Honor the Constitution's limits

The terms of the Constitution originally were clear. Section 8 of Article I enumerates the exact powers the federal government, through Congress, can exercise - and, by doing so, excludes all other powers. As James Madison, the chief conceptualizer of the Constitution, wrote in Federalist 39, "the proposed government cannot be deemed a national one; since its jurisdiction extends to certain enumerated objects only, and leaves to the several states a residuary and inviolable sovereignty over all other objects." Madison wrote this before adoption of the 10th Amendment, which restates, "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution ... are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." This restriction of powers was intended to be the single greatest bulwark of American liberty.

My favorite Madison quote in light of our over regulated nation.

What prudent merchant will hazard his fortunes in any new branch of commerce when he knows not that his plans may be rendered unlawful before they can be executed?

Others.

All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.

All that seems indispensible in stating the account between the dead and the living, is to see that the debts against the latter do not exceed the advances made by the former.

Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.

And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.

Despotism can only exist in darkness, and there are too many lights now in the political firmament to permit it to remain anywhere, as it has heretofore done, almost everywhere.

Each generation should be made to bear the burden of its own wars, instead of carrying them on, at the expense of other generations.

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.

Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.

Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.

The class of citizens who provide at once their own food and their own raiment, may be viewed as the most truly independent and happy.

Wherever there is interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done.

Most probably agree. Certainly the Democrats first black President a Harvard man supposedly trained in Constitutional Law Ignores ,with the help of Congress and the Courts that niggling little detail called No person except a Natural Born Citizen shall be eligible for the Office... but then our mere politicians indeed the entire majority of Americans prefer ignorance of our fundamental law over compliance.

Incorrect. Unlike the Articles of Confederation, which limited the general government to "expressly delegated" powers, the Constitution contained implied powers. This was made plain in the Washington administration, during the debate over a National bank.

Hamilton argued that the Constitution included implied powers. President Washington and the Congress agreed. So did the Marshall court. Combine implied powers with Article 3 powers, and you have the leviathan we see today.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.