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I'm not and never have been a Democrat... but here:
Quote:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
Remember that great idea the Republicans had of citing the Constitution for every bill? That kinda didn't last too long did it? Gee I wonder why
I'd like to know where in the Constitution it states that In God We Trust is to be our national motto, or even that we should have a national motto at all. Where in the Constitution does it state that if you don't wear a flag pin then you hate America? Where in the Constitution does it say it's ok for Congress to add words to another guy's work?
"The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States;"
The way I view this is that congress may use their discretion to pass legislation to improve the well being of the American people, e.g. social security.
I lean Democratic, but I am a registered Independent.
The Constitution set the framework for the authority of different levels of government and the balance of powers between different branches of government.
The Founding Fathers, realizing the need for adaptability and flexibility, created the Amending clause to allow amendments (most notably the Bill of Rights) to the Constitution. The Amending clause was added to the Constitution after lessons were learned from the failure of the Articles of Confederation to create a functional federal government.
The Constitution has a long, rich history of interpretation. This power of interpretation is granted to the Supreme Court. There are plenty of milestone cases that have been determined to be Constitutional by the Supreme Court. Rather than list then all here, follow the link: Milestone Cases in Supreme Court History — Infoplease.com
One major talking point of Ron Paul and his supporters is the Constitutionality of the Federal Reserve. However, neither Ron Paul nor his supporters want to acknowledge the Supreme Court decision of McColloch vs. Maryland which set the precedent in 1819 for a central bank.
We are a system of three equal branches of government where Congress has the authority to propose amendments to the Constitution, and the Supreme Court has the authority to determine the Constitutionality of matters. Ron Paul's worldview was formed by Ayn Rand and Austrian economists. That is merely one individual's point of view among a sea of opinions. It can be reinforced, debated, or debunked depending on the societal values at the time of interpretation. This is why the Founding Fathers did not leave interpretation of the Constitution up to a single individual.
Remember that great idea the Republicans had of citing the Constitution for every bill? That kinda didn't last too long did it? Gee I wonder why
I'd like to know where in the Constitution it states that In God We Trust is to be our national motto, or even that we should have a national motto at all. Where in the Constitution does it state that if you don't wear a flag pin then you hate America? Where in the Constitution does it say it's ok for Congress to add words to another guy's work?
Would you like to listen to a response from the Democrats?????
The constitutional argument, and the successful ones before the supreme court mind you, are based on the idea that the constitution is a living document, and open to interpretation.
The "general welfare" clause is generally used to justify social programs like welfare, social security, medicare, etc.
The federal government, through judicial precedent since the 1800's, has interpreted that the federal government can levy taxes and create programs that benefit the general welfare.
That is your constitutional argument.
Now, you sound like a strict constructionalist. You want to follow the constitution to the letter.
I will make you a bet, I will name one government program or law that is unconstitutional under a strict constructional view that you agree with and like, I guarantee you I can.
From my time here on City Data I have learned that Conservatives would: Shut down the EPA. Repeal minimum wage statutes. Abolish taxation. Abolish unions. Use the Federal Government for defense only. America sits between two big ass oceans with a friendly country to the north and a Third World country to the south. I'm not sure why we need a half-trillion a year defense budget but that's not my main point. My main point is that the country is not being run by City Data wingnuts. Thank God. I'm not sure how long the country would last if being run by the likes of the o.p. but it would probably be a decade or less. Liberal policies are neccessary to keep the country from dissolving into anarchy. Don't believe me? Tough. You should. History is full of the lessons of the results of piling insult upon injury of large numbers of citizenry. Why spend so much money to secure the country from threats from without only to have it rot through from within? Does that make sense? Spending 12 Trillion dollars on two wars while middle class Americans were forced into tent cities is going to come back to haunt someone. I really have my doubts as to whether anything we do now matters. Some mistakes are just too big to recover from.
I'm not and never have been a Democrat... but here:
Quote:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
To promote the general welfare, I have decided to totally outlaw abortion. See what I did there?
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