Posted on 09/24/2007 6:31:31 AM PDT by presidio9
IN 1995, the U.S. Su preme Court over turned a federal law that banned gun possession near schools. For the first time since the New Deal, the court ruled that Congress had exceeded its constitutional authority to regulate interstate commerce.
A year later, Congress passed the same law again, this time specifying that a defendant can be found guilty of carrying a gun in a school zone only if the weapon "has moved in" or "otherwise affects" interstate or foreign commerce. While 72 of his fellow senators pretended to believe this requirement rendered the law constitutional, Fred Thompson voted against the transparent ruse.
It wasn't the only time Thompson, now a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, found himself on the losing end of a lopsided vote to assert authority Congress doesn't have. With some notable exceptions, the Tennessee Republican's Senate record suggests he may be that D.C. rarity: a politician who means what he says, at least when it comes to the division of powers between the federal government and the states.
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The biggest challenge to Thompson's federalism probably has been the temptation to support socially conservative measures that exceed congressional authority.
Thompson backed a federal ban on human cloning and voted to prohibit "partial birth" abortion, under the same absurd pretext he rejected in the Gun-Free School Zones Act: that the abortion law applies to abortions "in or affecting" interstate commerce.
Regarding gay marriage, Thompson has stuck closer to his principles, opposing a federal ban and saying the matter should be decided by state legislatures. But he recently muddied the waters by
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(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Oh you're from NYC, the most liberal city in the most liberal state. That explains your arrogant cluelessness and militant ignorance.
that’s hogwash...the constitution protects all citizen’s lives. That is what the civil war and slavery were all about. To say that federalism could allow the denial of life to unborn children in some states is not true.
You stated in post 35 “The law protecting married couples was already in place.”
That is incorrect. No law forced any company to provide benefits to married couples -— or anyone, for that matter.
Indeed, outside of certain government contractors or other highly-regulated job areas, no employer “must” give benefits to spouses of employees.
Rudy campaigned for the domestic partners law, and signed it in 1998. The law is now that a private company cannot choose to give to married couple insurance benfits without similarly giving the same benefits to sodomites.
In short, now a company cannot chose to support marriage without also supporting sodomy-based relationships.
This law — and his seeking of it — is the antithesis of the libertarian, free market, position, which would be to allow companies to choose, or not choose, to whom, and on what terms, benfits were given.
In short, it is a liberal position Rudy took, not a libertarian position.
Oh good grief.
Bookmarking.... Excellent post. I’m looking forward to reading any replies.
Romney is CFR. Google it.
Oh you're from NYC, the most liberal city in the most liberal state. That explains your arrogant cluelessness and militant ignorance.
(Choose A if you agree, M for Maybe, D if you disagree.)
Government should not censor speech, press, media or Internet. A - The notable exception was where the liberal media accused him of censoring "art" at the Brooklyn museum, when what he was really against was taxpayer funding of obscene garbage marquerading as art.
Military service should be voluntary. There should be no draft.No reason to suspect this would be anything but "A"
There should be no laws regarding sex for consenting adults.A, of course
Repeal laws prohibiting adult possession and use of drugs. I'm pretty sure Rudy has no problem with medical marijuana, but since I don't know for certain, I'll give this one a "D"
There should be no National ID card. Rudy is pro-immigration. A
End "corporate welfare." No government handouts to business. A
End government barriers to international free trade. A. Rudy as been very vocal about free trade for over 20 years.
Let people control their own retirement; privatize Social Security. A.
Replace government welfare with private charity. A. Welfare reform was Rudy's second greatest accomplishment as mayor.
Cut taxes and government spending by 50% or more. M.
Those responses are pretty honest, based on Rudy's track record. I invite you to plug them in and find out for yourself that Rudy is solidly libertarian. To be fair, I think your quiz skews everybody to look libertarian, but Rudy defintely walks like a duck.
"Cluelessness and militant ignorance?" Sheesh!
You are correct. Rooty and all good libertarians believe that gay couples are the same thing as couples. You can't give benefits to one without giving benefits to the other. In their world, denying benefits to one is the same thing as denying benefits to black couples, or elderly couples who can't have kids.
I'm aware of that. However, he's not the one claiming to be a "Federalist".
Any criticism you have of Fred for the eevil scaryyy CFR apply just as well to Slick Willard.
“Rooty and all good libertarians believe that gay couples are the same thing as couples. You can’t give benefits to one without giving benefits to the other. In their world, denying benefits to one is the same thing as denying benefits to black couples, or elderly couples who can’t have kids.”
It is not a libertarian position to force companies to not discriminate. That is a liberal position.
You are correct that a libertarian-owned company may have such a policy, but no libertarian government would force that policy onto private companies.
I recently read a great piece by Tom Tancredo in the CFR magazine. Is Tom an evilllllll CFR person, too?
Or maybe you don’t really know what the CFR is?
In correct. Libertatianism is diametrically opposed to mob rule. Libertarianism in 2007 would not force any company to provide benefits the way liberalism would, but it would not allow any company to discriminate against any one group. I like to think that neither would Conservatism, but the difference here is that Conservatism would not recognize gay couples as a legitimate group. Libertrianism would.
Rooty was a strong supporter of McCain Feingold as I remember
End "corporate welfare." No government handouts to business
First new city golf course in 35 years lots of subsidies to the entertainment industry sort of contradicts this.
Welfare reform was Rudy's second greatest accomplishment as mayor.
Just exactly how did he reform it? Do you have a link? This was a federal initiative signed into law by Klintoon.
Cut taxes and government spending by 50% or more. M.
NYC budget grew substantially while Rooty was mayor, further there was abudget surplus (in 2000?) This was not returned to the taxpayers, but spent. Sorry Rooty is a statist, not a libertarian.
Let's stick to track records Cooter. Giuliani has never served in congress.
First new city golf course in 35 years lots of subsidies to the entertainment industry sort of contradicts this.
You are very confused about the meaning of the term "corporate welfare."
Just exactly how did he reform it? Do you have a link? This was a federal initiative signed into law by Klintoon.
Far be it from me to defend Giuliani , but even liberals (who LIKE welfare) give Giuliani credit for reforming it in NYC. This is not exactly a secret, BTW. You can start with these:
http://www.urban.org/publications/410542.html
http://www.issues2000.org/Rudy_Giuliani.htm#Welfare_+_Poverty
NYC budget grew substantially while Rooty was mayor, further there was abudget surplus (in 2000?) This was not returned to the taxpayers, but spent. Sorry Rooty is a statist, not a libertarian.
Note that I answered M on this one, but I do agree with you that spending grew as revenues grew. The "surplus" that you're talking about happened in 1999, not 2000. And you should be glad it did, if you're going to be bitching about how it wasn't returned to the taxpayers. In 2001, NYC faced an unforeseen minor problem that sort of tapped into the City's funds a bit. You may remember it. Again, I don't like Giuliani, and I don't defend him. I'm just pointing out how the quiz you provided makes him libertarian. And if you are going to rebut that, and hurl around personal insults while you're at it, the least you could do is get your facts straight.
One doesn't have to be in Kongress to have a position on something know. Rooty was a supporter of this.
know = known
Have we come to the point now where you are just going to completely abandon the man's track record and fixate on things he may or may not have said in the hope of salvaging any small bit of your pride? Tell you what: You supplied the quiz. Tweak the answers if you like. Without gun control, the man is a libertarian.
PS- Why do you care so much? Are you a libertarian yourself?
But if we set out to control every aspect of people’s lives nobody gets hurt?
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