04/26/10 by AX.

A quick bit about the new law in Arizona that has made a lot of news as of late.

We tried to find what the main complaint is about the new law and came up with little more than leftist bitching. The Constitution is brought up repeatedly without getting to any real arguments. We did find a statement from the ACLU that parrots the same line as almost all writings about the Constitutionality of the law. The only point that may have merit is on making being in the country illegally a state offense. We admittedly have not researched this issue yet and will therefore refrain from opining. That is not the main Constitutional complaint, however.

The claim is that because the Constitution states that the Federal Government is responsible for protecting against invasion, the States are forbidden from enforcement. The idea here is that the Feds should handle all aspects of immigration and enforcement and that State police are not trained to handle the delicate intricacies of immigration law.

That is one of the dumbest arguments  we have ever heard. Guess what the Constitution is even more explicit about Federal authority. Money. All aspects of our monetary system is under the purview of the Feds. So following the model of the ACLU, we should be able to go to the police station to pay a fine and give them counterfeit money without repercussion. The cops would just say; “although we have reasonable suspicion to believe that you are illegally passing counterfeit money, that’s a Federal crime and we can’t do anything.” Really? Does the ACLU and their liberal friends really think that’s correct? No. We are pretty sure that it would be reasonable for the police to detain you even if they aren’t trained in the delicate intricacies of counterfeiting  currency.

AX

Posted in Amendment X | Print | 1 Comment »

04/26/10 by AX.

We have long wondered why Republicans have placed themselves on the wrong side of the abortion issue. Roe v. Wade was a direct attack on the Ninth and Tenth Amendments; so it’s easy to see why the Left likes it.  However, Republicans seem to want the exact opposite in the form of a federal law forbidding abortions. Even if it’s unrealistic, that position makes us angry.

The justifiable part of the position is that abortion is homicide. Fine, call it homicide. That doesn’t always mean murder. Homicides are justified all the time for various reasons. Few Republicans believe woman should sacrifice her life (and possibly the unborn child) when an abortion could save her life. It’s a justifiable homicide. But all this discussion skirts the real issue.

Even murder is not a federal offense. There are very specific circumstances where a murder can become a federal crime, but those are rare exceptions. Unless the abortion occurred on Federal property, it would never be a federal crime. Homicides are under the jurisdiction of states. The U.S. Constitution does not give the Federal Government  power to enforce that type of crime. Abortion is a states rights issue plain and simple.

Republican elected representatives have come to bow to the religious right because they have a large and mobile voting block. Once that happened, Democrats took their natural position on the opposing side. That side is an easy stance for a party of Nationalist opposing federalism at the same time.

The cure is easy, although it does take effort. Vote in the primaries. That is where the tide can be changed and return the Republican party back to the side of federalists. Also, vote for presidents based on who they would pick to serve on  Federal Courts (including the Supreme Court).

Returning the entire abortion issue to the states would result in abortions being legal in all but maybe two or three states. If a person doesn’t like the outcome in their state, move to one where the majority agrees with you. The concept of federalism is not to make all states exactly the same. The opposite is far preferable. People all over the world live in nation states surrounding themselves with like-minded people. We have the advantage of pooling for defense and useful regulations. Although the Feds have taken the latter to places it should have never gone, the ideal is still sound.

AX

Posted in Amendment X | Print | 1 Comment »

04/23/10 by AX.

Political parties aren’t what they used to be. Democrats and Republicans have changed tactics and, to a much lesser extent, stated positions. Lincoln was a Republican. The Ku Klux Klan was comprised of Democrats. That much is basic history. But things seem to have changed. Or have they? To hear contemporary Democrats, one would believe that Republicans wish to return to the days of slavery and only Democrats can help the oppressed. Have political parties switched sides in the race debate? How and when did this role reversal happen without anyone noticing? The answer; political illusion. The switch never happened. The party that promoted itself with the exploitation of minorities still does. The party that made every attempt to equalize opportunity still does.

Here at AmendmentX.info we have long wondered why in countries that abolished slavery after the United States, black people seem to have fully integrated into society and aren’t constantly recalling events of 150 years ago. Here in the States, people of Asian descent had been persecuted in the past and yet now are generally not considered an at risk (of discrimination) population.

