Replies

There's no constitutional right to say "The sky is blue today".

You wanna bet? I suggest you read the US Constitution, amendment 1. While you have every right to prevent me saying this or anything else on your property, the government doesn't have a right to prevent me from saying it, essentially anywhere, so there is a constitutional right as such.

By your reasoning, it would be perfectly acceptable to imprison people for uttering just those words, or for any other reason, at the whim of the federal government, because it is not listed in the Constitution.

Don't be an idiot. Saying "by my reasoning" is an untrue statement, since what I stated was factually correct and involved little if any "reasoning." Besides, your statement is incorrect for the reasons listed above.

the reverse of what you said is the actual truth

BS.

The federal goverment has no right to make the consumption of a particular substance illegal.

The hell it doesn't. Article I, Section 8, Clause 1: "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States;"

The hell it doesn't. Article I, Section 8, Clause 1: "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States;"

You forgot "to regulate commerce among the several states", FDR style.

The federal goverment has no right to make the consumption of a particular substance illegal.

LBJ would no doubt agree. He used general welfare as the basis for his War on Poverty.

"The Congress is charged by the Constitution to "provide . . . for the general welfare of the United States." Our present abundance is a measure of its success in fulfilling that duty. Now Congress is being asked to extend that welfare to all our people"

--President Johnson's War on Poverty Speech, March 16, 1964

http://wwwa.search.eb.com/elections/pri/Q00078.html

The specifics of my example have no bearing on my original argument. The Constitution is not an exhaustive list of individual rights. The fact that every possible whim is not covered dovetails rather nicely with my assertion that the powers of the government are actually very limited. Claiming that the power to create and regulate a “drug war” is based on common defense and general welfare is a stretch IMHO, as is interstate commerce. I’m not a Constitutional scholar, but I doubt that that is what the framers had in mind when listing those powers. To me, it seems that the 10th amendment applies to this situation. The authority lies with the states, or the people themselves.

Back to the example at hand, your free speech rights are limited by what people reasonably believe to be proper. Try yelling Fire! in a crowded room, making a threat of violence, or libeling someone. Certainly outlawing an arbitrary statement of fact is an extreme case of unreasonable limitation. If the drug war is legal on constitutional grounds as you contend, it is still subject to interpretation as to what is reasonable and proper. Unfortunately, the drug war has morphed into a drug Jihad and there is little room for such discussions. Right is right, and anyone who questions the foundations is bound to be labeled an ..idiot.. spouting ..B.S..