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Democrats Are the Know-Nothings About the Constitution
Creators Syndicate ^ | September 25, 2013 | Betsy McCaughey

Posted on 09/24/2013 2:31:34 PM PDT by jazusamo

Displaying their ignorance of the U.S. Constitution, Democratic bigwigs are excoriating Republican members of the House of Representatives for attaching a condition — no Obamacare — to a stopgap bill to fund the government when the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called it "extortion". Sen. Steny Hoyer labeled it "hostage-taking". Representative Nancy Pelosi termed it "legislative arson".

In truth, what the House Republicans are doing is not blackmail. It's checks and balances in action. Congress has always had the power to attach almost any condition — including repealing or changing a law — to appropriations. The framers wrote the Constitution that way for good reason.

The nation's first plan of government, the Articles of Confederation, had no president. When the framers gathered in 1787 to write a second, more effective plan, they reluctantly created the presidency. Reluctantly, because the founders worried that a president would accumulate power and spend flagrantly as they had seen the despotic kings of Europe do.

To prevent that, the founders created checks and balances. In the words of James Madison, the Constitution's chief architect, each branch of government is "effectually checked and restrained by the others. "

Congress was given power over the purse — the power to appropriate money and to borrow it or raise it through taxes, because locating the power in Congress would force the president to constantly negotiate with Congress.

Fast-forward 226 years to last Friday. President Obama called Speaker of the House John Boehner to say, "he will not negotiate" with Congress on raising the U.S. government's borrowing authority. The president, who claims to be a constitutional scholar, needs a refresher course.

(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: debtlimit; democrats; federalist58; jamesmadison; obama; obamacare
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1 posted on 09/24/2013 2:31:35 PM PDT by jazusamo
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To: jazusamo

Liberals are narcissists. They can do things better. And they despise the law that maintains a civil society from the beginning.


2 posted on 09/24/2013 2:39:13 PM PDT by Just mythoughts (Jesus said Luke 17:32 Remember Lot's wife.)
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To: jazusamo

To the headline: duh!

They have a new argument for obamacare (on twitter) the founding fathers would have supported it - hahahahahah!!!!


3 posted on 09/24/2013 2:40:29 PM PDT by svcw (Stand or die)
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To: jazusamo

The anti-2nd Amendment liberal/progressives are the worst. When they rant that the 2nd Amendment is outdated and was written by “slave-owning white guys” ask them who do they think wrote the rest of the Bill of Rights. Or for that matter most of the rest of the constitution.


4 posted on 09/24/2013 2:40:35 PM PDT by techcor
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To: svcw

Yep...In a pigs behind the founding fathers would have supported it. LOL!


5 posted on 09/24/2013 2:43:31 PM PDT by jazusamo ([Obama] A Truly Great Phony -- Thomas Sowell http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3058949/posts)
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To: techcor

Bump...The libs think the Constitution should be what they want it to be.


6 posted on 09/24/2013 2:45:56 PM PDT by jazusamo ([Obama] A Truly Great Phony -- Thomas Sowell http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3058949/posts)
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To: jazusamo

BFD. So what if it is extortion. Using extortion to get rid of something put in place through bribery is wrong......why?


7 posted on 09/24/2013 2:51:29 PM PDT by wny
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To: wny

I hear you...and believe McCaughey did an excellent job of shooting down the Rats on that, she explained it simply and effectively.


8 posted on 09/24/2013 2:55:31 PM PDT by jazusamo ([Obama] A Truly Great Phony -- Thomas Sowell http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3058949/posts)
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To: jazusamo

bkmk


9 posted on 09/24/2013 2:56:50 PM PDT by Sergio (An object at rest cannot be stopped! - The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight)
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To: jazusamo

It actually is blackmail.

However the Constitution fully sanctions, even encourages blackmail. As the framers intended. Reading James Madison’s Federalist 58 spells this out with great clarity: the power of the purse was a weapon the framers deliberately put into the hands of the House of Reps for use against the Senate and other branches.


10 posted on 09/24/2013 3:01:04 PM PDT by tanknetter
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To: jazusamo

They’re like the atheists that argue about how “Separation of Church and state” is in the Constitution.


11 posted on 09/24/2013 3:14:55 PM PDT by PATRIOT1876
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To: jazusamo

They need to fire up a circa 1963 Civics class filmstrip for the politicians so they can learn about Checks and Balances.


12 posted on 09/24/2013 3:16:30 PM PDT by PATRIOT1876
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To: jazusamo
NO!

The president, who claims to be a constitutional scholar, needs a refresher course.

He needs to retake the course in depth and then stand a detailed examination.

13 posted on 09/24/2013 3:32:16 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else needs said?)
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To: SandRat

Exactly...but being he never got it the first time he’d never get it the second time, we have an affirmative action idiot in the WH.


14 posted on 09/24/2013 3:42:18 PM PDT by jazusamo ([Obama] A Truly Great Phony -- Thomas Sowell http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3058949/posts)
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To: jazusamo

We have an affirmative action idiot in the WH now.


15 posted on 09/24/2013 3:51:28 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else needs said?)
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To: jazusamo

Every election I dram of putting Steny Hoyer out to pasture, but he has ingratiated himself with the entitlement set to a point that he continues to get sent back to Congress.

This clown has never worked a day in his life and sucked on the Government Tit for over 30 years, He is a well to do man with a large home on the Patuxent. He has done more than well with the paltry salary Congressmen receive.
In fact so well it is almost beyond belief that a Congressman’s salary could go so far.


16 posted on 09/24/2013 4:33:49 PM PDT by Venturer ( cowardice posturing as tolerance =political correctness)
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To: Venturer

Yes, there’s many congress critters that live high on the hog, well above their incomes, the Rats don’t have an exclusive on it but they sure outnumber Repubs.


17 posted on 09/24/2013 4:52:02 PM PDT by jazusamo ([Obama] A Truly Great Phony -- Thomas Sowell http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3058949/posts)
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18 posted on 09/25/2013 12:02:42 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's no coincidence that some "conservatives" echo the hard left.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Freep You Rand Paul (FURP)!!


19 posted on 09/25/2013 11:58:07 PM PDT by Jim Robinson (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God!!)
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To: jazusamo
To prevent that, the founders created checks and balances. In the words of James Madison, the Constitution’s chief architect, each branch of government is “effectually checked and restrained by the others. ”

Congress was given power over the purse — the power to appropriate money and to borrow it or raise it through taxes, because locating the power in Congress would force the president to constantly negotiate with Congress.

Obama: I will not negotiate! Even if it shuts down the government! I am king.

Bump!!

20 posted on 09/26/2013 12:01:16 AM PDT by Jim Robinson (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God!!)
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