Starting with Asians; they were not enslaved at the rate of Africans. The abuse was not to the scale in almost any way. Fair enough, by there was a degree of parity with Africans that simply isn’t present now. Two things seem to missing that would appear to be vital to maintaining the feeling of repression for a group of people. First, the minority people themselves must be willing to limit themselves to what the majority gives them as stipends. If an American wants to raise their standard of living, they aren’t going to be able to stay on the Government dole. If they are willing to live on what they don’t earn, they can continue to cite how they deserve it because of something someone else did to long dead people a long time ago. It would seem Asians are unwilling to make that compromise. Second, in order to get the masses of minorities to unite and get the Government to hand out money to them, it is useful to have a political party that purports to stand up for the oppressed. Holding that position, the party would become dependent on an indefinitely oppressed group. So to keep the party viable, the leaders would have to make the supporters of the party believe they need to help poor minorities while at the same time keeping minorities poor. Asians neither have such a party, nor do they seem to want it.

By keeping black Americans in the belief that only Government can solve their problems, Democrats have a block of people that will vote for the party that directly states that they want give them other people’s money. Republicans tend towards teaching how to fish rather than just giving the fish. Republicans may initially seem to not care, but are actually showing a lack of racism by ignoring race and trying to make the starting line equal.The argument that modern racist groups tend toward the Republican party is just a silly point. Although it may be true, the reason should be obvious. Modern racists are stupid and don’t understand the point of this post. They haven’t got the brain power to see reality beyond their idiotic prejudice. Hence they aren’t for Republicans as much as they are against what Democrats are saying. Because Democrats have re-branded their lines (without re-branding the intent) as no longer oppressing minorities, the ignorant believe only what they hear and not what can be seen. Digging just below the surface and thinking about what is happening instead of what is merely said results in often different views.

This idea goes to many aspects of life. The concept of “no child left behind” should send shivers throughout your being. The child that is behind isn’t dragged up with the rest of group; simply because that is not possible. Some kids just don’t learn as fast or as much as others. Some may need a lot of extra help. So how can none be left behind? We could use big hammers and beat knowledge into their little heads. But if that doesn’t work, the only other solution is to slow everyone else down so they can all cross the finish line at the same time. While no child would be left behind, the whole country pays the price. OK, not the whole country. Just those that can’t afford to pay for the public school system and have enough left over to pay for private school.

AX

Posted in Amendment X | Print | 1 Comment »

04/15/10 by AX.

The current health care law has unconstitutional mandates for compelling individuals to purchase health insurance from private companies. Although in past entries we have suggested that it may be a good idea have citizens show in some way that they have some means of providing for their own health care costs, that idea always had problems. While the very wealthy may be able to show complete self insurability; determining where to set the bar of minimum level coverage is problematic. Additionally, the current law forbids exclusion for pre-existing conditions, but the penalty for failing to have insurance is less than almost any policy. Buying insurance on the way to the hospital isn’t insurance, it’s cost shifting. Shifting from you to someone else. All this does is make insurance companies nonviable.

There is a much better and simpler way to ensure that everyone has a level of health care available to them that is reasonable. Setting up government health care facilities that are open to the public and only provide a predetermined level of care. Because anyone that makes it to the door is treated, we would indeed have universal coverage. The level of treatment would be limited in several aspects. Elective cosmetic procedures would not provided at these facilities. Only cosmetic surgeries that are medically necessary would be covered. Three or four patients per room would be the norm. The hospitals and clinics would be largely self regulating in the level of treatment because of budgets. The budgets would hold at reasonable levels in much the same way welfare and food stamps don’t runaway. Because some 85% of the population has health insurance now, if that figure doesn’t change (and it shouldn’t significantly), the people paying without benefiting would want to keep the budgets to a reasonable level that allows those in need to receive treatment without breaking the bank.

Employers and individuals that have or provide insurance would not be eager to give it up because the benefits are still valuable compared to the government system. Having a separate system allows those treated in the government facility the dignity of not walking past the single occupant room where someone just had a “not government covered” procedure.

The education system works in this same way now. Everyone pays for the government system, but those who wish to pay extra can take advantage of a better, separate private system and all people are compelled to show that their children are covered by some sort of education (including home home schooling, which would be the equivalent of being self insured). Public and private education levels are not the same but government funding does not require equity of outcome. The government schools will continue to provide education to failing students until they either progress or drop out on their own. The hospitals would be no different.

