end, I have tried to make it easier to compile the needed paperwork to reestablish the rights of the States.
Nullification is one of the most extreme positions of the states' rights philosophy. It is based upon the belief that the Union was a voluntary joining of sovereign states and that those states had the right to nullify, or invalidate, within their boundaries any unconstitutional actions of the federal government. This view is an extension of Jefferson's belief in the supremacy of individual and states' rights over federal governmental powers.
As James Madison states in the Federalist papers, #39
It appears, on the one hand, that the United States Constitution is to be founded on the assent and ratification of the people of America, given by deputies elected for a special purpose; but, on the other, that this assent and ratification is to be given by the people, not as individuals composing the entire nation, but as composing the distinct and independent states to which they respectively belong. It is to be the assent and ratification of the several States, derived from the supreme authority in each States,-the authority of the people themselves.
In the preamble to the Constitution, it is stated “to create a more perfect union”. This is used by some to indicate that since the Articles of Confederation were perpetual, then the United States Constitution must be perpetual.
But this feature did not prevent breaking up the Confederation by secession of the several States so they might be free to form a new union. Commenting on the Confederation, Alexander Hamilton lamented “Resting on no better foundation than the consent of several legislatures, it has been exposed to frequent and intricate questions concerning the validity of its powers, and has in some instances given birth to the enormous doctrine of legislative repeal. Owing its ratification to the law of a State, it has been contended that the same authority might repeal the law by which it was ratified. However gross a heresy it may be that a party to a compact has a right to revoke that compact; the doctrine itself has respectable advocates.
The nullification concept was first raised by the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions in 1798-99 in reaction to the Alien and Sedition Acts. In 1809-10 nullification was briefly revived by New England states which opposed a national embargo (Non-Intercourse Act).
The concept returned in Southern reactions to the Tariff of 1828, the Tariff of 1832.
The right of nullification, was a cautious and gradual kind of secession actually understood at the time of the formation of the United States Constitution, as an extraordinary mode of redress against unconstitutional acts within or of the Union in a case of unusual magnitude where, due to the passions of the day, or the very nature of the question, normal modes of redress by petition or litigation could not be effective and beneficial. If nullification did not produce results, then secession would follow. It was a process known to have three distinct stages:
1; There might be an act of formal protest adopted by the legislature of an offended State, promulgating a solemn declaration identifying the offensive acts of the government of the Union or of sister States as unconstitutional and injurious, and concluding with an appropriate demand for redress, lest further measures become necessary.
2; If interposition should fail to induce justice, the legislature of the offended State might then issue a summons for election and assembly of the People in Convention, which could then meet, and, by command of supreme and irresistible authority, adopt an ordinance of nullification, declaring the unconstitutional acts null and void, and authorizing or directing the government of the State to proceed with concrete measures to obstruct any further implementation of the wrongful acts within her territory.
3; if the ordinance of nullification should fail to restore proper balance between the Union and the State, the People in Convention could then, by act of sovereign power, as the means of enforcing the nullification. Adopt an ordinance of secession, lawfully withdrawing the State from the Union.
You can send a copy of these form letters to your state Governor and Attorney General for their files. Without specifics anywhere in this article, it can just as easily be used 20 years from now as it is today. The following forms can be used by the States as a guideline for their own objections.
Nullification form letter
Whereas the Congress of the United States by (statement of offences, being as explicit as possible). And whereas the said Congress, exceeding its just power to (statement of Constitutional authority)for the purpose of effecting and accomplishing the specific objects and purposes which the Constitution of the United States authorizes it to effect and accomplish, has exceeded the powers of authorized by the Constitution.
We, therefore, the people of the State of( name of state), in convention assembled, do declare and ordain and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the several acts and parts of acts of the Congress of the United States, (state offensive laws or statues)approved on ( date of offense) are unauthorized by the Constitution of the United States, and violate the true meaning and intent thereof and are null, void, and no law, nor binding upon this State, its officers or citizens; and all promises, contracts, and obligations, made or entered into, or to be made or entered into, with purpose to secure the duties imposed by said acts, and all judicial proceedings which shall be hereafter had in affordance thereof, are and shall be held utterly null and void.
