Posts Tagged ‘United States Constitution’
The Consitution v. the federal government
The Declaration of Independence states, “. . . these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.” This sentiment was reaffirmed in 1781 in the Articles of Confederation which states, “Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States . . . .”
The Bill of Prvileges
The Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution, was ratified by three-fourths of the states in 1791. The Constitution was ratified four years earlier in 1787.
Guns, the Constitution and Switzerland
A fact regularly ignored in much of the gun debate – the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. In 2008, the Supreme Court revisited the constitutional meaning of the right of the individual to “keep and bear arms,” and unequivocally affirmed our constitutional right of individual gun ownership.
The damnpolitician and the farmer
They assumed people like you and me would give time to our country and return home to live as everyone else, rather than staying in Washington becoming a member of the political aristocracy, becoming a career politician. Perhaps one of the greatest failures of the Founding Fathers was not anticipating the career politician.
To be President of the United States
Robert Gibbs is a verb
The most entertaining moments of this presidency are watching Robert Gibbs explain the ramblings of Vice President Biden. With a straight face, a feigned sincerity and accompanied by the laughter of the press corps Gibbs says, “I understand what he said and I’m telling you what he meant to say.” He invented a new verb — “gibbsing,” a verb that well describes earlier rulings of the United States 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
Who has the power – government or “we the people”
“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article
of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress
of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money
of their constituents.”
–James Madison, 4th U.S. President
father of the United States Constitution
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
The healthcare agenda
Why is the government continuing to push healthcare reform, ignoring, dismissing and disparaging anyone who disagrees? Why have so many members of Congress refused to have town hall meetings during the August recess? Why are they afraid to face us, their employers?
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.
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 czars of the U.S.S.A.
In his inaugural address of 1801, Thomas Jefferson near-prophetically described our current government saying, “Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.”
Is the government the new “company store?”
How well does the government manage our money? Do our elected leaders spend it responsibly and frugally, as they should? Sen. Charles Schumer answered these questions saying, “Let me say this to all the chattering class that so much focuses on those little, tiny, yes, porky amendments: ‘the American people really don’t care.’” He was speaking about the wasted spending, the pork, in the $787 billion stimulus package. How much of the $787 billion actually stimulates the economy? According to the Wall Street Journal, only 12 percent “is for something that can plausibly be considered a growth stimulus.”
“…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 discarded the exam.
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?
Religion, politics, and the First Amendment
How do we reconcile religion, politics and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution which says in part, ”Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…?” Did they only mean that government cannot get involved in religion or did they also mean that religion cannot get involved in government? Did they intend we remove our faith and its values from political discussions, from political opinions? Would this be a reasonable expectation?
“to provide for the…general welfare of the United States”
Our Founding Fathers fought the Revolutionary War to free us from a government that controlled our lives. They created the United States of America with a Constitution granting specific, limited powers to the government, guaranteeing that “We the people” controlled the government. So how does Congress regularly circumvent the Constitution, expanding their power without “We the people” consenting? Remember, our Constitution begins with “We the people,” not “We the Congress.”
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?
God bless America
Is the day coming when we must say “In nothing we trust,” or “So help me nothing,” or “Nothing bless America?” Educators in Woodbury, Vermont cowered to such demands and make students who want to recite the Pledge of Allegiance to do so away from the classroom, so no one can hear the word God. In 2002, the ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declared the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional under the First Amendment, because it mentions God. This was followed by a 2004 Supreme Court decision reversing the ninth Circuit Court, affirming that “teacher-led Pledge of Allegiance recitals in public schools are constitutional.”