Many hospitals already operate in a manner  similar to this concept already. Almost anyone that lives in a big city can think of facilities they would rather go to compared to others. Usually the least preferred hospitals are the heavily subsidized facilities. To attempt to equalize the conditions in the various hospitals by law is to eliminate the reward for achievement in a country that became the best on Earth by promoting the idea that you get what you earn. If no matter how hard you work you can never get ahead, why even try?

AX

Posted in Amendment X | Print | 1 Comment »

03/02/10 by AX.

Although the title suggests this post will be about getting drunk on wheat beer after being upset and making up some excuse about ice causing a fall, wait where were we going with this? Oh yeah, economic recessions can be a very dangerous time in many ways. Slippery slope arguments are usually only effective when preaching to the choir because the opposition can quash them with the simple question; what’s your evidence that (fill in the blank) will actually happen? Here at AmendmentX we prefer to know ahead of time where the slippery slope goes.

So, there you are having a conversation with a pro-big -government type and he is arguing that the Federal Government should get involved in your life in some way. It really doesn’t matter what the discussion is about because the Feds have no business in your personal life. Call it health insurance or schools or whatever. You try to make that point, but your not getting far because you can’t come up with any time that the Feds have been messing with someone you know. So, you want to whip out the slippery slope argument, but your afraid he’s just going to call you paranoid. It’s OK, just because your paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t coming after you.

Try asking a few questions just to get a feel for how your big-gov pal really feels about a government getting in their backyard. Here’s a few to get started. “Do you think the Fed should regulate farming?” (Obvious answer, but you are putting him in a comfortable mood.) “Should the Fed regulate ALL farming?” (again expect an affirmative answer, but if he strays, he’s going in the direction you want anyway.) “Should people be allowed to eat what they grow?” (Duh.) “So, if you have a garden and eat what you grow, should the Feds regulate what you grow even if you never sell it?” (If they haven’t said no, reiterate that this is food and is for you and your family and no one else, and that you are not talking about during times of war. By this time, he should be wondering where you are going with this. Good, we’re getting there.) “Let’s say that the Government decides to fix the price of food, for the public good of course, and part of the bill that regulates the price of the food and regulates how much money farmers earn, for their own good of course, also allows the Feds to monitor, regulate, and fine you for non-compliance for just growing yourself some food. Are you OK with the Feds fining you for growing your own food?” (You’ll probably have to repeat that last bit a couple of times.)

If you are speaking with someone that actually believes that it is just fine for the Federal Government to impose penalties on individuals for growing a garden, you can try making the state’s rights versus Federal Government case, but the wall behind him is more likely to be persuaded. At this point, your best bet is just try to get some understanding behind why he thinks command/control totalitarian governments are better and give up on reasoning your way through a debate. You can’t win against faith based arguments.

If, on the other hand, you are talking to someone that sees that bureaucrats  in Washington D.C. should not concern themselves with an individual’s garden, you are almost ready to go for the kill. With a bit of luck or persuasion, your adversary should be calling you paranoid (yes, we want this now). If not, keep digging. Make the case a little by saying that under the Interstate Commerce Clause, the Federal Congress could seize that control. Now throw in that even if you had already planted and grown your garden, so long as you haven’t harvested yet, the law would not be retroactive.  So, the Feds could control price, the pay for farmers, and how much food is grown by whom. All because of economic conditions, not war.

We are looking for him to say something like; “That’s never going to happen.” If you can get there, you win because it already has. And it was upheld by the Supreme Court.  The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 as amended in May1941 (before we entered the war), allows for exactly what was described above for wheat and other named foods. Now you may not grow wheat. And it is true that under certain rules, a small farm could be exempted from fines (although not regulation). The logic behind supporting this legislation is that if you don’t buy your food on the open market, that loss in the marketplace affects the price of goods, and therefore, the Interstate Commerce Clause gives authority. So the only question left for your hapless foe is; “What else do you not buy that the Government may want to know about?”

Lest anyone think that this was some obscure case back in the forties that only applied to large farms. It has been used as precedent to regulate what is grown inside people’s houses this quite recently. The Supreme Court has ruled (2005) that the Federal Government may regulate certain plants (marijuana) even though state law makes possession and consumption legal. Overriding state medical use laws, the Feds can enter your house and arrest you even if your state has changed its laws to reflect the will of the body politic. Although the original offending law was passed and held constitutional during a time of economic depression, 2005 was no such time. You may be considering that the 05 decision was the Court and not Congress. True, but that only goes to show that we must be very careful what gets passed when conditions are right to take steps toward oppression. The original case came before the Court because of a law. Many years later, the Feds use the same law (or the court precedent that directly resulted from the law) to empower the Federal Government and reduce not only state’s rights, but individual’s as well.

