Posts Tagged ‘Supreme Court’

Who really has the power?

“The United States Constitution has proved itself the most marvelously elastic compilation of rules of government ever written.”                            –President Franklin Roosevelt   Did the founding fathers create a “marvelously elastic” Constitution as Roosevelt suggested?  No, they created the antithesis, granting their new government limited powers, enumerated to prevent it from evolving into another all […]

Spending the people’s money

“Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal  with a big appetite at one end and no sense of  responsibility at the other.”                                  − Ronald Reagan  Is it an appropriate use of taxpayer money to fund a “tattoo removal violence prevention program,” a Sparta Teapot museum, a program to communicate with extra-terrestrials, the Pleasure […]

Abortion – call it what it is

  Killing a fellow human being is not new to us.  We already accept killing in war, capital punishment and self-defense.  Society has made a distinction between murder and killing. So, if we already accept killing a fellow human being, why do we soothe our conscience trying to prove abortion is not murder or killing?  […]

Is it too late?

Is it too late for the United States of America?  Are we doomed to follow the timetable Sir John Glubb outlined in “The Fate of Empires,” surviving about 250 years?  Or, are we different from the failed empires he studied?  The outcome is our choice.  We are unique among the nations of history.  We designed […]

How to finance the U.S.S.A.

What did the Founding Fathers design our government to provide?  Did they design a limited federal government to provide safety, freedom and opportunity?  Or did they design a socialist welfare government to take care of our every need with unending entitlement programs? The Constitution of the United States calls for a limited, subservient federal government, […]

“…equal protection of the laws”

New Haven, Connecticut, discarded a fire department promotion exam when white firefighters outscored minority firefighters. The city did so because it feared lawsuits, not because the exam was unfair.  The United States Supreme Court ruled against the city, with Chief Justice John Roberts suggesting that had the scores been reversed the city would not have […]

“Give me the youth…”

What do a group of like-minded people do when they cannot convince society to agree with them?  How do they persuade society to not only acknowledge their values, but in the end to agree with those values?   Look at the process of legalizing abortion.  Proponents first appealed to society, exaggerating the number of women dying […]

Role of the Supreme Court?

A Justice of the United States Supreme Court is retiring.  A chance to re-shape the court.  A chance to change history.  Wait a minute.  Don’t the above statements suggest the United States Constitution is flexible, open to interpretation, no need to amend it?  Dare I suggest the primary role of the United States Supreme Court […]

Who are the ‘real’ terrorists?

The editorial page cartoon in the April 27, 2009, USA Today showed Uncle Sam saying, “Will you ever stop torturing me,” while he is whipping a helpless terrorist strapped on a table.  Just last week the oppressed, benevolent Taliban beheaded three more people in Pakistan.  On Sept. 11, 2001, they intentionally targeted and murdered over 3,000 […]

Is FDR’s New Deal the answer?

Did President Franklin Roosevelt and his “New Deal” shorten the recovery from the Great Depression?  Was government intervention in the economy helpful or hurtful or both?  Some economists suggest the government manipulated market forces too much and actually prolonged the recovery.  President Roosevelt put into effect his recovery plan immediately after his inauguration in 1933, […]

What are blue laws?

The Founding Fathers built our nation with a religious foundation.  I believe they wanted religion in government; but did they want government in religion?    Let us look at the ‘blue’ laws, created by well-meaning people to enforce moral standards, including keeping Sunday as a day of worship and rest.  Most blue laws were passed before […]

“The right of the people to keep and bear arms”

The Second Amendment reads, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” As most of us now know, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that the Second Amendment right of an individual to “keep […]

The Ivy Leagues vs. Supreme Court

Stanford and several other Ivy League universities continue to disregard the Supreme Court ruling of March 2006, which states they must either allow ROTC and military recruiters on campus or lose federal funding.  Stanford argues they must refuse to allow ROTC on campus because the military is discriminating against homosexual individuals.  This stalemate came to […]