And it is further ordained, that it shall not be lawful for any of the constituted authorities, whether of this State or of the United States, to enforce the said acts within the limits of this State; but it shall be the duty of the legislature to adopt such measures and pass such acts as may be necessary to give full effect to this ordinance, and to prevent the enforcement and arrest the operation of the said acts and parts of acts of the Congress of the United States within the limits of this State, from and after the ( date for enactment) and the duties of all other constituted authorities, and of all persons residing or being within the limits of this State, and they are hereby required and enjoined to obey and give effect to this ordinance, and such acts and measures of the legislature as may be passed or adopted in obedience thereto.
And it is further ordained, that in no case of law or equity, decided in the courts of this State, wherein shall be drawn in question the authority of this ordinance, or the validity of such act or acts of the legislature as may be passed for the purpose of giving effect thereto, or the validity of the aforesaid acts of Congress, shall any appeal be taken or allowed to the Supreme Court of the United States, nor shall any copy of the record be permitted or allowed for that purpose; and if any such appeal shall be attempted to be taken, the courts of this State shall proceed to execute and enforce their judgments according to the laws and usages of the State, without reference to such attempted appeal, and the person or persons attempting to take such appeal may be dealt with as for a contempt of the court.
And it is further ordained, that all persons now holding any office of honor, profit, or trust, civil or military, under this State (members of the legislature excepted), shall, within such time, and in such manner as the legislature shall prescribe, take an oath well and truly to obey, execute, and enforce this ordinance, and such act or acts of the legislature as may be passed in pursuance thereof, according to the true intent and meaning of the same, and on the neglect or omission of any such person or persons so to do, his or their office or offices shall be forthwith vacated, and shall be filled up as if such person or persons were dead or had resigned; and no person hereafter elected to any office of honor, profit, or trust, civil or military (members of the legislature excepted), shall, until the legislature shall otherwise provide and direct, enter on the execution of his office, or be he any respect competent to discharge the duties thereof until he shall, in like manner, have taken a similar oath; and no juror shall be impaneled in any of the courts of this State, in any cause in which shall be in question this ordinance, or any act of the legislature passed in pursuance thereof, unless he shall first, in addition to the usual oath, have taken an oath that he will well and truly obey, execute, and enforce this ordinance, and such act or acts of the legislature as may be passed to carry the same into operation and effect, according to the true intent and meaning thereof.
And we, the people of(name of State), to the end that it may be fully understood by the government of the United States, and the people of the co-States, that we are determined to maintain this our ordinance and declaration, at every hazard, do further declare that we will not submit to the application of force on the part of the federal government, to reduce this State to obedience, but that we will consider the passage, by Congress, of any act authorizing the employment of a military or naval force against the State of(name of State), her constitutional authorities or citizens, or any other act on the part of the federal government, to coerce the State, destroy or harass her commerce or to enforce the acts hereby declared to be null and void, otherwise than through the civil tribunals of the country, as inconsistent with the longer continuance of (name of State)in the Union; and that the people of this State will henceforth hold themselves absolved from all further obligation to maintain or preserve their political connection with the people of the other States; and will forthwith proceed to organize a separate government, and do all other acts and things which sovereign and independent States may of right do.
Done in convention at (name of city), on (date).
Form letter to Secession:
P283; We, the People of the State of (enter state name), in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and hereby declared and ordained, that the Ordinance adopted by us in Convention on (date of nullification ordinance passed), whereby the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified, and also all Acts of the General Assembly of this State ratifying amendments to the said Constitution, are hereby repealed, and the Union now subsisting between (name of State) and other States under the name of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved
In light of current acts of Congress, believed to be unauthorized by the Constitution, and against the wishes of the people of the various States, there has been talk of nullifying these laws. To that end, I have tried to make it easier to compile the needed paperwork to reestablish the rights of the States.
Nullification is one of the most extreme positions of the states' rights philosophy. It is based upon the belief that the Union was a voluntary joining of sovereign states and that those states had the right to nullify, or invalidate, within their boundaries any unconstitutional actions of the federal government. This view is an extension of Jefferson's belief in the supremacy of individual and states' rights over federal governmental powers.
As James Madison states in the Federalist papers, #39
It appears, on the one hand, that the United States Constitution is to be founded on the assent and ratification of the people of America, given by deputies elected for a special purpose; but, on the other, that this assent and ratification is to be given by the people, not as individuals composing the entire nation, but as composing the distinct and independent states to which they respectively belong. It is to be the assent and ratification of the several States, derived from the supreme authority in each States,-the authority of the people themselves.
