Constitution Day! Progressives Roll it Up and Smoke It

Western Hero ^ | 17 September 2010 | silverfiddle

[Silverfiddle]

Progressive Constitutional Abuse
The enumerated powers of Congress are detailed in Article 1, section 8. Governmental abuse of two clauses in particular cause much mischief:  The Commerce Clause and the General Welfare Clause. 

Progressives have been on a Long March over the past 100 years to stretch these two clauses so out of shape that anything whatsoever they dream up may be justified by one or the other.  These two abused clauses are now so capacious that they can hold the weighty and dubious notion that the federal government can compel you to buy health care.  Why not make us all buy a new car or fall out of calisthenics every morning? 
 
Restoring Balance Will Not Be Easy
GOP Senatorial hopeful Ken Buck recently lamented the encroachment of the Federal government upon the rights of the states and the people.  He easily ticked off various examples, but he added that it would not be easy to restore balance after so many years of abuse. 

We Can't Just Yank it Back
If conservatives were to regain control, we cannot simply yank the steering wheel back to the right.  Liberals just tried yanking things their way, with disastrous results.

You've got to logically and intellectually make your case to the American people.  We resisted being herded to the left.  But a high-handed stampede to the right will also end in failure, with many rightist rustlers sliding over a cliff while voters scramble for the safety of the middle ground.

It's an intellectual battle
Liberals have failed to explain their programs, specifically health care.  They hysterically accuse conservatives of blaring disinformation from the right wing noise machine and scream about Republicans being in cahoots with "big pharma" and "big"insurance."  Nevermind that Obama has cut deals with both groups.

Liberal columnists throw up their hands, "The average voter is just too stupid to realize a good thing when he sees it!"

That is the problem.  Instead of logically and intellectually explaining what's in the 2,000 pages, they get impatient and call names.  Once you do that, you're done.

If you're trying to sell me something, the burden is on you to convince me to part with my money.  If I'm too stupid to realize just how good a deal this is, then you need to talk slower and explain it better. 

If I can't understand the benefit, I'm not parting with my money.  That's a basic conservative principle that even liberals practice in their own private lives.

[Tzimisce]

...well, the Constitution is written on MJ paper.

[ModelBreaker]

Don’t forget the navigable waters clause. It has been used to extend federal jurisdiction to every part-year brook and pond in the country.

[Pecos]

The original intent of the navigable waters clause was to naturally extend the commerce provisions of the Constitution to all parts of the country that would be connected by those waterways for purpose of COMMERCE. Not for the purpose of regulating what a person does on his land-locked property. Not for the purpose of defining every fracking federal law as being applicable to private property that gets a heavy dew fall. Makes you wonder why some idiot hasn’t tried to define the great circle route between Los Angeles and Oahu as U.S. territory and then ordered the Coast Guard to collect taxes on every ship on it or passing across it. Stupid is as stupid does.

[ModelBreaker]

“The original intent of the navigable waters clause was to naturally extend the commerce provisions of the Constitution to all parts of the country that would be connected by those waterways for purpose of COMMERCE. Not for the purpose of regulating what a person does on his land-locked property. Not for the purpose of defining every fracking federal law as being applicable to private property that gets a heavy dew fall. Makes you wonder why some idiot hasn’t tried to define the great circle route between Los Angeles and Oahu as U.S. territory and then ordered the Coast Guard to collect taxes on every ship on it or passing across it. Stupid is as stupid does.”

Could not have said it better myself. So I’m just gonna quote you.