Article 1 Section 8 - Excellent video commentary

[JoshuaLyons]

Here is an excellent video on Article 1 Section 8. This is something that every citizen should watch and share!

Find the link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF-pRo_Z2ME

As Madison stated in Federalist No. 45:

• Powers delegated to the Federal government are few and defined
• Powers remaining in the State governments are numerous and indefinite

Too many in representatives (and citizens) do not understand the authority granted unto congress; this authority is defined in the Constitution with the 18 enumerated powers (Article 1 Section 8).

Really starting at the beginning of the 1900s legislators, presidents, bureaucrats, and justices have bastardized the meaning, intent, and interpretation of these powers and our founding documents in general. Until this is stopped and reversed, we will continue to put band-aids on mortal wounds.

Some of the major violations to the pure constitution are around 3 clauses:

1. General Welfare clause
2. Necessary and Proper clause
3. Commerce clause

[JoshuaLyons]

Here is an excellent video on Article 1 Section 8. This is something that every citizen should watch and share!

Find the link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF-pRo_Z2ME

As Madison stated in Federalist No. 45:

• Powers delegated to the Federal government are few and defined
• Powers remaining in the State governments are numerous and indefinite

Too many in representatives (and citizens) do not understand the authority granted unto congress; this authority is defined in the Constitution with the 18 enumerated powers (Article 1 Section 8).

Really starting at the beginning of the 1900s legislators, presidents, bureaucrats, and justices have bastardized the meaning, intent, and interpretation of these powers and our founding documents in general. Until this is stopped and reversed, we will continue to put band-aids on mortal wounds.

Some of the major violations to the pure constitution are around 3 clauses:

1. General Welfare clause
2. Necessary and Proper clause
3. Commerce clause

[sourcery]

1. General Welfare clause: Grants no power to the government; simply serves to set the interpretive context of the powers that are granted by the text that follows (ref: Veto of federal public works bill (James Madison)
2. Necessary and Proper clause: Grants the government the power to do whatever may be required in order to exercise the powers it is explicitly granted, provided no one's rights are violated thereby (e.g., this does not grant the government the power to kill for the purpose of "building post roads—one of the explicitly granted powers)
3. Commerce clause: Grants the governement the power to regularize the rules governing commercial transactions among parties in two or more States (reference: The Original Meaning of the Commerce Clause

[FromLori]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkThvjA4r_U&videos=LKhwi_sS7Fs&playnext_from=TL&playnext=1

What is it we are transforming into?

Glen Beck

[Man50D]

It’s amazing how so many people are so focused on provisions within HR3200 that they fail to realize the bill on it’s face is Unconstitutional as Since Article 1 Section 8 does not grant Congress the power to regulate health care!

[dalebert]

great...

[rlmorel]

Very good. Thank you for posting. This is the kind of information that is easy for people to get, they simply don’t. Videos like this help, so good job.

[rlmorel]

That is an excellent point.

As Ann Coulter is fond of pointing out, if you cede one little bit of lie or disinformation to a liberal, they will build an enormous edifice on the foundation of that lie.

So you are absolutely correct.

[dalebert]

i think a lady got flamed today for posting a radio show about someone trying to take the government to court over this....

[dalebert]

thanks for post

[Elsiejay]

According to Glen Beck, that’s about the time the Progressive Movement really got going, courtesy of Teddy Roosevelt, followed closely by W. Wilson. Some of their speeches are really scary, vis-s-vis the U. S. Constitution.

[swheats]

Would the next step for states that are in the red/bankrupt shut down and/or cut costs for a time rather than sign over any further rights to the federal government for a bailout?

[Trillian]

Bump

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Article 1.

Section 8.
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;

To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;

To establish post offices and post roads;

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;

To provide and maintain a navy;

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;—And

To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

wikipedia alert:

Strict constructionists interpret the clause to mean that Congress may make a law only if the inability to do so would cripple its ability to apply one of its enumerated powers. Loose constructionists, on the other hand, feel that the Necessary and Proper Clause expands the authority of Congress to all areas tangentially related to one of its enumerated powers. It is often known as the “elastic clause” because of the great amount of leeway in interpretation it allows; depending on the interpretation, it can be “stretched” to expand the powers of Congress, or allowed to “contract,” limiting Congress. In practical usage, the elastic clause has been paired with the commerce clause in particular to provide the constitutional basis for a wide variety of expansive federal laws. The powers given to the state are unofficial business.

The Necessary and Proper Clause (also known as the Elastic Clause, the Basket Clause, the Coefficient Clause, and the Sweeping Clause[1]) is the provision in Article One of the United States Constitution, section 8, clause 18:

“ The Congress shall have Power - To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

wikipedia alert:

Strict constructionism

Strict construction requires a judge to apply the text only as it is written. Once the court has a clear meaning of the text, no further investigation is required. Judges should avoid drawing inferences from a statute or constitution and focus only on the text itself. [1] Justice Hugo Black argued that the First Amendment’s injunction, that Congress shall make no law (against certain civil rights), should be construed strictly: no law, thought Black, admits no exceptions. This seems overly strict to us today, but ironically, Black’s legacy is as a judicial activist.[2] However, strict construction is not a synonym for textualism or originalism, and many adherents of the latter two philosophies are thus misidentified as “strict constructionists.”

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Bill of Rights

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

Counterpoint: “Promote the general welfare.”

The question is, are elected officials to promote the general welfare within the restrictions or not? An official can promote the general welfare by:

1. Setting a good example.
2. Encouraging inventiveness, resourcefulness, a good work ethic, lawfulness, etc. through speeches, fundraisers, etc.

I believe that is the kind of thing our Founding Fathers intended regarding “promote the general welfare”. Otherwise, the Constitution is a joke.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

“Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.” –James Madison. “I don’t believe in a government that protects us from ourselves.” - Ronald Reagan “Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.”
 – William Pitt “Government is not the solution, it’s the problem.” –Ronald Reagan. “Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare but only those specifically enumerated.” –Thomas Jefferson. http://granitegrok.com/blog/2008/11/