[bvw]

To a Roosevelt Democrat or a Nixonian Republican -- which pretty much represent the interpretation of the Constitution since the 1930's -- you are obviously correct. The "enumerated powers, limited government" aspects of the Constitution are by those groups, ignored, irrelevant. To those groups, the Federal Government has any power as long as some reason can be had for it.

However, as your very short, squid, bow-shot of a attempt before showed -- Courts that operated closer to the Founder's intent, to the very words of that charter, would never have sustained such unlimited and uncharted excercise of power, excepting only the greatest of dangers to the nation -- example being the suspension of habeus corpus in the Civil War.

[robertpaulsen]

"excepting only the greatest of dangers to the nation"

Which was when it was really needed! You cut the government slack at the oddest times.