This section is about general concerns about the violation of the U.S. Constitution. The
Constitution seems to be routinely ignored now, even by those at the uppermost levels of our
government who have sworn to uphold it.
Recently, extremists on the political left have begun to engage in mocking
derision * of
the people who point out that most of the 21st Century activities of the federal government are unconstitutional,
i.e., they are illegal. The Constitution will become irrelevant if its violations are consistently
ignored. It may already be too late.
It is probably impossible to expect the return to strictly Constitutional government in our lifetimes,
because Americans by and large are comfortable with the status quo. But strictly speaking, there
is nothing in the Constitution that authorizes direct payments to individuals, or the exploration of
other planets, or the prosecution of any crime other than counterfeiting, piracy or treason. Anything
outside of the "enumerated powers" of the federal government is supposed to be left up to the states, or
to the people. In other words, if General Electric wants to waste money on a trip to Mars, that's
okay, because G.E. isn't taking money out of our paychecks.
Read the Constitution for yourself.
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Many people who have not read it for themselves would be surprised to learn that "separation of church and
state" is nowhere to be found in the Constitution. Nor is the word "immigration". Nor is there
anything about the federal funding for education. Nor is there any provision for emergency
management, for example, cleaning up after a hurricane. Nor is there anything that would
authorize our government to fix other countries' problems, for example, AIDS in
Africa.* All those activities, according to
the Constitution, are to be left to the states, private companies, churches, charities, and individual
citizens.
Most recently, there is a massive push toward socialized medicine in the United States. There is
nothing at all in the Constitution that would authorize the federal government to take over the medical
industry, or to require us to buy health insurance. People might tend to think that such a move is
legal, since the government has just recently taken over General Motors and Chrysler, but those takeovers
were illegal, too.
Related topics on nearby pages
The Nationalization of GM and Chrysler -- unprecedented and unconstitutional.
Obama's so-called czars -- blatantly unconstitutional.
The So-Called Stimulus Bill -- clearly unconstitutional.
The Wall Street Bailout of 2008 -- obviously unconstitutional.
So-called Campaign Finance Reform is unconstitutional.
So-called Affirmative Action is unconstitutional.
Socialized medicine is unconstitutional.
Gun control is unconstitutional.
Social Security is unconstitutional.
I have my doubts about the USA Patriot Act.
It's Time to Scrap NASA because nothing NASA does is authorized by the Constitution.
Poverty and Dependency in America -- Poverty is not the federal government's problem.
Medicare, Medicaid, and Prescription Drug Benefits
Dismantling America.
It is no coincidence that those who imagine themselves so much wiser and nobler than the rest of us should be
in the forefront of those who seek to erode Constitutional restrictions on the arbitrary powers of government.
How can our betters impose their superior wisdom and virtue on us, when the Constitution gets in the way at
every turn, with all its provisions to safeguard a system based on a self-governing people? To get their
way, the elites must erode or dismantle the Constitution, bit by bit, in one way or another.
Abridging
Too Far. Philadelphia is charging bloggers $300 for a "privilege" license. In the city
where the Declaration of Independence was adopted and the Constitution signed, a right has become a privilege.
The scheme went virtually unreported until the Philadelphia City Paper ran a story last week noting that the
city requires privilege licenses for any business engaged in what local tax attorney Michael Mandale terms
"activity for profit."
Taking
back the Constitution piece by piece. Improvements [to the Constitution] have come in the form
of amendments that accomplished the abolition of slavery and giving women the right to vote. Those were
both long overdue by the time they passed. But there have also been mistakes made in the amendment process,
including the prohibition of alcohol and the decision to turn senators into panderers by making them directly
electable by the people instead of through the choice of each state's legislature. With more than a
hundred years of monkey-wrenching the prime law of the land through "progressive" court decisions, there is
also lots of damage to undo that is based on "precedent" rather than the plain language of the Constitution.
America's Slipping
Grasp on Self-Governance. The accelerating pace of America's deconstitutionalization is no
coincidence. Over time, the political attacks on our system have become more brazen, while built-in
protections have been torn down. We are now in the precarious position of meeting our tyranny's
strongest push with freedom's weakest defense (institutionally speaking). We face a tough road to
recapture our vanishing right to self-government.
Taking Back Our
Constitution. Americans, the Constitution of the United States of America doesn't belong to
us anymore. We have let our guard down one too many times with regard to our constitutional responsibilities,
rights, and liberties, and now elected politicians control the document. ... It took a long time for Congress
and the government to amass these powers that they have taken from us, and they certainly won't relinquish them
as easily as we gave them up. But with unflinching purpose, we must begin to take the Constitution
back, as well as reimpose limits on congressional powers, for the sake of future Americans.
Government 'for the people'
turned upside down. Abraham Lincoln closed his powerful Gettysburg Address during the Civil War by
calling for a new resolve "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the
earth." But today, 147 years after Lincoln spoke, the nation is struggling with another identity crisis:
Our federal government is growing excessively large, tax-hungry, intrusive, and overbearing, contrary to the
desires of most "of the people" and contrary to the basic limited-government principles written into the U.S.
Constitution.
Abolishing the
First Amendment. Last week, the House of Representatives passed the dishonestly named DISCLOSE
Act after weeks of backroom dealings and closed-door meetings. The bill, which aggressively attempts to
limit the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans, was brought to a floor vote after a 45-page amendment
was dropped into it the previous evening in the Rules Committee. For a bill supposedly aimed at
disclosure, the process by which it was passed was anything but transparent.
The Tenth Amendment Protects
Our Liberty. The Tenth Amendment embodied a revolutionary concept. Written just a few
years after we had won our independence from Britain, the Constitution fundamentally changed the relationship
between people and government. For millennia, the source of power and authority had always been kings
and government, and rights were seen as gifts by grace from the Monarch. The Constitution inverted that
understanding, with sovereignty beginning in the American people — beginning with We the
People — and power given to government only to a limited degree.
