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Community Corner

A challenge to our Liberal friends

I issue a challenge to our Liberal friends to find by what authority the ACA was passed. I select the ACA as it is such a current topic of contention but as we will see the challenge to other topics or laws could be just as applicable.

 

Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

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The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

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There seems to be some confusion over what laws can and cannot be legislated. I say there seems to be confusion only to give a benefit of doubt to Liberals as opposed to assuming they know better and don't really care and are really just subversives and anti-American. Of course I know that there are those Liberals that fit that description.

The reason I think adherence to the Constitution is important is not so much that the Constitution is the greatest thing since Moses came down the mountain with Gods law written in stone. The reason is much simpler than that. It is the rules that put everyone on an even playing field. Just as the rules in baseball or football are known and must be abided by both teams. If the rules are to change there are procedures to follow to effect those changes. Everyone is on equal footing throughout.

It is unfortunate that there are those that do not feel that abiding by the rules is important. These people have been identified in the past as the" Living Constitutionalist". These people believe the rules are ever changing and results in no one knowing what the rules are at any given time.  I maintain that it is just as important to these people as it is for the rest of us not to take such an absurd position.  The reasons are obvious but I could elaborate if it becomes necessary. Suffice it at this point to use the baseball analogy of not knowing how many strikes or balls any given player is working with at any given at bat.

If we actually adhere to the Constitution as it is written we all are able to understand when someone is out of bounds and not subject to the flight of fancy of someone or group. So Let us start with the tenth amendment of the Constitution of which can be seen at the beginning of this article. First, notice that it is an amendment. There 27 such amendments. The Constitution sets out the procedures to follow to make such amendments. If the Constitution is so flexible and loose as our Liberal friends would insist then amendments would and are not needed.

The tenth amendment states thing plainly that the federal government can only exercise the powers granted it by the Constitution. While there are listed powers covering all the branches of government within the Constitution what we are most concerned with is the powers of making laws. This can be found in Article One which begins with…

All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

So we see that all law making comes from Congress. For those that will actually read the entire text, which is not pertinent to what we are discussing here, you will find that some of the things within sections of Article One have been changed. Those changes can be found in the amendments and not changed by fiat.

What we are concerned with here is the power or authority to pass and make laws that the people are subject to. Since all laws must come from Congress, as we have already seen, then whatever other powers granted to the other branches of the government is irrelevant if the Congress doesn't have the power to make such legislation to begin with.

So what are these powers granted to the Congress that is enumerated in the Constitution? They are found in section 8 of Article One. If you read carefully you can find a few things that had been changed within these enumerations. Again, the changes can be found within the amendments and not made by fiat.

SECTION 8.

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;

To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;

To establish post offices and post roads;

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;

To provide and maintain a navy;

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;--And

To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.

 

I reiterate the challenge to our Liberal friends to find by what authority the ACA was passed. Bear in mind what we have just gone over. I would expect an intellectually honest reply. I know the reason that was given from the past SCOTUS ruling. By anyone's account of any honesty it must be admitted that it stretches the limit of credulity. Be it as it may if there are any honest and thoughtful responses it would be welcomed. Remember as well if you wish to hold to a very loose or "Living Constitution" that has no out of bounds then it would seem reasonable that it should and can be just as loose and "Living" as I would like it to be.

I do not hold anyone to only the passages to which I have sited though it seems obvious these are the only pertinent ones. So feel free to read more of the Constitution and its amendments, in fact I would encourage it.

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