A Post Gone Awry
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in a concurring opinion in U. S. v. Lopez (1995):
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We have said that Congress may regulate not only ‘Commerce…among the several states,’…but also anything that has a ‘substantial effect’ on such commerce. This test, if taken to its logical extreme, would give Congress a ‘police power’ over all aspects of American life.
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Under our jurisprudence, if Congress passed an omnibus ‘substantially affects interstate commerce’ statute, purporting to regulate every aspect of human existence, the Act apparently would be constitutional.
Lopez was a high school student who brought a gun to school. In Texas. He was charged with violating the Gun Free School Zone Act, a bill put in place based on the unchecked power of the new meaning of the Commerce Clause.
Lopez walked. He argued that this act exceeding Congress’ power, and he won. But only barely: Stevens, Souter, and Breyer all saw nothing wrong with the Act, and argued that it was a right and proper use of the Commerce Clause.
This was 15 years ago. Things have only become worse since.
on 07/17/2010 at 06:25 PM
Well said Drew! If you want to spend the rest of your life, try going through all of the Bullsh*t Federal statutes and count up the “regulates”. Changing this, I’m afraid, will be impossible through normal procedures.
Len - and that is what I am afraid of - Instead of pushing the DNC, Senate & Supreme Court to end the ‘birther’ question (i.e. The NBC Clause of the Constitution, for those of us who think and are not afraid of the distortion of words and personal insults) - before this empty suit Marxist was even the nominee - Nope every option, every choice was removed from a free and legal election - by those in power. And then our elected ‘representatives’ have just piled on, worse and worse.
To get us back - indeed that ‘consequences’ are going to have to be draconian. Rather than not succumb to threat, cheat and innuendo. Rather than not even attempting to play fair. Rather than some sane and little cuts across the board and adherence to the Law. Rather than not working purposely to give the President [Enumerated powers of the president are those specifically mentioned in the Constitution;
- Legislative powers (veto, pocket veto, signing legislation).
- Deliver the State of the Union address.
- Appointment power (to a domestic office such as judges and ambassadors).
- Calling Congress into session.
- Chief executive role ("faithfully execute the law” clause).
- Commander-in-chief role
- Nation’s leader
- Nation’s lead ambassador ] more power than anyone single person should have. Nope, they all just pile on and enable more disaster, more taxation, more failure.
Oops President Obama: I do not see being able to takeover any private business, I do not see being able to deny (as per legal contracts) any bonus/benefits in a private business, I do not see (as per legal contract and The Rule of Law) being able to confer the profits to a specific (and last on the legal contract) group above all other debt/share owners, and so on.
And yet Congress and the Courts - just let him go on and on and on.
Thus, unless We The People can pull off a 100% clean up/out of Congress in NOvember - and then those people actually stand up and put down some of this criminal abrogation of duty - President Obama will have as his legacy - the 2nd Civil War in America.
As We The People should not have -
1)governance against the will of the majority of the people
2)politicians in power who are intentionally destroying the economy, the free nature of American commerce/business and the violation of Individual Rights but most especially the un-Constitutional mandates of most of these new bills (which none of them have read, much less been posted for enough time for We The People to read).
3) complete disregard for the sovereignty and Rule of Law regarding immigration into the US with the intention to destroy further opportunities for all American citizens and to up the entitlement rolls - thus requiring a tax hike for all working Americans (except those ‘rich’ who have hidden their monies in tax shelter that avoid further taxation)
4)the ultimate goal of destroying the American way of life, the US Constitution and turning America into just another socialist ‘paradise’ on the brink of irrelevancy, social chaos and open to invasion/violence.All because the media joined forces with the political class to turn America into the rest of the World - meaningless and dependent.
What a shame - too many people did not see what was happening and put a stop to it.
Term Limits - they all need to be controlled and then thrown out of power - so that We The People can reverse all this un-Constitutional and dangerous political wrangling for power and remain FREE.
Good start Drew!
I do hope you’ve saved all your research. I’m looking forward to the book.
FDR was more influenced by Fabian socialism than the Marx crowd but the roads all led to where we are anyway, just Like Heyak explained in ‘Road to Serfdom’.
Ayn Rand explained it in literary style and made it very clear how it works in action.
Ah to live in the days of horse poop on the streets.I’ll pass on the horse leavings, thanks.
Shrinking the deficit and the tax hit that companies and citizens pay is only going to happen by shrinking the federal government. That’s only going to happen by We The People demanding that a more Originalist view comes to the forefront. The federal bureaucracy needs to shrink by about 80%, and the states don’t need to pick up the slack. Improperly assumed powers of the governments shrink, rights of the people increase.
This does not mean we go back to slavery, Jim Crow, old folks starving in the streets, outhouses and no public sanitation. Culturally we’ve grown past the first bunch, and physically we’ve long had the infrastructure to handle the second. But the whole thing has grown out of control. I read somewhere that only 30% of the money set aside for welfare actually gets to the recipients. 70% is eaten up by government workers. A very similar thing goes for the school money. Far more than half is swallowed up before it gets down to running the actual school buildings and paying the teachers. Too damn much management in both cases, and government is management. Thin them out. Prune them severely. And throw out all the government unions.