Second
attack on the First Amendment. Democrats are committed to attacking our First Amendment rights
by passing a bill that will limit freedom of speech for groups with whom they disagree. ... The most troubling
aspect of this is that the Democrats are fully aware that this legislation will not hold up to the scrutiny of
the Supreme Court but, if passed, would have major implications on the upcoming elections because the court
probably would not address the issue before November. This Saul Alinsky-type approach is obvious:
Its goal is to take away our rights as Americans.
To
Save the Constitution, Liberals Must First Destroy It. Although Ray Bradbury's dystopic world of
Fahrenheit 451 book banning has not yet become reality, that day may arrive sooner rather than later in
view of the Obama administration's rush to control not only physical property such as banks, auto manufacturers,
hospitals, drug companies and the like, but also intellectual real estate such as thoughts and ideas.
Constitution of No.
When a reporter asked House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) during a press conference last year where the
Constitution granted Congress the authority to enact an individual health-insurance mandate, she answered,
"Are you serious? Are you serious?" Speaker Pelosi then dismissed the question and moved on to
the next reporter. This exchange illustrates the way "yes we can" liberals treat the Constitution:
They simply ignore it when it gets in the way of their big-government bailouts and takeovers.
Free Speech: Use It or
Lose It. Recently, independent journalism and blogging have come under attack on multiple
fronts. Congress is considering a new DISCLOSE Act that could force bloggers to file reports with the
government stating whether their political speech was coordinated with efforts by corporations or labor
unions — whereas traditional news media such as newspapers, magazines, and TV/radio would be exempt.
Health Care Statists
on the March. The American Medical Association's top journal publishes an article calling for
startling change to our medical and political system. Not content with passage of recent health care
reform, doctors Samuel Sessions and Allan Detsky suggest that US citizens ignore the literal meaning of the
Constitution. This would allow health reformers to transform the US medical system with fewer roadblocks.
Pity the Constitution.
To the century-old debate about whether the Constitution is "living" or static, we may now add yet another
argument, an even more woeful assault on the founding document of our country. ... There's a perfectly reasonable
devolution from an established Constitution to a living Constitution to a populist legal system. The
question becomes, if the Constitution is "living," who's breathing life into it? And with what intentions?
Which political party wants to take away your right to own a gun?
Ohio Democratic Party
unsuccessfully tries to get gun records. The Ohio Democratic Party tried unsuccessfully this
week to get information on all people licensed to carry concealed weapons in the Buckeye State. The
state party sent letters to Ohio's 88 sheriffs requesting the names and addresses of permit holders and
the dates the licenses were issued. Ohio has about 211,000 permit holders.
How Did We Get There?
[Scroll down] Today, it is estimated that two-thirds to three-fourths of federal government expenditures
do not have a foundation in its enumerated powers, and nearly all of the regulatory agencies are without any
Constitutional foundation. How did we get there? ... The Tea Party has made a start on the reclamation
effort. It seems to recognize that every dollar spent by the federal government is extracted under threat of
imprisonment from one of our fellow citizens. The journey back to liberty will be long, and it will be
difficult.
Michigan Considers Law
to License Journalists. A Michigan lawmaker wants to license reporters to ensure they're credible and
vet them for "good moral character." Senator Bruce Patterson is introducing legislation that will regulate
reporters much like the state does with hairdressers, auto mechanics and plumbers.
Why not License Politicians Seeking Public
Office?. State Senator Bruce Patterson of Michigan recently rocked the journalism trade with
a proposal that would establish a state licensing board for journalists. ... Although Patterson's legislative
proposal is not likely to become law any where soon, his reasoning and logic could give rise to another
terrific idea: Why not license politicians seeking public office?
Senate to vote on Obama's
power grab. On Thursday, the Senate will vote on S.J.Res.26, a resolution to block EPA from
usurping powers never delegated to it by Congress. Failure means allowing EPA to go forward, apparently
in flagrant violation of our constitutional traditions simply because too many in Congress desire, but can't
bear to take responsibility for, more of the Obama agenda.
Will journalists wake up in time to save journalism from Obama's
FTC? Journalists must understand that there is no way the First Amendment's guarantee of
freedom of the press will survive if the federal government regulates the news industry as envisioned
by the FTC. Those who accept at face value protests to the contrary or the professions of pure
intentions by advocates of government takeover of the news business are, at best, incredibly naive.
How
not to save the news business. [Scroll down slowly] Most dangerous of all, the FTC considers
a doctrine of "proprietary facts," as if anyone should gain the right to restrict the flow of information just
as the information is opening it up. Copyright law protects the presentation of news but no one owns
facts — and if anyone did, you could be forbidden from sharing them. How does that
serve free speech?
FTC draft study
proposes massive bailout of newspapers. The Obama FTC is attempting to commit the liberal press
to permanent, government-run life support, with the federal monolith and the state-funded press each supporting
the other in perpetuity. Let's see, raise taxes, reduce competition, expand government, drain the profit,
control the news... Music to Obama's ears.
FTC to "reinvent" journalism.
The nation needs a strong, independent press, the FTC argues, and so they want to find ways for government to
"reinvent" journalism. If that sounds vaguely Orwellian to you, the actual language in the Federal Trade
Commission's discussion-points memo should have hairs standing on the backs of necks across the nation.
It shows a wildly laughable rationale for government intervention that would prop up the failing newspaper
model in a manner that would put the entire industry at the mercy of the federal bureaucracy it's supposed
to keep in check.
Lay
claim to Constitution — or lose it? One of the most worrisome social trends today is
that many Americans no longer claim ownership of the Constitution. Every time I write about some
constitutional issue, I inevitably hear from some smug liberal scoffing at how "Frank the Constitutional
Scholar" knows more than the judges and congressmen who reign in Washington. Apparently we are supposed
to be comfortable with the idea of letting President Obama, Harry Reid and the judges they appoint and confirm
tell us what the Constitution means.