In the preamble to the Constitution, it is stated “to create a more perfect union”. This is used by some to indicate that since the Articles of Confederation were perpetual, then the United States Constitution must be perpetual.
But this feature did not prevent breaking up the Confederation by secession of the several States so they might be free to form a new union. Commenting on the Confederation, Alexander Hamilton lamented “Resting on no better foundation than the consent of several legislatures, it has been exposed to frequent and intricate questions concerning the validity of its powers, and has in some instances given birth to the enormous doctrine of legislative repeal. Owing its ratification to the law of a State, it has been contended that the same authority might repeal the law by which it was ratified. However gross a heresy it may be that a party to a compact has a right to revoke that compact; the doctrine itself has respectable advocates.
The nullification concept was first raised by the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions in 1798-99 in reaction to the Alien and Sedition Acts. In 1809-10 nullification was briefly revived by New England states which opposed a national embargo (Non-Intercourse Act).
The concept returned in Southern reactions to the Tariff of 1828, the Tariff of 1832.
The right of nullification, was a cautious and gradual kind of secession actually understood at the time of the formation of the United States Constitution, as an extraordinary mode of redress against unconstitutional acts within or of the Union in a case of unusual magnitude where, due to the passions of the day, or the very nature of the question, normal modes of redress by petition or litigation could not be effective and beneficial. If nullification did not produce results, then secession would follow. It was a process known to have three distinct stages:
1; There might be an act of formal protest adopted by the legislature of an offended State, promulgating a solemn declaration identifying the offensive acts of the government of the Union or of sister States as unconstitutional and injurious, and concluding with an appropriate demand for redress, lest further measures become necessary.
2; If interposition should fail to induce justice, the legislature of the offended State might then issue a summons for election and assembly of the People in Convention, which could then meet, and, by command of supreme and irresistible authority, adopt an ordinance of nullification, declaring the unconstitutional acts null and void, and authorizing or directing the government of the State to proceed with concrete measures to obstruct any further implementation of the wrongful acts within her territory.
3; if the ordinance of nullification should fail to restore proper balance between the Union and the State, the People in Convention could then, by act of sovereign power, as the means of enforcing the nullification. Adopt an ordinance of secession, lawfully withdrawing the State from the Union.
You can send a copy of these form letters to your state Governor and Attorney General for their files. Without specifics anywhere in this article, it can just as easily be used 20 years from now as it is today. The following forms can be used by the States as a guideline for their own objections.
Nullification form letter
Whereas the Congress of the United States by (statement of offences, being as explicit as possible). And whereas the said Congress, exceeding its just power to (statement of Constitutional authority)for the purpose of effecting and accomplishing the specific objects and purposes which the Constitution of the United States authorizes it to effect and accomplish, has exceeded the powers of authorized by the Constitution.
We, therefore, the people of the State of( name of state), in convention assembled, do declare and ordain and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the several acts and parts of acts of the Congress of the United States, (state offensive laws or statues)approved on ( date of offense) are unauthorized by the Constitution of the United States, and violate the true meaning and intent thereof and are null, void, and no law, nor binding upon this State, its officers or citizens; and all promises, contracts, and obligations, made or entered into, or to be made or entered into, with purpose to secure the duties imposed by said acts, and all judicial proceedings which shall be hereafter had in affordance thereof, are and shall be held utterly null and void.
And it is further ordained, that it shall not be lawful for any of the constituted authorities, whether of this State or of the United States, to enforce the said acts within the limits of this State; but it shall be the duty of the legislature to adopt such measures and pass such acts as may be necessary to give full effect to this ordinance, and to prevent the enforcement and arrest the operation of the said acts and parts of acts of the Congress of the United States within the limits of this State, from and after the ( date for enactment) and the duties of all other constituted authorities, and of all persons residing or being within the limits of this State, and they are hereby required and enjoined to obey and give effect to this ordinance, and such acts and measures of the legislature as may be passed or adopted in obedience thereto.
And it is further ordained, that in no case of law or equity, decided in the courts of this State, wherein shall be drawn in question the authority of this ordinance, or the validity of such act or acts of the legislature as may be passed for the purpose of giving effect thereto, or the validity of the aforesaid acts of Congress, shall any appeal be taken or allowed to the Supreme Court of the United States, nor shall any copy of the record be permitted or allowed for that purpose; and if any such appeal shall be attempted to be taken, the courts of this State shall proceed to execute and enforce their judgments according to the laws and usages of the State, without reference to such attempted appeal, and the person or persons attempting to take such appeal may be dealt with as for a contempt of the court.
