I am reposting a commentary that was originally published on December 3, 2007. It seems particularly relevant today, as the liberal fascists who are running this country are gaining more and more power and taking away more and more of our individual rights.
In my November 28 commentary (It is Just About Right), I once again noted the limitations placed on the federal government by the U.S. Constitution. In this commentary I want to delve into this statement a bit more deeply.
A reading of Article I, Section 8 and Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution makes very clear the charge given Congress by the forefathers as well as the limitations that were simultaneously set down. It is not my intent to list each of the 18 powers and 8 prohibitions. It IS my intent to summarize each power under common headings.
Financial and Trade: The U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to tax (with specific restrictions), coin money, borrow money, to pay debt, to regulate commerce with foreign nations, states, and tribes, to fix the standard of weights and measures, and to create laws regarding bankruptcy. Congress is also responsible for the punishment of counterfeiting and for establishing what has become known as patent law.
National Defense: Congress is responsible for the “common defense and general welfare of the United States”, for declaring war, for raising and supporting armies and a navy and for regulating such, and for providing the means for calling up the militia to execute law and suppress insurrections and repel invasions and for regulating such.
Immigration: Congress is responsible for establishing uniform rules of naturalization.
Infrastructure: Congress is responsible for establishing post offices and post roads and for exercising authority over all “needful buildings” purchased through legislation (including forts, magazines, arsenals, and dock yards).
Legal: Congress is responsible for establishing courts (inferior to the Supreme Court), to define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas and offenses against the law of nations. Congress is also responsible for making all laws which shall be necessary and proper for executing the powers listed.
When summarized in this manner, it can be seen that Congress really has only five broad categories of power, many of them with restrictions laid down in Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution. Some of the twenty-seven amendments to the Constitution add further complexity but in my view do not substantially change the basic powers and limitations outlined here.
So what is the purpose of this little exercise? My purpose is to once again make the point that our forefathers truly understood the limitations of government and those individuals who would come to govern our nation. Their goal was to keep it as simple as possible. Through years and years of legislation, litigation, and regulation (much of it from those on the left), this simplicity has been lost in favor of ever increasing government control over all of us. I see nothing in the Constitution about Congress being granted the power to regulate morality, healthcare, smoking, drinking, helmet use, what I can drive, where I can drive, how far I can drive, how long I can leave my lights on, what I can do on my own property, regulation of gun ownership or right to carry, or what I can eat or how much. I also see nothing in the Constitution giving Congress the power to ensure that citizens are not offended. Of course, going beyond Article I, we know that there is nothing in the Articles of or Amendments to the Constitution that specifies “separation of church and state”, limitations on owning and carrying guns, or any of the other infringements on personal rights listed above.
So, that is the point of this little diatribe. Unless we begin to elect more and more constructionists…people who understand the limitations of government and the limitations of the competencies of those in government…