Bloggers
Beware — They're Coming After You!. Just when you thought it was safe to start
expressing your right to free speech, Democrats in Congress are gearing up for a vote on a new piece of
legislation to blatantly undermine the First Amendment. Known as the DISCLOSE Act (HR 5175), this
bill — written by the head of the Democrats' congressional campaign committee — is
their response to the recent Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
It's the Constitution that's
Radicalizing Our Politicians. [Scroll down] Before the passage of the 17th Amendment, members of
the Senate were chosen by state legislatures to be the agents of those sovereign governments in Washington, D.C., much
like ambassadors today at the United Nations. While a member of the House would represent the intemperate passions
of the people as citizens, a senator would represent the very different interests of the people's state governments.
The interests of the two bodies were purposefully not aligned — their constituencies were different. The
17th Amendment allowed for the direct election of senators by the citizens of each state. What the U.S. had
prior to 1913 was a bicameral legislature competing bill-by-bill for the direction and scope of the federal
government. Now that both representatives and senators have an identical interest (pandering to the
citizenry), Congress is one herd of cattle in two pens.
Constitution in decline.
It's time to reform our administrative state. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was right when she said Congress
would have to "pass the health care bill so you can find out what's in it." That's because the
health care bill, like most major laws passed by Congress over the past hundred years, isn't really a law.
Rather, Obamacare is a series of assignments to bureaucrats in the Department of Health and Human Services.
It is emblematic of what scholars call the administrative state, where legislative, executive and judicial powers
are delegated to unaccountable experts sequestered in a fourth branch of government.
Seven
Reasons Government Has Become Completely Dysfunctional in America. [Scroll down] Why do
you think we so seldom pass constitutional amendments any more? In all honesty, it's because Congress
and even many of the judges in our court system pay so little attention to the Constitution that they just do
anything they want. That's the biggest reason why our government does so many things slowly, stupidly,
and inefficiently: it's because our system of government was supposed to preclude the government from
doing those things in the first place.
Saving
Guam from Capsizing All in a Day's Work for U.S. Congressmen. If anything, the Constitution has
been nothing but a menace to politicians. Because of it, we're currently stuck with democracy. Thus
the morons who make up America actually have power, which is why politicians can't just ignore them and do their
important work. Luckily, as more and more of the economy is controlled by the government and thus politicians,
democracy can do less and less damage to the politicians' plans. Thus this disconnect will become less and
less relevant, as citizens will lack the power to do anything with their inane objections.
Congress Has Become an Institution of the
Useless. With the approval rating of the current congressional gaggle hovering somewhere
in the single digits, one has to ask: Can't we do better than this for $174,000 a year and the best benefits
package in America? It takes one's breath away to see the blatant disregard so many of our senators and
representatives have for the very Constitution they have sworn to defend.
What kind of
nation have we become? The issue is whether the politicians have violated their oath to
protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. If they have, is
anyone going to enforce the law and prosecute these people for this crime?
The States Must Rise Again. The
Constitution is the contract the American people have with one another, and enumerated in it are the rights
and responsibilities of all those party to it. But it has one serious flaw. It only works if you
actually abide by it.
Should Obama Be Impeached? Obama
is purposely undermining the US Constitution. In doing so, his actions make unstable every institution and
office below the presidency, since the Constitution is the foundation of every government power and official
decision.
Meet
Your Lords and Masters. There was a time in this country when the government of the United States
followed the Constitution and had greatly limited powers. Today, the Constitution is largely ignored and
our Congress can do almost anything it wants — and it does just that.
Government can't force
people to buy insurance they don't want. It is not part of my job as Colorado Attorney General
to tell our Congressional delegation how best to reform the nation's health care system. And I don't
see it as my role to opine whether the Patient Protection and Affordability Health Care Act is good public
policy. It is my job however, to defend states' rights and the constitutional rights of Colorado
citizens when the federal government oversteps its bounds.
Who
owns you? The risk of 'unlimited submission'. Thanks to the "judgment" of Congress
that it can "create" new rights "ex nihili" (out of nothing) — namely the peculiar right to be forced
to buy health insurance — the states, and the individual citizens therein, have fallen under the
"dominion, absolute and unlimited," of the federal government. You will not find anything like
this power of Congress in the Constitution, which is why more than a dozen state attorneys general
have already filed suits to block the health-care bill from taking effect.
ObamaCare and
the Constitution : The constitutional challenges to ObamaCare have come quickly, and the media
are portraying them mostly as hopeless gestures — the political equivalent of Civil War re-enactors.
Discussion over: You lost, deal with it. The press corps never dismissed the legal challenges
to the war on terror so easily...
Tell Us The
Total. One of the many reasons why so many North Carolinians opposed the ObamaCare legislation
is that the process that yielded it was full of backroom deals, prevarication, and confusion. A republican
form of government requires both clarity and transparency on the part of public officials, to whom voters have
granted the coercive power of government only grudgingly, with important restrictions and reservations.
You may have seen a list of these restrictions and reservations. It's colloquially known as the United States
Constitution.
The Looting of America:
[Scroll down] Our enemies aren't necessarily Democrats, and our salvation doesn't automatically reside
with Republicans. Our enemy is corruption, and both parties have a demonstrated spectacular lust
for it. That corruption is enabled by the enormous power concentrated in our oversized,
unconstitutional federal government. Our only hope is fielding and electing candidates determined to
drive the federal beast back into its constitutional cage. The "Roman holiday" is over. Either we turn
away from our porn, drugs, and games and restore our republic, or we board the cattle cars to the gulag.
The Interstate Commerce Clause and the Kitchen
Sink: Despite what liberals want you to believe, the Constitution actually gives very few powers
to the federal government; and if that power is not specifically spelled out, it was meant to go to the states.
