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'Constitutional' conservatives -- not
NY Post ^ | February 24, 2010 | JACOB SULLUM

Posted on 02/24/2010 3:24:36 AM PST by Scanian

The day before last week end's Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, a group of prominent conservatives gathered a few miles away at the Virginia estate of our first president. Their Mount Vernon Statement swears fealty to a "constitutional conservatism" that "applies the principle of limited government based on the rule of law to every proposal" and "honors the central place of individual liberty in American politics and life." If only they meant it.

Constitutional conservatism certainly sounds better than "compassionate conservatism," which turned out to be code for big-government conservatism. And it is easy to hope that the thread of a properly limited federal government could bind the strands of a movement that has been unraveling since the end of the Cold War.

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


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: commerceclause; cpac; federalpower; mtvernonstatement; teaparty; tenthamendment; usconstitution; wickard
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To: DTogo
Leave it to the states, or leave it alone.

Yep.

61 posted on 02/24/2010 6:50:04 AM PST by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: listenhillary

The fact is most people who drink use alcohol responsibly, almost NOBODY uses pot, crack, cocaine, meth, heroin, etc. responsibly.

The fundamental purpose of recreational drug use is to get stoned or high. Some people who drink do itto become intoxicated, but 99% of drug users use drugs with the intent of becoming intoxicated.


62 posted on 02/24/2010 6:55:27 AM PST by Above My Pay Grade
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To: concerned about politics

Here goes....first my disclaimer...I do not use, or condone the use of drugs, nor do I support or use prostitues or pornography....having said this, here is my reply..

The pedophile infringes upon the rights of the child. This is clearly illegal, as are all acts and actions that infringe upon anothers rights. Nothing moral about this, just a blantant infringement upon anothers rights. The laws we have are designed to keep a persons rights to their own body and mind intact.

Please explain to me how sitting in my home, smoking a joint, infringes upon anyones rights but my own?

Please explain to me how hiring a prostitute, with mutually agreed terms, infringes upon anyones rights by my own?

Please justify to me swat teams issuing no knock warrants, bursting into my home dressed as ninja’s, because someone said I have pot in my home does not violate or infringe upon my rights?

Morals are morals, and rights are rights. I will not infringe upon your rights, what business do you have infringing on mine?


63 posted on 02/24/2010 6:58:41 AM PST by joe fonebone (CPAC.....Commies Playing At Conservatism)
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To: Above My Pay Grade

The fundamental purpose of alcohol use is to get stoned or high.


64 posted on 02/24/2010 7:02:18 AM PST by listenhillary (the only reason government wants to be our provider is so it may become our master)
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To: webstersII; Jim Robinson
You are acting like a typical liberal, projecting what you are upon those of us tired of daily doses of LIBertarian and LIBeral bullsh!t.

LLS

65 posted on 02/24/2010 7:08:47 AM PST by LibLieSlayer (hussama will never be my president... NEVER!)
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To: joe fonebone
Morals are morals, and rights are rights. I will not infringe upon your rights, what business do you have infringing on mine?

OK. So you sound self accountable. Maybe you know a few more people who are, but what about all the others?
Take the issue of abortion. Before they become "socially acceptable" very few were ever performed. Now, millions are dead each year. What about the homosexual agenda? How many are dying of AIDs today who wouldn't be if it weren't sold as "a normal behavior" in the public schools?" Very few teens became mothers in the past, but once it became socially acceptable, the number became virtually unlimited.

66 posted on 02/24/2010 7:18:58 AM PST by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: listenhillary

Not true. If you see someone having a glass of wine or a single beer, you don’t think, “She’s getting stoned”. If you see her take one hit off a crack pipe, you know she is.

Nobody takes the equivalent of a “one can of crack”, or a “few sips of heroin”. Most recreational drug users become abusers, while a small percentage of alcohol users become abusers.

At any rate, in a civil society, the people have the right to weigh the costs and benefits of various behaviors and evaluate what behaviors pose too great a risk to innocent people.

There is no fundamental or Constitutional right to smoke pot, smoke crack, shoot heroin, or drink alcohol for that matter.


67 posted on 02/24/2010 7:25:08 AM PST by Above My Pay Grade
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To: concerned about politics

Abortion....infringes upon the right of a beating heart...not a moral issue, but a civil right issue. Killing infringes upon civil rights, period

Homosexual....why are we pouring billions of dollars into curing AIDS, when it is a direct result of personal behavior? Two fags that choose to have unprotected sex do not infringe upon each others rights. The results of this transgression should not infringe upon my rights (by confiscating my wages as taxes to pay for this research for a 99.999% preventable disease is a direct violation of my rights)

Teen pregnancy are a direct result of the sexual revolution, in other words, the damn hippies of the ‘60’s with their communist agenda. Teaching sex or sexual orientation in the schools violates my right to raise my family as I see fit. This is a case of the federal government regulating morality. Their moral values are in direct conflict with mine. This violates my right to raise my family as I see fit.