And it is further ordained, that all persons now holding any office of honor, profit, or trust, civil or military, under this State (members of the legislature excepted), shall, within such time, and in such manner as the legislature shall prescribe, take an oath well and truly to obey, execute, and enforce this ordinance, and such act or acts of the legislature as may be passed in pursuance thereof, according to the true intent and meaning of the same, and on the neglect or omission of any such person or persons so to do, his or their office or offices shall be forthwith vacated, and shall be filled up as if such person or persons were dead or had resigned; and no person hereafter elected to any office of honor, profit, or trust, civil or military (members of the legislature excepted), shall, until the legislature shall otherwise provide and direct, enter on the execution of his office, or be he any respect competent to discharge the duties thereof until he shall, in like manner, have taken a similar oath; and no juror shall be impaneled in any of the courts of this State, in any cause in which shall be in question this ordinance, or any act of the legislature passed in pursuance thereof, unless he shall first, in addition to the usual oath, have taken an oath that he will well and truly obey, execute, and enforce this ordinance, and such act or acts of the legislature as may be passed to carry the same into operation and effect, according to the true intent and meaning thereof.
And we, the people of(name of State), to the end that it may be fully understood by the government of the United States, and the people of the co-States, that we are determined to maintain this our ordinance and declaration, at every hazard, do further declare that we will not submit to the application of force on the part of the federal government, to reduce this State to obedience, but that we will consider the passage, by Congress, of any act authorizing the employment of a military or naval force against the State of(name of State), her constitutional authorities or citizens, or any other act on the part of the federal government, to coerce the State, destroy or harass her commerce or to enforce the acts hereby declared to be null and void, otherwise than through the civil tribunals of the country, as inconsistent with the longer continuance of (name of State)in the Union; and that the people of this State will henceforth hold themselves absolved from all further obligation to maintain or preserve their political connection with the people of the other States; and will forthwith proceed to organize a separate government, and do all other acts and things which sovereign and independent States may of right do.
Done in convention at (name of city), on (date).
Form letter to Secession:
P283; We, the People of the State of (enter state name), in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and hereby declared and ordained, that the Ordinance adopted by us in Convention on (date of nullification ordinance passed), whereby the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified, and also all Acts of the General Assembly of this State ratifying amendments to the said Constitution, are hereby repealed, and the Union now subsisting between (name of State) and other States under the name of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved
Monday, December 28, 2009
US Constitution opinion
United States Constitution
Article 1: Section. 8.
*The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
*To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
*To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Since so many of the comments I’ve heard from people indicates that you know of this document, but may not have read it recently, I’ve included it for convenience. This is the part that lays out what congress is allowed to spend money on.
There are so many instances in which the Federal Government has usurped power; it’s hard to know where to start. It is not just the current & previous administrations that is to blame; it goes back Wilson & was worst under the New Deal. Unfortunately the plans for a time machine that I bought on the internet didn’t work out so I can’t go back to fix the past, we can only fight the fight going forward.
The most misleading term seems to be promoting the general welfare. The definition, supported by James Madison & Thomas Jefferson, is that the power to tax & spend did not confer upon congress the right to do whatever it thought best for the nation, but only to further the ends specifically enumerated in the Constitution.
An example of the original meaning comes when congress refused to fund the dredging of the Savannah River because it was located entirely in the State of Georgia, therefore only of benefit to the State of Georgia. At the same time it approved the lighthouse at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay & a bridge across the Cumberland Gap, these being interstate project of benefit to commerce. This is the same rational that gave us the Interstate Highway System.
As to the borrowing clause, George Washington stated in his farewell address;
As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit, One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible; avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear.
The power to borrow is also the responsibility to maintain our good credit. By excessive spending this administration has put our credit rating in jeopardy. The amount of spending being proposed will destroy any chance we have to recover economically.
On the rules for bankruptcy clause, as James Madison Observed in Federalist #42, “The power of establishing uniform laws of bankruptcy is so intimately connected with the regulation of commerce, and will prevent so many frauds where the parties or their property may lie or be removed into different States that the expediency of it seems not likely to be drawn into question.” To allow some banks and financial groups to fail while bailing out others is not “uniform”.