Let's dispense with the supremacy clause. Democrats are insisting that federal law always trumps state
law when there is a conflict. (Apparently, that doesn't apply in Chicago when the issue is the
2nd Amendment, however).
Congress
and the incredible shrinking Constitution. The House of Representatives [voted] on the SENATE
health-care bill, which is illegal. The Constitution mandates that "all Bills for raising Revenue shall
originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other
Bills." What happened in this case is that the Senate took an unrelated bill that originated in the
House, amended it by completely removing the previous provisions and then substituting 2,400 pages of
bureaucracy-creating, money-stealing, rights-restricting health-care reform. This is a blatant
end run around the Constitution, and means that Congress can do anything it wants.
The Originalist Perspective.
Written constitutionalism implies that those who make, interpret, and enforce the law ought to be guided by
the meaning of the United States Constitution — the supreme law of the land — as
it was originally written. This view came to be seriously eroded over the course of the last century
with the rise of the theory of the Constitution as a "living document" with no fixed meaning, subject to
changing interpretations according to the spirit of the times.
The Meaning Of The Constitution.
Part of the reason for the Constitution's enduring strength is that it is the complement of the Declaration
of Independence. The Declaration provided the philosophical basis for a government that exercises
legitimate power by "the consent of the governed," and it defined the conditions of a free people, whose
rights and liberty are derived from their Creator. The Constitution delineated the structure of
government and the rules for its operation, consistent with the creed of human liberty proclaimed in
the Declaration.
Rules Committee meeting descends into chaos. At the
House Rules Committee meeting, Democrats desperate to pass their national health care plan are running into
the barrier of basic civics. ... I just talked with a Republican rules expert, and it appears that there is
nothing in the rules of the House that will prevent Democrats from scheduling the vote for the amendments
package before the vote on the Senate bill itself — that is, voting to amend the law before
it becomes law.
Pence: Dems 'So Desperate' to Pass Health
Care They'll 'Trample Upon The Constitution'. Republican Conference Chairman Rep. Mike
Pence (R-Ind.) said Thursday [3/18/2010] that the Democrats' plan to pass the Senate health care bill
without a formal vote in the House goes against "our system of government" and shows that Democrats are
willing to "trample upon the Constitution itself."
Turning America Into a
Banana Republic. America was a democratic constitutional republic, governed by the rule of law,
a beacon of liberty to the entire world. But no more. After just one year of Barack Obama's
fundamental change, aided by the far left House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from San Francisco, and the easily
confused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, America has been transformed from a Constitutional Republic
into a Banana Republic.
The Wisdom of Conservatism:
[Thomas Jefferson] favored the kind of government that was established by the U.S. Constitution, the kind of
government that was intended to protect individual freedom and to secure peace. However, over the last
hundred years, the government has morphed into a limitless monster swallowing up individual freedom, encouraging
irresponsibility, restricting economic growth and creating terrible problems in its wake.
Obama
vs. the 10th Amendment. Not surprisingly, a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released
last Friday [2/26/2010] revealed that 56 percent of Americans think the federal government has
become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to their rights and freedoms.
Particularly apropos here is the feds' health care violation of the 10th Amendment, which is
part of our Bill of Rights and was ratified Dec. 15, 1791. The amendment says, "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."
The
Constitution: Another Victim of Obamacare. Reports have come out today [3/12/2010] that
the Parliamentarian has not ruled that the President must sign a law before it is considered a law for
reconciliation purposes. First, they came up with a strategy to get Obamacare passed in the House
without the House ever voting on the bill, now they have come up with a strategy and a ruling to get the
Obamacare bill to qualify as law without the President signing the law.
The Left's Great Motivator:
The Constitution was established to protect individual rights and liberties against a coercive government. Indeed,
it protects the very smallest minority in this country: the individual. ... However, the leftist ideologue dismisses
the Constitution's original intent and meaning, as it constrains the leftist's pursuit of ideological supremacy. To
confiscate a person's property, redistribute wealth, restrict free speech, or force a person to purchase a product would
violate the very principle the Constitution was established upon.
Obama, the Scourge of the Constitution.
Barack Obama taught a University of Chicago Law School course on the U.S. Constitution. ... Presumably, he knows
something about the Constitution, but that has not prevented him from ignoring parts of it that he finds
inconvenient and undermining others.
Privacy. In a hearing at
the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, in an effort to overturn a lower court ruling, the Administration argued
that a cell phone user has no expectation of privacy therefore the government can subpoena any and all cell
phone records at any time for virtually any reason without the need for search warrant issued by a judge. ... Is
the real motive to spy on US citizens? On the surface it certainly appears so.
Police push for warrantless searches of cell
phones. This is an important legal question that remains unresolved: as our gadgets store
more and more information about us, including our appointments, correspondence, and personal photos and videos,
what rules should police investigators be required to follow? The Obama administration and many local
prosecutors' answer is that warrantless searches are perfectly constitutional during arrests.
Conservative Leaders Against
the Unconstitutional Individual Mandate. Mandating that individuals must obtain health insurance,
and imposing any penalty — civil or criminal — on any private citizen for not purchasing
health insurance is not authorized by any provision of the U.S. Constitution. As such, it is unconstitutional,
and should not survive a court challenge on that issue. Supporters of the legislation have incorrectly
contended that the legal justification for the mandate is authorized by the Commerce Clause, the General
Welfare Clause, or the Taxing and Spending Clause. Given that this mandate provision is essential to
Obamacare; its unconstitutionality renders the entire program untenable.
The Editor says...
Don't get too confident that the Supreme Court will naturally find Obamacare to be unconstitutional, especially
if he can put another couple of leftists on the court before this question comes up. Remember, President
George W. Bush signed "campaign finance reform"* into
law assuming the Supreme Court would throw it out, and of course, they didn't, and we're stuck with it.
