Posted on 11/09/2012 8:44:18 AM PST by pepsi_junkie
Today, November 9, is a pivotal date in American history. It was 70 years ago today where America began a slow but relentless transformation from a free society where the people are sovereign to one where we are tokens of the government.
In 1941 Roscoe Filburn harvested wheat he had planted on his own land and he sold a portion but he kept the rest for his own use. This was a problem, because the government had passed a law in 1938 that said you could only grow so much wheat; it planned to prop up prices by limiting supply. Filburn followed the law, the portion he sold was within the limits. But he kept some for his own use, and that's where he had a problem. He was fined for all that wheat that he didn't sell the same as if he had sold it. Filburn would have none of it. He asked how in a free country they can fine a man for producing something on his own land for his own use? If they can regulate that, there are no limits to what they can do, right?
Enter the commerce clause. The government said that by not selling his own crops, he's buying less from others. If he's buying less, he's affecting interstate commerce whether the activity itself was purely local. And of course the federal government can regulate interstate commerce, it's right there in the constitution! Withholding your goods from the market is illegal!
Wait, what? Are they serious with this argument? Utterly ridiculous! Why, if they can claim that not participating in commerce is actually commerce, they can basically say the power to regulate commerce is the power to regulate everything! No freedom loving court would ever allow that! But they did, they did just that. On Nov 9, 1942 the court ruled in Wickard vs Filburn that the government had the right to regulate a man growing his own food, whether he sold it or not. Here's a quote from the ruling:
Home-grown wheat in this sense competes with wheat in commerce. The stimulation of commerce is a use of the regulatory function quite as definitely as prohibitions or restrictions thereon. This record leaves us in no doubt that Congress may properly have considered that wheat consumed on the farm where grown, if wholly outside the scheme of regulation, would have a substantial effect in defeating and obstructing its purpose to stimulate trade therein at increased prices."
Oh no, why with a ruling like this they could do crazy things, like force you to buy products like health insurance on the theory that if you don't buy it, you are making prices higher for everyone else. You, my fiend.
What I’ve always wondered is how the government knew he had wheat he kept for himself.
Wickard vs Filburn would have been reversed. Ask Justice Thomas.
the GOP right has been trying for a generation to change the composition of the court ... and have come close a few times.
If more conservatives had been serious, it would have happened.
And...
The Commerce Clause is only ONE CLAUSE inside of a bigger document that is intended to LIMIT and DO THE OPPOSITE OF the things that they use to Commerce Clause to do...
In the early ‘80s, the Texas Panhandle was having a bad drought. The winter wheat crop looked doomed as a grain crop, so farmers wanted to graze their cattle on it because their regular pasture land had no more grass.
They had to request permission from the USDA in Washington D. C. to let their starving cattle graze their wheat on their land. Of course, it took so long to wend its way through the red tape that many farmers had to sell their cattle.
That’s when I realized we were no longer a free country.
And that would be the Gingrich theory of being a Republican, who has gone on the record as being a “Teddy Roosevelt” type of Republican - one of the original income re-distributors.
16th and 17th Amendments. Read ‘em and weep.
The most important point in Wickard vs Filburn was that it acted upon Filburn's CORPORATE status, not his NON-corporate, natural person.
This is true for ALL federal power grabs.
For more than 70 years, the feds have been getting away with this one single trick - switching corporate for non-corporate status.
And still, no one cares. Buy guns? Check. Buy food? Check. Go to church? Check. Understand the law? What, are you kidding me?
Roberts recently drew judicial notice of this distinction in his Obamacare ruling. He did the Chief Justice equivalent of jumping up and down with a flaming sword to point out this mechanism, and even named it the "Two Powers."
Result? :: crickets ::
Even on FR.
If the country is lost, it's from laziness and moral cowardice, not from being infiltrated or overthrown. The solution is right in front of everyone's face, and it involves no violence or revolution - just learning and following the actual law. But what does that matter, when there are no takers?
[ What Ive always wondered is how the government knew he had wheat he kept for himself. ]
Did a neigbor rat him out...?
Goes to show that even in 1941 privacy was an issue and this was befotre the TSA and Homeland Insecurity....
Maybe we should all rip up our lawns and plant wheat on every damn conservative lawn in america....
Consider it a Wickard vs. Fillborn protest, if the city council cites you for zoning HOA etc... Ask them if polical signs are banned and thell this this is a direct protest against Wickard vs. Fillborn.
then you can Educate them on WHy you are doing it, granted you may make some enemies but you may be able to awake and educate people too....
You are correct. The Commerce Clause cases from the FDR era were a death blow of the Constitutional Republic. It has been slowly persihing ever since.
I expect we will se its complete demise in our lifetimes....and the Obama voting blocs will celebrate.
My HOA sent me a letter that I have to tear them up, put the lawn back to its original condition, and THEN petition the board to have a garden.
This is in spite of the fact that gardens are specifically allowed in the HOA covenant.
They can kiss my ass. The bank'll get this house before they will.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.