April 23, 2008
I Had Wanted To Post This…
…days ago, but one thing and another kind of set me back.
I wanted to link this Walter Williams column that says so much about the screwing we’re getting, tax-money and Constitution-wise, from the government, and this is completely non-partisan where either side of the aisle is concerned. And we’re talking Presidents, here!
Most of what Congress is constitutionally authorized to spend for is listed in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution and includes: coining money, establish post offices, to support Armies and a few other activities. Today’s federal budget is over $3 trillion dollars. I challenge anyone to find specific constitutional authority for at least $2 trillion of it. That includes Social Security, Medicare, farm and business handouts, education, prescription drugs and a host of other federal expenditures. Americans who have become accustomed to living at the expense of another American would not want Congress to obey the Constitution, especially if it left out their favorite handout.
Okay, so…
At one time there were presidents who respected the Constitution. Grover Cleveland vetoed hundreds of spending measures during his two-term presidency, often saying, “I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution.” Then there was Franklin Pierce who said, after vetoing an appropriation to assist the mentally ill, “I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for public charity,” adding, “To approve such spending would be contrary to the letter and the spirit of the Constitution and subversive to the whole theory upon which the Union of these States is founded.”
Instead of a Presidential inauguration including “protect and defend the Constitution…”
We should consider ending the charade and get rid of our 200-year-plus presidential oath of office and replace it with: “I accept the office of president.”
Basically, I rest my case, and Walter Williams’ as well.
http://hardastarboard.mu.nu/wp-trackback.php?p=813
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:23 am
For several administrations, governance has been all about furthering the Nanny State.
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:35 am
Wow, I had never even heard of the Enumerated Powers Act. We should pressure our senators to support it.
I’m going to say something and it won’t sit well with some people, but here goes (deep breath).
Ever since women got the vote, we have headed towards the nanny state.
There. Now, I’m not saying that ALL women are to blame for this. Gosh, we have a few super female congressmen (Sue Myrick and Ginny Brown Waite comes to mind) who understand the role of government in America, but I’m sorry to say that there are a LOT of women who do not comprehend what the role of the US government is all about.
I’m reading Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism, and he is right: the average American fascist is a female grade school teacher with a degree from Brown or Swarthmore. Look at all the women who support Hillary and Obama. They see absolutely nothing wrong with voting entitlements for themselves and the rest of the country. I mean, it’s not called “NANNY STATE” for nothing!
Now, I’m not calling for women to lose the vote, but I am saying that unless women grow up and learn what the Constitution and the role of government is supposed to encompass, we are in deep doo doo! Lately, I’ve been trying to bring that up whenever I discuss politics with other women - that big government means tyranny.
I’m afraid that feminism has destroyed what foundation we had in understanding government. Because they have campaigned to denigrate, slander and libel the Founding Fathers (and all white men for that matter), many people in this country grow up with little or no comprehension of what a federal republic is.
Okay, I’ve said my piece, and I know many won’t agree, but as a woman, I think we need to be intellectually honest about it.
April 23rd, 2008 at 3:06 pm
I’m not one to lightly try to pass Constitutional amendments, but if we changed the oath of office to simply:
Let’s roll.
I’d be on board for that.
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:46 pm
I too have written about the need to get back to the Constitution, but sadly we have too many people who are addicted to big government.
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:34 pm
AOW –
This is too true. It would be so nice if people would try reading and comprehending the Constitution, then remembering the slogan from those old commercials: You got something that works, you stick with it.
Atheling –
Politicians are all about their careers, and therefore about getting votes and being reelected. They prefer to foster the illusion that they’re empowered to be everything to all people rather than admit that under the Constitution their powers are finite.
As a result, they have been violating their Constitutional limits for a very long time in order to use our hard-earned tax money to buy votes in their various constituencies. When you think about it, they are actually committing serious felonies, but for some reason or other, we as a nation are allowing them to get away with it.
For this reason, there are very few of them who would sign off on the Enumerated Powers Act. Just look at it this way: Whenever you vote and no matter which way you vote, you are authorizing someone to rip you off.
The money in the treasury does, after all, belong to all of us, even though Congress apparently believes that it only belongs to them.
I have to agree with your assessment re women supporting the nanny state, though I have yet to figure out why this is. On the other hand, while living in San Francisco, I kinda sorta patented my own personal phrase regarding liberal women in tweed suits and big-framed, thick glasses sporting canvas book bags, as “Friends Of The Library types”.
Civil Truth –
So would I, it would certainly be a lot more honest than the present oath.
Shoprat –
Our addiction to big government will eventually render over two centuries of the greatest political success in history just that: History, and drag us into the same socialist quagmire that Europe endures.
It saddens me that people who enjoy the best there is seem to yearn for less than what they have.
April 24th, 2008 at 9:52 am
AMEN Walter E Williams. HE is so right. Not only is the income tax itself uncomstitutional but most ofthe programs like SS etc. that it goes to pay for are ALSO unconstitutional.
April 24th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Seth:
My Dad used to warn about something that he said was called “Momism” when he was growing up. And it was essentially, government dependency. I’m afraid that the tendency to want to “baby” or “nanny” people is inherent in women, and unfortunately it carries over to government policy. That’s my take on why it’s so widespread with women. We need to outgrow that, and realize that it may work for babies and children, but not for adults!
The problem we face in the USA is how to “wean” people off of that dependency?
April 24th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Ken –
Politicians are using our taxes to buy votes for themselves, it’s as simple as that. I have pretty much come to accept the fact that politicians in general, especially those serving today, are both naturally corrupt and have no use for the Constitution whatsoever.
An old Genesis LP title comes to mind, Selling England By The Pound. Well, the United States could be juxtaposed in there somewhere…
Atheling –
Weaning people off that dependency is not at all an unrealistic task.
Of all places, San Francisco, socialist capital of America, has been pretty successful to that end: Several years ago, they began training lot of people on welfare to drive buses and fill other functions at the MUNI (SF’s transit system) and in other city departments, and took them off the dole and into regular city jobs, full pay, benefits, etc.
These people, for the most part, began to take pride in the fact that they were supporting themselves and independent of government charity. They now fulfill useful functions and earn their own way, and local government gets more bang for the taxpayer’s buck.
April 25th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Seth:
I agree.
Now, what have you been eating in NY??? Inquiring minds want to know!
April 25th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Atheling –
My next post.