The
Constitutional Crisis and the Security Crisis. [Scroll down] First, there is the
matter of the ongoing constitutional crisis that, as al-Qaeda's attempted Christmas Day attack amply
demonstrates, is now endangering our nation. The Constitution gives the political branches plenary
responsibility for the conduct of war. The conduct of war includes the detention, trial, or release of
enemy combatants. The federal courts have no role except the one they have usurped. This brazen
power grab flouts the bedrock constitutional separation of powers, and the political branches do not
have to abide it. Indeed, as national defense is their chief responsibility, it is their duty
not to abide it.
Reid
Bill Says Future Congresses Cannot Repeal Parts of Reid Bill. Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.)
pointed out some rather astounding language in the Senate health care bill during floor remarks tonight.
First, he noted that there are a number of changes to Senate rules in the bill — and it's
supposed to take a 2/3 vote to change the rules. And then he pointed out that the
Reid bill declares on page 1020 that the Independent Medicare Advisory Board cannot be
repealed by future Congresses. ... The Democrats aren't playing by the rules; they may be
violating the Constitution.
Richard
Epstein: The Reid Bill Is Blatantly Unconstitutional. At PointOfLaw.com, the distinguished
University of Chicago constitutional scholar Richard Epstein provides a painstaking, withering analysis of the
healthcare legislation wending its way through the Senate. He concludes that it is clearly unconstitutional.
The essay is lengthy and, in places, complex; but it is brilliantly done, accessible, and compelling.
Why the
Reid Bill is Unconstitutional. Senator Orrin Hatch has long urged that the legislation is
unconstitutional for its overreaching on individual choice. This paper focuses on the constitutional
question in the ratemaking context, by comparison to analogous regulations in the context of public-utility
regulation.
Health Care Not In Constitution.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein says it comes under the Commerce Clause. Rep. Steny Hoyer says it's mandated by the "general
welfare" clause. Despite liberal wishes, health care is not a right. The "living Constitution"
that Democrats and their court appointees have given us may be the death of our freedoms. Their
constitution adapts to the times and serves the whims of the elitists. The Constitution is supposed to
limit government powers. It does not allow government to do anything it feels like doing.
Constitutionally, the next
time. Thanks in great part to the new, alternative and social media, people are talking and writing about
the Constitution — certainly more than I've seen in my lifetime.
A
Minority View: Constitutional Contempt. At Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Oct. 29th press
conference, a CNS News reporter asked, "Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant
Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?" Speaker Pelosi responded,
"Are you serious? Are you serious?" The reporter said, "Yes, yes, I am." Not
responding further, Pelosi shook her head and took a question from another reporter.
[Dispensing] with the
Constitution? Much has been made recently of the unconstitutionality of federal health care
reform, especially a government-run system (the "public option") that could devolve into a "single-payer"
system. The main objection is that the federal government has no authority to operate a health care
system. Indeed, the 9th and 10th Amendments forbid it, according to Larrey Anderson of American
Thinker.
Freedom
or slavery? You make the call. Health-care reform? Let's call it what it is —
theft. Or if you prefer, "redistribution of wealth." The problem is, no matter what you call it, too many
Americans are in favor of requisitioning money from other Americans to pay for the health care of strangers.
And they don't care if it is legal or not. That's because most Americans have not bothered to educate themselves
about the principles on which our country was founded, nor about the rocks on which it will founder if it abandons
those principles.
What our founders couldn't foresee. This
once-great nation is coming apart at the seams. ... This wonderful system has survived the rough and tough tumble of
political discourse for more than two hundred years. It survived because, despite their differences, the vast majority
of Americans were in absolute agreement about the purpose and goals of the government created by the Declaration of
Independence and the U.S. Constitution. ... [But now,] Only a handful of Americans are aware of these enumerated powers,
or where to find them. Today, the federal government is as dictatorial as King George ever was...
Filibustering
to Preserve the Constitution. There is no question that [David] Hamilton, a former fundraiser
for ACORN and board member of the ACLU, is a radical. He has plainly said that judges have the right
to amend the Constitution by writing "a series of footnotes to the Constitution." Hamilton believes
judges have the ability to make the law and has demonstrated his determination to implement his own views
on social issues instead of following the precedents of the Supreme Court. He was chastised by the
Seventh Circuit for refusing for seven years to allow Indiana to implement an informed consent abortion
law despite the Supreme Court's approval of such laws. Even the ABA rated him as "not qualified"
when he was first proposed for a federal district court judgeship.
Can the 10th
Amendment save us? Does the U.S. Constitution stand for anything in an era of government
excess? Can that founding document, which is supposed to restrain the power and reach of a centralized
federal government, slow down the juggernaut of czars, health insurance overhaul and anything else this
administration and Congress wish to do that is not in the Constitution?
Sen. Hatch Questions Constitutionality of Obamacare.
Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who has served in the Senate for 33 years and is a longtime member of the
Judiciary Committee, told CNSNews.com that he does not believe the Democrats' health-care reform plan is constitutionally
justifiable, noting that if the federal government can force Americans to buy health insurance "then there is
literally nothing the federal government can't force us to do."
You
Might Be a Constitutionalist if... [#1] You might be a Constitutionalist if you believe
that every congressman, senator, President, and Supreme Court justice is required to obey the U.S. Constitution.
[#2] You might be a Constitutionalist if you believe that before the United States invades and occupies
another country, Congress must first declare war. [#3] You might be a Constitutionalist if you
believe the federal government should live within its means, like everyone else is forced to do.
Pelosi Rebuffs
Constitutional Question. [Judge Andrew] Napolitano says Congress has conveniently forgotten
that the federal government was granted specific enumerated powers, limited by the Ninth and Tenth Amendments.
The power to regulate interstate commerce was intended to keep regular the trade between states and eliminate
unfair in-state advantages. Stretching the interpretation of interstate commerce regulation that Pelosi
and others are attempting to do, and applying it to a very intimate matter like health care is far beyond the
scope of the Commerce Clause.
