Constitutional Opinion Blog

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 are 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 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. This scheme that is being proposed that would create something called "carbon credits". Each business would be told how many credits they are allowed to have by some government board. Extra credits would be given to congressmen & senators to sell to businesses that need extras. If Congress can't sell all of theirs, then the amount allocated to businesses must be too high & would be cut.
As Ronald Reagan said "The tax code should not be used to punish". But seeing as how our current congress members actually told business men that they needed to give back bonuses or the bonus would be taxed away from them, they are too stupid to know that it would be ex post facto law & laughed out of court.
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.