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To: Roscoe
The federal government began Constitutionally taxing the output of whiskey stills within the boundaries of individual states when George Washington was president. Deliberate ignorance of history is a necessary prerequisite for the Libertarian faith.

I'm not a Libertarian. I'm a Liberal. The federal government unbeknowst to many can in fact collect taxes on, but not regulate, intrastate commerce. The US Constitution specifically gives the US Government the power to directly tax. Originally all taxes had to be at one set rate for the given tax so no one would pay more than anyone else. That is why the 16th amendment was specifically required to make the income tax progressive. You can now have progressive federal sales taxes, etc as well.

You still haven't justified your argument. Taxation != regulation. One is allowed intrastate specifically and the other not. If you are willing to violate the US Constitution to make you feel good then you are a worthless individual who has no more ethics than the Kennedys, Feinsteins and Clintons out there.

467 posted on 08/06/2002 4:41:03 PM PDT by dheretic
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To: dheretic
I'm not a Libertarian. I'm a Liberal.

A distinction without much of a difference.

The federal government unbeknowst to many can in fact collect taxes on, but not regulate, intrastate commerce.

The Congress makes the following findings and declarations:

(1) Many of the drugs included within this title have a useful and legitimate medical purpose and are necessary to maintain the health and general welfare of the American people.

(2) The illegal importation, manufacture, distribution, and possession and improper use of controlled substances have a substantial and detrimental effect on the health and general welfare of the American people.

(3) A major portion of the traffic in controlled substances flows through interstate and foreign commerce. Incidents of the traffic which are not an integral part of the interstate or foreign flow, such as manufacture, local distribution, and possession, nonetheless have a substantial and direct effect upon interstate commerce because--

(A) after manufacture, many controlled substances are transported in interstate commerce,
(B) controlled substances distributed locally usually have been transported in interstate commerce immediately before their distribution, and
(C) controlled substances possessed commonly flow through interstate commerce immediately prior to such possession.
(4) Local distribution and possession of controlled substances contribute to swelling the interstate traffic in such substances.

(5) Controlled substances manufactured and distributed intrastate cannot be differentiated from controlled substances manufactured and distributed interstate. Thus, it is not feasible to distinguish, in terms of controls, between controlled substances manufactured and distributed interstate and controlled substances manufactured and distributed intrastate.

(6) Federal control of the intrastate incidents of the traffic in controlled substances is essential to the effective control of the interstate incidents of such traffic.

"...commerce among the states is not a technical legal conception, but a practical one, drawn from the course of business." Mr. Justice Holmes, Swift & Co. v. United States, 196 U.S. 375, 398 , 25 S.Ct. 276, 280.

Ignorance is the bread and butter of libertarianism and liberalism.

469 posted on 08/07/2002 1:26:58 AM PDT by Roscoe
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