No Health Care in the
Constitution. Notice that the Constitution doesn't say the "general welfare of the citizens
of the United States." It says "general Welfare of the United States." This clause only gives the
Congress the power to raise money to defend the country and pay for the day-to-day operations of the government.
It says nothing at all about building bridges to nowhere, or paving bike paths, or spending money on any other
kind of pork barrel project — including health care.
Nor does the Constitution authorize
the exploration of other planets.
Silencing Voices
for School Choice. President Obama isn't taking kindly to a television ad that criticizes his
opposition to a popular scholarship program for poor children, and his administration wants the ad pulled.
Former D.C. Councilmember Kevin Chavous of D.C. Children First said October 16 that U.S. Attorney General
Eric Holder had recently approached him and told him to kill the ad.
Where does the Constitution Authorize Congress to Order Americans to
Buy Health Insurance? [Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick] Leahy, whose committee is responsible for vetting
Supreme Court nominees, was asked by CNSNews.com where in the Constitution Congress is specifically granted the authority
to require that every American purchase health insurance. Leahy answered by saying that "nobody questions" Congress'
authority for such an action.
Pelosi: 'Are You Serious?' When Asked About Constitutional
Authority. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) did not explain where Congress gets the authority to force
Americans to buy health insurance, when asked by CNSNews.com, and dismissed the query with the response, "Are you serious?
Are you serious?"
In response to the same question...
Sen. Ben Nelson: 'I'm Not Going to Be Able to
Answer That Question'. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) told CNSNews.com that because he is not a
constitutional scholar he was "not going to be able to answer that question" of where specifically the
Constitution authorizes Congress to mandate that individuals purchase health insurance.
Dems Shred The Constitution.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says it's constitutional to mandate insurance coverage. Congress, he insists,
has "broad authority" to make us buy things to provide for the "general welfare." Democrats' Alice In Wonderland
interpretation of what they consider to be a "living Constitution," where words mean what they say they mean based
on political considerations, gets more bizarre by the minute.
Rule
of Law versus Legislative Orders. The reason baseball games end peaceably, and players and team owners
are generally satisfied with the process, whether they win or lose, is that baseball rules are known in advance.
They apply to all players. They are fixed, and umpires don't make up rules as they go along. ... That Americans
have become ruled by orders and special privileges helps explain all the lobbyists, money, and graft in Washington.
We've moved away from a government with limited powers, as our Founders envisioned, to one with awesome powers.
The Education of Congressman
Hoyer. Congress is moving closer to enacting a law requiring all Americans to purchase health
insurance. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says that this is "like paying taxes." He's right
about that. But Hoyer made this statement as part of an effort to justify the health-care mandate on
constitutional grounds. Here he indicates that he doesn't understand the Constitution that he
took an oath to support. When asked what power the Constitution gives to Congress to enact this
legislation, Hoyer claimed that it came from the Constitution's "general welfare" clause.
Do Not Blame Barack. [Scroll
down] When I hear the [tea party] protesters complain about the violation of the Constitution, I have to wonder
we [sic] they've been. Did they miss the activist 1947 "separation of church and state ruling"? Have they
learned about FDR's New Deal and LBJ's Great Society? Don't they realize that the federal government long ago
exceeded its constitutional bounds? Where is the constitutional mandate for Uncle Scam to involve itself in and/or fund
housing, food stamps, farm subsidies, Medicaid, global-warming research, mass transit, and school sports programs?
Mandatory
Insurance Is Unconstitutional. Federal legislation requiring that every American have health
insurance is part of all the major health-care reform plans now being considered in Washington. Such a
mandate, however, would expand the federal government's authority over individual Americans to an unprecedented
degree. It is also profoundly unconstitutional.
Czarist
Washington. The Framers of the Constitution knew that the document founding our democracy must
be the anchor of liberty and the blueprint for its preservation. Wisely, they provided a balance of powers to
ensure that no individual and no single arm of government could ever wield unchecked authority against the
American people.
Did someone mention President
Obama's czars?
Health-Care Reform
and the Constitution. Last week, I asked South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn, the third-ranking
Democrat in the House of Representatives, where in the Constitution it authorizes the federal government to regulate
the delivery of health care. He replied: "There's nothing in the Constitution that says that the federal
government has anything to do with most of the stuff we do." Then he shot back: "How about [you] show me
where in the Constitution it prohibits the federal government from doing this?" Rep. Clyburn, like many of his
colleagues, seems to have conveniently forgotten that the federal government has only specific enumerated powers.
He also seems to have overlooked the Ninth and 10th Amendments, which limit Congress's powers only to those granted
in the Constitution.
Constitution Day — What
Constitution? Americans are slow to rile, but in the end it will come down to millions of them
preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States, thus their freedom and liberty,
by any and all means. What we are witnessing today is nothing less than an avalanche of freedom that
has been triggered by a government who has lost all allegiance to the constitutional limits on its power and a
collection of traitors who have thumbed their collective noses at the consent of the governed.
The Left's new
enemy: 'Tenthers'. Some on the left see them as radical and infinitely more dangerous
than the birthers. ... Who are the dastardly people who are now unhinging the left? They are the
"Tenthers," those who believe the 10th Amendment — reserving to the states and the people all
powers not delegated to the federal government nor prohibited to the states — isn't dead letter.
The Editor says...
Scoff at the Constitution if you like, but you'll miss it when it's gone.
Is Health Care Reform
Constitutional? Where in the U.S. Constitution does it say the government can force people to
buy health insurance? And by what authority does it prohibit the purchasing of insurance across state
lines?
The Brevity Act: Time
for a 28th Amendment. Earlier this year, Congress passed a "Stimulus" Bill. It was 973 pages long.
This past Friday, the House passed a "Climate Change" Bill. It was more than 1200 pages long. This got me wondering:
how long, exactly, is our Constitution? How many pages did it take our country's founders to lay out the structure
and functions of our Federal Government?