In conclusion, regulation of morals is a slippery slope, one that has ALWAYS lead to tyranny.
Enforcing ones rights is a different situation, and is a must for a society to remain viable.


68 posted on 02/24/2010 7:39:45 AM PST by joe fonebone (CPAC.....Commies Playing At Conservatism)
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To: Above My Pay Grade

I don’t know how much to trust these stats. I would have to spend more time checking them against other sources. You say this is fine and dandy and it’s OK because it is legal to consume alcohol.

http://www.drug-rehabs.org/alcohol-statistics.php

# Alcohol is involved in 50% of all driving fatalities.

# In the United States, every 30 minutes someone is killed in an alcohol related traffic accident.

# Over 15 million Americans are dependent on alcohol. 500,000 are between the age of 9 and 12.

# Americans spend over $90 billion dollars total on alcohol each year.

# An average American may consume over 25 gallons of beer, 2 gallons of wine, and 1.5 gallons of distilled spirits each year.

# Pregnant women who drink are feeding alcohol to their babies. Unfortunately the underdeveloped liver of the baby can only burn alcohol at half the rate of its mother, so the alcohol stays in the baby’s system twice as long.

# Each year students spend $5.5 billion on alcohol, more then they spend on soft drinks, tea, milk, juice, coffee, or books combined.

# 56% of students in grade 5 to 12 say that alcohol advertising encourages them to drink.

# 6.6% of employees in full time jobs report heavy drinking, defined as drinking five or more drinks per occasion on five or more days in the past 30 days.

# The highest percentage of heavy drinkers (12.2%) is found among unemployed adults between the age of 26 to 34

# Up to 40% of all industrial fatalities and 47% of industrial injuries can be linked to alcohol consumption and alcoholism.

# In 2000, almost 7 million persons age 12 to 20 was a binge drinker; that is about one in five persons under the legal drinking age was a binge drinker.

# The 2001 survey shows 25 million (one in ten) Americans surveyed reported driving under the influence of alcohol. This report is nearly three million more than the previous year. Among young adults age 18 to 25 years, almost 23% drove under the influence of alcohol.

# Drunk driving is proving to be even deadlier then what we previously know. The latest death statistics released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), using a new method of calculation show that 17,488 people where killed in alcohol related traffic accidents last year. This report represents nearly 800 more people where killed than the previous year.

# Alcohol is the number 1 drug problem in America.

# 43% of Americans have been exposed to alcoholism in their families.

# Nearly one out of 4 Americans admitted to general hospitals have alcohol problems or are undiagnosed alcoholics being diagnosed for alcohol related consequences.

# Alcohol and alcohol related problems is costing the American economy at least $100 million in health care and lost of productivity every year.

# Four in ten criminal offenders report alcohol as a factor in violence.

# Among spouse violence victims, three out of four incidents were reported to have involved alcohol use by the offender.

# In 1996, local law enforcement agencies made an estimated 1,467,300 arrests nationwide for driving under the influence of alcohol.


69 posted on 02/24/2010 8:01:26 AM PST by listenhillary (the only reason government wants to be our provider is so it may become our master)
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To: joe fonebone
Abortion....infringes upon the right of a beating heart
YOUR morality? According those who endorse it, you're denying them their rights. To them, it's our moral duty to pay for it rather than change ther behavior that causes it.

Homosexual....why are we pouring billions of dollars into curing AIDS
It's bled out into the heterosexual community. Some say it's our "moral" duty to cure it rather than change the behavior that spreads it. Who decides?

Teen pregnancy are a direct result of the sexual revolution, in other words, the damn hippies of the ‘60’s with their communist agenda.
Again, others say it's their right to do with their bodies as they please. Where's the moral line? Shouldn't we change the behavior that causes it?

But you see how unfettered immorality grows. Once an undesirable behavior becomes socially acceptable, it multiplies, and others end up cleaning up the mess. Others end up losing their liberties. That's why we, as humans, need to draw a a line somewhere for our own survival as a species. We're not animals. We have to decide what guidelines we're going to agree to follow, otherwise, there's chaos.

70 posted on 02/24/2010 8:04:45 AM PST by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: Above My Pay Grade
At any rate, in a civil society, the people have the right to weigh the costs and benefits of various behaviors and evaluate what behaviors pose too great a risk to innocent people.
I agree with you. But in your mind some drugs are more equal than others to abuse.

http://www.learn-about-alcoholism.com/statistics-on-alcoholics.html

“Other Victims”

The statistics on alcoholics that we listed above don’t include the “other victims,” those affected by alcohol though they are not alcoholics and may not even drink at all.

So consider the alcoholism fact that alcohol is a factor in the following:

* 73% of all felonies
* 73% of child beating cases
* 41% of rape cases
* 81% of wife battering cases
* 72% of stabbings
* 83% of homicides

Think the same statistics hold up for marijuana use?

