Stem Cell Research and Torture

[TheScout]

"So....the TVA is not consitutional? Other similar entities? The Federal Reserve? The abandonment of the gold standard wasn't constitutional? Since Nixon we are no longer trading with legal money?"

 

Well for the TVA I see no authorization for the federal government to run a series of power plants to compete with private industry.

 

For the Fed, I also missed Congress's ability to create an organization to regulate all banking in the United States. I'm pretty sure the document doesn't even mention banks.

 

Abolishing the gold standard was ok. There is no requirement that the US be one it. We didn't follow it unitl around 1900.

[Hunt]

"The argument that the Supreme Court alone is reponsible for the interpretation of the Constitution does not fit historical reality. Back in the day, Kentucky and Virginia used their authority as signatories to the Constitution to declare the Alien and Sedition Acts void as did South Carolina with several federal tariffs. Jackson asserted the Supreme Court was in error when he unilaterlly continued Indian Removal in defiance of it."

 

And how did that ultimately work out for South Carolina? Yes, your argument has been made over the years, but the ship has sailed. You may not like the state of the law now, but it is what it is. Besides, I never said the Supreme Court is the sole interpreter of the Constitution--just that it has the last word on any disputed interpretation until the Constitution is amended. That is simply a fact of our current form of government.

[TheScout]

Granted, but it is a shame. When our founders wrote the federal constitution they had a dream that has since been subverted by ambitous men. They had a dream that our people did not have to have every aspect of their lives governed by an elite in a far off capital. A dream that only great questions of national concern would be debated by the federal government so States and localities could design their own solutions to problems based on local needs, values, and traditions.

 

This dream is evident when reading the Constitution as it is written. If we were true to this we would not have many of the problems we have today. No Child Left behind wound't be an issue because each State could decide its education policy if it seemed fit. The appointment of federal judgeships wouldn't be controversial as judges would not have to decide on abortion cases. We wouldn't be debating changing the minimum wage. Each state could do that based on its own needs.

 

It is a shame that our federalism is a joke now and the States are now mere administrative units of the federal government, and shackled so they can not meet the needs of their citizens.

[packsaddle]

I was just curious to see how far you were going to ride that nag.

BTW, to answer that question about South Carolina, you might read Walter Edgar's book, "South Carolina, A History". It is a very readable and fascinating history of SC and, really, the entire South. South Carolina doesn't rank at the bottom of nearly every list for no good reason. Kind of a tag team effort with Mississippi and Arkansas, I suppose, to see which state is the most wretched. No, South Carolina attained it's status the old fashioned way, it earned it. And Walter Edgar has done a masterful job of explaining how, in case anyone still wonders. Good read! But, TheScout, South Carolina comes close to the constitutional ideal about which you seem so wistful. Take a good look, with a little lack of vision and lack of a good educational system, any state can do it.

[Hunt]

It's interesting to think what the United States might be like if the federal government had been more limited...I guess it could have been what Europe was like about 10 years ago. Of course, the EU is centralizing more and more, and Europe is getting more like the US all the time.

[GernBlansten]

Interesting website on what is NOT in the US Constitution

 

http://www.usconstitution.net/constnot.html

[TheScout]

Packsaddle,

 

I must admit I have not read Edgar's book. South Carolina seemed to be doing quite fine until Mr. Lincoln decided to invade it, pillage, and destroy its intitutions to cement our union with the blood of its citizens instead of relying on mutual affections.

 

Hunt,

 

I agree it is interesting. The United States would not be the world power it is today, but the citizens and the States would definatly have more freedom. Over the years ambitious politicians have chosen power of freedom.

 

I as well see the EU evolving as the United States did. Both started as mainly a free trade area and continued to trend towards more centralization in every aspect of life. I think this explains the current British hostility to the EU. They joined it in 1973 to be part of a trade bloc and did not intend to give up their national sovereignty. It will be interesting to see how the EU will evolve in the years to come. It seems that confederations/federations are always fated to become increasing centralized despite any constitutional documents.

 

Gern,

 

And that list could be by no means exhaustive. It seems a rather libertarian list as it focuses mostly on how rights are not explicity granted. Strict Constructionists could probably point to all federal involvement in health, education, the enviornment, agriculture, science, student aid, transportation saftey, as all things that are probably unconstitutional as well and should properly fall under the domain of the States.

 

[GernBlansten]

"The United States would not be the world power it is today, but the citizens and the States would definatly have more freedom."

 

Well, Some citizens would have more freedom. Other's, not so much. Depending on the state of course.

[SR540Beaver]

"The United States would not be the world power it is today, but the citizens and the States would definatly have more freedom."

 

That kind of depends doesn't it? If the US had not evolved in the way it did and was more "free" and less "united", would we have been able to withstand a Nazi Germany or a Soviet Union superpower? We might have lost all of our freedom back in the last century instead.

[packsaddle]

OK, now that we've reinstated slavery and denied the right to vote to women...probably a few other things, I'm tempted to ask Scotty to beam me up. Maybe after the turkey...Happy Thanksgiving everyone!(This message has been edited by packsaddle)