Congress Needs A Read-The-Bill
Bill. Lawmakers voted on the stimulus and global warming bills without having read either.
Eventually they'll vote on health care legislation that could fund unrelated items. Time to end this
systemic fraud. The stimulus bill, signed into law less than a month after Barack Obama took office,
reached 1,434 pages and will eventually cost the nation more than $1 trillion.
Bailing
Out of the Constitution. It is high time Americans heard an argument that might turn a vague
national uneasiness into a vivid awareness of something going very wrong. The argument is that the
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) is unconstitutional.
It ain't America no
more. In America, school security guards don't get to revise the First Amendment to suit
their whims. Nobody does. But that's exactly what happened at a Reston town-hall meeting
sponsored by Alexandria Democratic Rep. James P. Moran last week. Fairfax County Public School
Security Officer Wesley Cheeks Jr. took it upon himself to decide that one sign — among a
panoply found outside the event — crossed the line.
Is the United States
of America Doomed? America has faced grave crises previously: the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the
Depression, Fascism, and Communism. In every instance, we managed to prevail. But with diminishing self-esteem
prevalent, it is easy to be pessimistic about our prevailing again. And yet we have ammunition in this battle that
Europe lacks — such as, God-fearing people, a formidable military, guns in the closet, talk radio and
of course our Constitution.
Majority believe government is doing too much. A new
Gallup poll shows that the number of people who believe government has its hand in too many areas of American
life has reached its highest point in more than a decade.
Americans
More Likely to Say Government Doing Too Much. Americans are more likely today than in the recent
past to believe that government is taking on too much responsibility for solving the nation's problems and is
over-regulating business. New Gallup data show that 57% of Americans say the government is trying to do
too many things that should be left to businesses and individuals, and 45% say there is too much government
regulation of business. Both reflect the highest such readings in more than a decade.
Introducing the Tenth Amendment.
The question to be explored is this. By what authority does the federal government intervene in health care?
Ah, the stumper! This is the kind of question that reduces arguments to sputtering. ... The idea that government
(whatever that is) exists to fix problems (whatever they are) is so ingrained in the common mentality that the very
question of what is proper is not even considered. Surely only cranks and constitutional fossils would ever go
there! But, of course, our founding fathers started there.
Health Care and
the Ailing Constitution. Here's the question I didn't get a chance to ask President Obama when
he stopped by Montana recently. So far as I know, no one else has asked it of him either: "If the
federal role in health care is not enumerated in the Constitution, and it isn't, then shouldn't it be reserved
to the states or the people as guaranteed by the 10th Amendment?"
Charity and the
good ol' Constitution. "Where do you find in the Constitution any authority to give away the public
money in charity?" It might be a question out of today's headlines, but it isn't. ... That question was
asked not of President Obama nor of Sen. Max Baucus or Rep. Nancy Pelosi, but of the less well-known Tennessee
congressman, David Crockett.
Mark of the True Conservative.
As on his radio show, so in this book, [Mark] Levin is unapologetic in his indictment of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and
successive generations of FDR acolytes — including LBJ and BHO — for perpetrating a
"counterrevolution" against the limited government prescribed by our Constitution and for creating and expanding
a welfare state that breeds dependency in the people and that — if not soon dismantled —
will bankrupt our nation.
America's True
Genius. The Founding Fathers designed our Constitution so as to make it very difficult to bring
about significant changes. New legislation requires majorities in both houses of Congress followed by a
presidential signature. ... This suggests the Founding Fathers were suspicious of quick and easy change.
The actual genius of America, and what makes our country unique, is precisely the opposite of change.
Has
the US Run Amuck Constitutionally? The Ninth and 10th amendments specify that the federal
government may not do anything that isn't spelled out in the Constitution. That is why, after citing
200 pages of constitutional abuses and violations by our government, Judge Andrew P. Napolitano
concludes in his book "Constitutional Chaos" that the whole government has run amuck constitutionally,
and we must question and be leery of its future motivations and decisions.
The easiest way to add two more Democratic Senators.
Statehood for
D.C.? The District [of Columbia] was allotted a delegate in 1970 precisely because the Constitution
doesn't permit it to be given a representative. In 1978, Congress passed a constitutional amendment to
grant the District a representative and senators because a statute couldn't grant the representation. The
amendment failed when only 16 states ratified it within seven years.
Congress
needs tutorial on the U.S. Constitution. Some federal employees are griping because a new law
requires them to take a 25-minute tutorial on the U.S. Constitution. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va.,
… deserves our thanks for this great idea because most Americans, including public officials, are
abysmally ignorant of the text and the meaning of our Constitution. The only thing the matter with his
law is that he should have required a constitutional tutorial to be taken by judges and members of Congress.
The
Lincoln Legacy Revisited. The Founding Fathers established the Constitutional
Union as a voluntary agreement among the several states, subordinate to The Declaration of
Independence, which never mentions the nation as a singular entity, but instead repeatedly
references the states as sovereign bodies, unanimously asserting their independence.
Signing Away Our
Constitution: The Bush administration É has adopted the use of the signing statement,
affixed to legislation when signed into law, as a means by which the legislative power may be more fully
exercised by the office of the president, despite and against the Constitution's sole delegation of this
power to Congress.
No child left
behind — Republican ode to socialism. The Constitution grants no authority
for the federal government to be involved in education, and for good reason: centralizing all
learning in one distant spot is a stupid, narrow, dangerous, communist idea, one which has throughout
all the world's history led to despotism and slavery. Thus our forefathers limited federal power
to a few necessary objects like national defense and foreign policy, and not at all to education.
Is it
permissible? In February 1887, President Grover Cleveland, upon vetoing
a bill appropriating money to aid drought-stricken farmers in Texas, said, "I find no
warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the
power and the duty of the General Government ought to be extended to the relief of
individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service
or benefit."