71 posted on 02/24/2010 8:08:22 AM PST by listenhillary (the only reason government wants to be our provider is so it may become our master)
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To: listenhillary

Assuming all that is true,(and a lot of those stats seem bogus) will legalizing a whole host of more dangerous drugs make things better or worse?

That list reads like an argument for prohibition, not one for legalizing drugs.


72 posted on 02/24/2010 8:08:50 AM PST by Above My Pay Grade
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To: Rockingham
Dressing the reckless "lifestyle libertarian" program up as fidelity to the constitution compounds political opportunism with intellectual chicanery and over reaching.

The frat house philosophy of the liberal-tarians tends to wear off once they enter the real world. For many of us, it coincided with the birth of our children, particularly if that child is a girl.

Marriage and family tend to civilize people--which is why these institutions are under such heavy assault by the political left and their useful idiot allies in the liberal-tarian movement.
73 posted on 02/24/2010 8:11:39 AM PST by Antoninus (Vote Mitt Romney in 2012 -- We need an even bigger fraud in DC than Obama.)
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To: listenhillary
You say this is fine and dandy and it’s OK because it is legal to consume alcohol.

Which makes me wonder......

Tobacco kills the smoker. Alcohol not only kills the alcoholic, but also kills those around him. So, why is the government just going after tobacco without a word about alcohol. Shouldn't they be going after both if they go after one?
With tobacco, the culprit kills one. With alcohol, the culprit kills more than one. So, wouldn't alcohol be worse?
Where are the political attacks on the booze industry? Where are the warning labels? Where's the demonization? What am I missing here?

Because both are legal, well, that's the way it is, but why the political discrepancy?

74 posted on 02/24/2010 8:15:32 AM PST by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: webstersII
Most people on FR would be shocked to learn that in the early years of the this Republic that alcohol consumption was quite high, way higher than today. The British tried to tax sugar, which was used to make rum, and that really set off the Colonists.

Yes? And tell me what our founding fathers thought of pornography and other "lifestyle" issues like sodomy? That's where the real disconnect comes from. If a liberal-tarian stood on a street corner in 1793 Philadelphia and ranted about how the government was a tyranny because he wasn't able to open a gay bawdy house on Chestnut Street, he would have been tarred and feathered--at best.

The Founding Fathers knew quite well that men do not have a God-given right to vice. Somewhere along the line, many Americans forgot that.
75 posted on 02/24/2010 8:18:06 AM PST by Antoninus (Vote Mitt Romney in 2012 -- We need an even bigger fraud in DC than Obama.)
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To: Scanian
The author of this Jeffersonian/libertarian screed apparently forgot that George Washington was a Federalist.
76 posted on 02/24/2010 8:18:32 AM PST by Zionist Conspirator (Zakhor 'et 'asher-`asah lekha `Amaleq; baderekh betze'tkhem miMitzrayim.)
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To: Above My Pay Grade
We have lots of murders, rapes, robberies, etc., but I don’t see anyone saying, “Well, the “war on violent crime” has failed, it’s time to give up and let the criminals do whatever they want.”

Most of the jackasses who want to legalize drugs are recreational pot users who live in safe little suburban communities that are safely insulated from the real problems caused by drugs. Anyone who has seen what drugs can do to people, don't want them legalized. Not now, not ever.
77 posted on 02/24/2010 8:21:42 AM PST by Antoninus (Vote Mitt Romney in 2012 -- We need an even bigger fraud in DC than Obama.)
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To: Above My Pay Grade

He wasn’t surrendering, he was just getting out of your way while you beat yourself to death with idiotic strawmen.


78 posted on 02/24/2010 8:22:06 AM PST by Dead Corpse (III, Oathkeeper)
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To: Antoninus
Yes? And tell me what our founding fathers thought of pornography and other "lifestyle" issues like sodomy?

Homosexuals were given the death penalty. They were considered a danger to society. Later, because they weren't considered violent criminals, they were given life inprisionment. Again, later, they were put in insane asylums. During the Reagan administration, they were let out on the street due to budget cuts. They were suppose to check in once a week to make sure they weren't being a nuisance on society. They stopped coming in. After that, they started the "rights" movement. Now, we have a legal homosexual pedophilia organization, NAMBLA, that teaches homosexuals how to molest other peoples children without getting caught.

There was a good reason for people to lock them up and get them off the street. Our founding fathers were right about one thing - they really were a danger to society.

79 posted on 02/24/2010 8:29:46 AM PST by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: Above My Pay Grade

Lets try the prohibition again.

We have forgotten much. People still are convinced that the federal governments job is to control what we consume.


80 posted on 02/24/2010 8:32:53 AM PST by listenhillary (the only reason government wants to be our provider is so it may become our master)
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