Here at AmendmentX.info we try not to speculate more than… well,  some. But it is difficult to imagine the person who is pro government  wanting one government that they can’t control (Federal, because other states get a voice too) overriding the state law they just fought for and going to jail for smoking pot they thought was legal. Perhaps these people forget that the Feds do more than just give away other people’s money.

We don’t have to  guess where all slippery slopes lead. The end of the road for big government is your living room.

AX

Posted in Amendment X | Print | 1 Comment »

02/24/10 by AX.

Article 1 § 8 of the Constitution allows the Congress the power to “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; ” among many other things. This is of course is the opening to the Powers of Congress section.  Note that this section of the Constitution was of great importance and focus of the construction process. Because this section empowers the new Federal Government with enormous power of the Union, special care was taken to ensure the proper phraseology. As with the rest of the document, succinctness was extremely important so as to not give rise to misinterpretation due to an overabundance of legalese.

Reading the passage in a natural way, there are three major parts; what, why, and a caveat. The what is funding, the why is what the money is spent on, and the caveat is a limitation on how the money is collected.

Assuming that the Congress hasn’t had too many problems taxing (although an amendment was later added to increase their ability to collect more), we will skip that portion of the passage. How that money is spent has been a source of great debate. The focus of this post will be limited to the General Welfare Clause.

The welfare clause juxtaposition to the defense clause is more than coincidental. Welfare is defined by Merriam-Webster as 1 : the state of doing well especially in respect to good fortune, happiness, well-being, or prosperity. So, “provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States” begins to gain meaning. Common defense is easy to define. Remembering that the Constitution was solely written to govern the Federal Government and that state is defined in all contexts other than our country as a sovereign nation, The Federal Government was established to band the several states for their protection and in doing so, maintain the strength of the New World against outside invaders. That strength necessarily means more than just militarily. Maintaining cohesion amongst the states is essential to true strength among multiple sovereigns.

The general welfare of the United States inextricably linked to common defense and once again is carefully phrased. Far from the Constitution proposing that the Federal Government should be giving money to individual citizens as “welfare checks”, this clause was specifically intended to prohibit such activity. General does not naturally mean specific or individual. The welfare (health and prosperity) is for the United States, not the individual states or citizens thereof. Remember, at the time the Constitution was written, the Federal Government was prohibited from collecting taxes directly from individuals by Article 1 § 9. The common theme throughout the document was keeping the Federal Government removed from the individual lives of the citizens as much as possible.

The introductory clauses of A1§8 were placed in front of the specific powers of Congress to explain the necessity of the following enumerated powers. That the preamble to the Constitution reflects this line of reasoning. Beyond that, Madison himself felt compelled to further iterate this point in Federalist Paper 41. (On a side note, take a look at the Second Amendment. The introductory statement gives reason to the actual restriction on infringement of arms. To illustrate the point, consider this statement; A sturdy house being necessary to protect from wolves, the right of pigs to build brick houses shall not be infringed. Would a reasonable person believe that if pigs live away from wolves they can be prohibited from building brick houses?)

After the introduction portion of §8, the rest of the section is devoted to how the Congress may procure the money to finance its various endeavors pursuant to the first part of the introduction and how to provide for the common defense and general welfare. The powers enumerated in the body effect the means for ensuring the successful defense with armies and a standing Navy as well as accommodating for the general welfare through such powers as establishing post offices and post roads, regulating the monetary system, the power to create a copyright regulatory system and others powers enumerated therein. Additionally, §9 follows up with a set of prohibitions relating directly to taxation (of various forms) and activities legislatures are wont to do that are detrimental to the general welfare (such as bills of attainder, ex post facto laws, and suspension of habeas corpus).

One reason the Federal Government has been diligently trying to redefine the term general welfare (not to mention the interstate commerce clause and the necessary and proper clause) for so long is the Tenth Amendment. Because the Tenth Amendment strictly forbids the Federal Government from exercising powers not specifically enumerated in Article 1, the only way to increase power is to invent enumerated powers. With a complicit Supreme Court, those pretended powers become real.

AX

Posted in Amendment X | Print | 1 Comment »