Back
to the Constitution. "The Heritage Guide to the Constitution" is an essential reference
book for anyone interested in our nation or in democracy in general.
Is Anything Not Interstate
Commerce? It is doubtful a single member of Congress — except Rep. Ron Paul, Texas
Republican — truly wants a Supreme Court that is serious about the Constitution's
limits on congressional power.
A living Constitution
for a dying Republic: FDR's extra-constitutional exploits opened the door for the
judiciary to … read into the Constitution what was necessary to make it conform to the demands
of the prevailing political will.
The issue here isn't medical
marijuana, it's the Tenth Amendment.
The
high cost of nuances: The question before the Supreme Court was not
whether allowing the medicinal use of marijuana was a good policy or a bad policy. The
legal question was whether Congress had the authority under the Constitution to regulate
something that happened entirely within the boundaries of a given state.
Watergate
and the Weather Underground: It was Nixon, after all, who (in defiance of
the Constitution) created the Environmental Protection Agency. He signed the law
creating the Occupational Safety and Health Administration; enacted wage and price
controls; expanded the size and reach of the "civil rights" enforcement bureaucracy; and
in manifold other ways abetted the growth of the regulatory leviathan. Compared to
the routine crimes against the Constitution committed by Nixon by way of official policy,
Watergate was little more than a series of silly pranks.
The Federal
Monopoly: Both sides in the actual Civil War were engaged in subjugation. The
South was protecting chattel slavery; the North was denying the right of secession on which this
country was founded. At the time the Constitution was adopted, several states, including
Virginia and New York, ratified it on the express condition that they might withdraw from the
Union at any time they deemed it in their interest to do so.
"We
the People": A Mandate or a Motto? Article V of the Constitution
provides the process by which the Constitution may be amended. That process
does not permit the judiciary to do so by issuing rulings that contradict the
Constitution or by creating "constitutional" rights that do not exist in the
Constitution. When that happens, as can be seen in some of this year's Supreme
Court decisions, it is a government of men and not of laws. Consequently,
"We the People" ceases to be a mandate and is reduced to a mere motto bereft of meaning.
Parting
company is an option: Every single bit of evidence shows that states have a
right to secede. There's absolutely nothing in the Constitution that prohibits
secession. What stops secession is the brute force of a mighty federal government,
as witnessed by the costly War of 1861.
Support the Liberty Bill Act and put the
Constitution on our dollars. Four years ago students from Liberty Middle School in Ashland, Virginia
developed a presentation about the Constitution. In working with the kids, their teacher, Randy Wright,
had a thought: wouldn't it be great if our dollars carried a copy of the Constitution on back? The
kids liked the idea so much they decided to push politicians at all levels to make it happen.
( http://www.libertydollarbill.org - the Liberty
Bill Act web site. )
Eradicating
the Constitution: Socialism is not in desperate retreat,
as falsely proclaimed by the establishment press. On the contrary, it moves forward
confidently, aggressively and, for the most part, uncontested everywhere in the world.
Nelson bill
would abolish Electoral College. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) introduced a constitutional amendment to abolish
the Electoral College on Friday [6/6/2008], less than a week after the Democrats settled on how to handle delegates from
Florida at their national convention. "It's time for Congress to really give Americans the power of one-person,
one-vote, instead of the political machinery selecting candidates and electing our president," Nelson said in a release
announcing the amendment.
Crime Fighters vs. the Constitution.
The authors of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act did not even pretend they were exercising powers
granted by the Constitution. This week the Supreme Court agreed to decide whether they were, focusing on
a provision of the 2006 law that permits civil commitment of federal prisoners deemed to be "sexually
dangerous." Such preventive detention is bad enough when states do it, since it keeps people locked up
indefinitely after they have completed their sentences, based not on crimes they have committed but on crimes
they might commit. The federal version is even worse.
The Lawless
State: Sometimes the deepest changes in a political system sneak in almost unnoticed. So
it has been in the United States, which has quietly shifted from being a decentralized federal republic to
being a centralized democracy. … If the Founding Fathers could see us now, they'd surely ask, "How
on earth did you get yourselves into this mess?" We've managed to do nearly everything the
Constitution was designed to prevent us from doing.
None Dare Call It
Fascism. Fascism operates under the principle of "might makes right," through the exercise of raw,
naked governmental police power. In America today, the increasingly rough-shod violation of constitutional
rights by government agents in the name of "protecting the environment" or the "war on drugs" is an indication
of how far we are proceeding in this direction.
Let's do some detective
work. Today's White House proposes and Congress taxes and spends for anything they can muster a
majority vote on. My investigative query is: Were the Founders and previous congressmen and
presidents, who could not find constitutional authority for today's bread and circuses, just plain stupid
and ignorant?
Getting back our
liberties: We all have a moral obligation to pay our share for constitutionally mandated
functions of the federal government, but we have no such obligation to have Congress take the earnings of one
American and give them to another American. Forcing one American to serve the purposes of another is one
way slavery can be defined.
Job security: Americans
have suffered decades of nutty decisions from the Supreme Court. At the present time our precious
American values are on the line, as arrogant judges decide for the rest of us how we should live our
lives. Now they purport to tell us how we can worship our God even though the Constitution
clearly forbids their meddling.
The Price of Incremental
Lawlessness: Article X of the Bill of Rights prohibits the federal government from authority to
regulate our lives in any areas other than what is specifically given the federal government by the
Constitution. Where in the Constitution is the federal government given power to regulate education,
medical care, social welfare, or the private ownership of guns?
Back to
Basics: Our founding fathers gave us a Constitutional Republic. Because of them, we were
born free. Nevertheless, we could die slaves because we have lost sight of basic truths.
A Citizen's Guide to the
Constitution. Needless to say, the roles and relationships of the people, the states, and the federal
government to each other are still an issue 230 years later, and they are the subject of numerous other provisions
of the Constitution that [Seth] Lipsky annotates in an equally interesting fashion.
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