On the ninth & tenth amendments, they should be read together.
The ninth was to prevent the application of statutory rule of interpretation, i.e. by including one thing you exclude all others. It was also to confirm the republican principles of the Federalist & the Anti-Federalist alike, that the people retain their communal right of self-governance. The libertarian point of view on the ninth is that it point to a[i] set of judicially enforceable unenumerated rights (natural rights) that no government can legitimately deny. Unfortunately in 1937, the Supreme Court gave up on trying to enforce this amendment, & in 1965 (Griswold v. Connecticut) the Court twisted it’s meaning to something unrecognizable. This proves why depending on the Court to properly interpret the law is dangerous.
The tenth- reserving to the people of the states the powers not delegated to the US government- was designed to confirm the separate juridical competency of the respective states in relation to the federal governments limited powers.
When the government decides to use tax law to deal with a non- existing problem like global warming, & redistribute our wealth around the world, they have gone too far. Even if they are allowed to regulate these items under the Constitution, they cannot commit a violation while enforcing the rules. When the system proposed will allow our representatives to give/sell “Carbon Credits” to businesses, the stage it set for massive corruption. The takeover of our healthcare market has no bases in the Constitution. The healthcare system can be reformed without this massive takeover. We are told the government is the answer, I say the government is the problem.
Article 1: Section. 8.
*The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
*To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
*To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Since so many of the comments I’ve heard from people indicates that you know of this document, but may not have read it recently, I’ve included it for convenience. This is the part that lays out what congress is allowed to spend money on.
There are so many instances in which the Federal Government has usurped power; it’s hard to know where to start. It is not just the current & previous administrations that is to blame; it goes back Wilson & was worst under the New Deal. Unfortunately the plans for a time machine that I bought on the internet didn’t work out so I can’t go back to fix the past, we can only fight the fight going forward.
The most misleading term seems to be promoting the general welfare. The definition, supported by James Madison & Thomas Jefferson, is that the power to tax & spend did not confer upon congress the right to do whatever it thought best for the nation, but only to further the ends specifically enumerated in the Constitution.
An example of the original meaning comes when congress refused to fund the dredging of the Savannah River because it was located entirely in the State of Georgia, therefore only of benefit to the State of Georgia. At the same time it approved the lighthouse at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay & a bridge across the Cumberland Gap, these being interstate project of benefit to commerce. This is the same rational that gave us the Interstate Highway System.
As to the borrowing clause, George Washington stated in his farewell address;
As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit, One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible; avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear.
The power to borrow is also the responsibility to maintain our good credit. By excessive spending this administration has put our credit rating in jeopardy. The amount of spending being proposed will destroy any chance we have to recover economically.
On the rules for bankruptcy clause, as James Madison Observed in Federalist #42, “The power of establishing uniform laws of bankruptcy is so intimately connected with the regulation of commerce, and will prevent so many frauds where the parties or their property may lie or be removed into different States that the expediency of it seems not likely to be drawn into question.” To allow some banks and financial groups to fail while bailing out others is not “uniform”.
On the ninth & tenth amendments, they should be read together.
The ninth was to prevent the application of statutory rule of interpretation, i.e. by including one thing you exclude all others. It was also to confirm the republican principles of the Federalist & the Anti-Federalist alike, that the people retain their communal right of self-governance. The libertarian point of view on the ninth is that it point to a[i] set of judicially enforceable unenumerated rights (natural rights) that no government can legitimately deny. Unfortunately in 1937, the Supreme Court gave up on trying to enforce this amendment, & in 1965 (Griswold v. Connecticut) the Court twisted it’s meaning to something unrecognizable. This proves why depending on the Court to properly interpret the law is dangerous.
The tenth- reserving to the people of the states the powers not delegated to the US government- was designed to confirm the separate juridical competency of the respective states in relation to the federal governments limited powers.
When the government decides to use tax law to deal with a non- existing problem like global warming, & redistribute our wealth around the world, they have gone too far. Even if they are allowed to regulate these items under the Constitution, they cannot commit a violation while enforcing the rules. When the system proposed will allow our representatives to give/sell “Carbon Credits” to businesses, the stage it set for massive corruption. The takeover of our healthcare market has no bases in the Constitution. The healthcare system can be reformed without this massive takeover. We are told the government is the answer, I say the government is the problem.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)