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To: phormer phrog phlyer; All
As I've mentioned in related threads, the key question that patriots must start asking Constitution-ignoring "leaders" like Pelosi is the following. Simply put, how much should taxpayers pay Congress annually in order for Congress to perform its Article I, Section 8-limited power duties? This question is based on Justice John Marshall's official clarification that Congress is prohibited from laying taxes in the name of state power issues, issues such as retirement, healthcare, public schools, etc., which Congress has no Section 8 power to address.
"Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States." --Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.

More specifically, given that the plurality of clauses in Section 8 are defense related, and given that the Department of Defense (DoD) budget for 2011 was $600+ billion, I will generously round the DoD annual budget up to $1 trillion, but probably much less, as a rough estimate as to how much Section 8 should be costing taxpayers per year.

In other words, taxpayers should not be hearing about multi-trillion federal dollar budgets which the mainstream media, including Obama guard dog Fx News, is reporting in federal public policy discussions without mentioning Justice Marshall's clarification of Congress's limited power to lay taxes.

25 posted on 01/06/2013 9:59:36 AM PST by Amendment10
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To: Amendment10

Haven’t you been paying attention since Helvering? Congress has power not only to tax but also to spend, regulate, whatever based on the “general welfare” clause of Section 8, wherein providing for the general welfare is interpreted as meaning found whatever it is they want without violating other parts of the Constitution people arbitrarily think are more important, as well as extraconstitutional ideas that they happen to favor.

By the way, Gibbons v Ogden is a prime example of constitutional overreach itself. Marshall bastardized “commerce” into “navigation,” and also butchered the necessary and proper clause. For all that it was miraculous by today’s standards. I wonder why you stress following section 8 of article 1, of all things, when they don’t follow much if anything else in the there.


32 posted on 01/06/2013 12:48:43 PM PST by Tublecane
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