I would like to step away from writing about the constitution for a minute and talk about the Cap and Trade bill. It was recently slammed through congress by a very narrow margin under the guise of the salvation of our Earth. I’ve just finished printing the bill to PDF and will be writing about it for the next few days. Please come back to see more.
“The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.
The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.
No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
(No capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.) (Section in parentheses clarified by the 16th Amendment.)
No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.
No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.
No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State.”
Interestingly enough this section is called the limits on congress. The congress was setup as the true representative body of the people of the United States. The idea was that with regular elections and proximity of relationship, members in congress would be subject to the wishes of the people. As such; however, the people and the congress need limits. It is clear today that the congress has decided to pursue its own course. Why does congress believe that their agenda is better than that desired by the silent majority.
So let’s break down some of the language defined in this article. First and foremost is the mentioning of habeas corpus. Habeas corpus is the right of individual to a trial. To not just be locked up forever. Also interestingly enough it may be suspended under the constitution if there is a concern for public safety or the concern over rebellion. We currently face the question with the prisoners at Guantanamo, as to whether or not they deserve the right to appear before a judge. The argument may be made that as we are in a time of war, and they are considered the adversary, they do not deserve to receive time before a judge. As a counter argument, you may consider that many of these individuals were picked up haphazardly in the early days of the war in Afghanistan, when it was truly unclear who was an enemy and who was not. I personally believe that these individuals should not be brought into the United States to appear before our justice system, but rather they should be subject to a military trial in accordance with the Geneva Convention.
The next set of limitations primarily focus on interstate commerce. There was a lot of concern during the formation of the constitution that state’s rights be preserved. However, the members of the constitutional convention also recognized the need to have unity among the states. By requiring states to engage in commerce freely between each other, this forced them to also remember to stay united. Obviously the states faced serious challenges in the 1800’s at staying united, and I believe that there will continue to be challenges. One particular challenge is the concern that some of the more fiscally conservative states face when looking at their more liberal counterparts. For example, California is suffering from significant budget short-falls, and has pleaded for federal assistance. However, when carefully considered, federal assistance is truly assistance from other states, who have been more careful with the tax dollars received and spent. I believe that Californians must accept the hard reality that is inadequate funds. Our nation must also recognize that money doesn’t grow on trees and if we are not careful we will soon find ourselves in a place we never wanted to be.
I will continue this discussion in the next post.
“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.”
It is impressive the rights that the constitution gave to congress. I believe that it is because the founders recognized that congress was attached to the people. Congress would be established by the people within a state, and therefore would more easily follow the demands of their state. By granting this power to congress the founders were effectively saying, “We Believe in the American People”.
The author believes in the American people too! I believe that the normal American is freedom loving, loves their family, and has a desire to make the world around them a better place. I think we all fall into the fallacies of human kind but that does not mean that we aren’t good people. That is why I think we need to stick to the intent and word of the constitution, which ensures that the power of government is wrested on the people of the country. Granted this does not mean that majority should always rule as discussed in a previous post, but rather that the laws should allow good people to have their freedom, and that laws should protect the people not inhibit them.
“The Boston Tea Party was a direct action protest by colonists in Boston, a town in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the British government. On December 16, 1773, after officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor. The incident remains an iconic event of American history, and has often been referenced in other political protests.” - Wikipedia
I love to fly. I even enjoy going to the airport just to see the airplanes take off. Airplanes are amazing engineering feats. They take us safely, thousands of miles and manage to arrive within minutes of their planned time. Airplanes rely on global navigation systems to determine the direction and speed they need to go, to accomplish this amazing task. However, pilots and airplanes make mistakes, for example:
“In 1979 a large passenger jet with 257 people on board left New Zealand for a sightseeing flight to Antarctica and back. Unknown to the pilots, however, someone had modified the flight coordinates by a mere two degrees. This error placed the aircraft 28 miles (45 km) to the east of where the pilots assumed they were. As they approached Antarctica, the pilots descended to a lower altitude to give the passengers a better look at the landscape. Although both were experienced pilots, neither had made this particular flight before, and they had no way of knowing that the incorrect coordinates had placed them directly in the path of Mount Erebus, an active volcano that rises from the frozen landscape to a height of more than 12,000 feet (3,700 m).
As the pilots flew onward, the white of the snow and ice covering the volcano blended with the white of the clouds above, making it appear as though they were flying over flat ground. By the time the instruments sounded the warning that the ground was rising fast toward them, it was too late. The airplane crashed into the side of the volcano, killing everyone on board.” See Source
Just a few degrees altered the fate of all of those on board of this flight. Truly this was an historic tragedy for New Zealand and a powerful lesson to us all.
Over the last 200 years, events have occurred in our nation that have altered the course of history a few degrees this way and that way. Some of these changes have led to great improvement in the way of life for so many citizens. Some have led to tragedy and death.
The tea parties set for tomorrow April 15 might be one of those events. If you would like to learn more about these tea parties go to http://www.teapartyday.com/
From The Political and Financial Markets Commentator
The Obama Administration Has Faced Its First Test And Failed
I have been talking about this announced North Korean missile test ad infinitum, and it has now taken place. The North Koreans, in the face of international demands not to fire this missile test/satellite, have done it anyway. The Obama administration has come out over the past few weeks saying that the test should not be done as it is in direct violation of specific U.N. resolutions. I suppose that North Korea was not impressed by that argument.
In the same way that countries like Iran will not abide by any resolutions from this anemic body, neither will North Korea. If the U.N. is to be the basis for our foreign policy actions and decisions, we are in trouble. Face to face talks and signed treaties are all great as well if it comes to that, but the overriding problem is that despite any public relations benefits these talks may have, you still need both parties to any agreements to follow them. And we all know that is not the case.
In any event, here are some excerpts from the President and the State Department concerning this missile firing:
President Barack Obama said North Korea should refrain from further provocative actions after that nation’s government made good on their promise to launch a long-range rocket.
“I urge North Korea to abide fully by the resolutions of the U.N. Security Council,” the president said as the council approved an emergency session Sunday to deal with North Korea’s rocket launch.
North Korea will not find acceptance in the international community “unless it abandons its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction,” Obama said.
Obama called North Korea’s latest act a clear violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718, which prohibits North Korea from conducting ballistic missile-related activities of any kind. The Security Council adopted the 2006 resolution five days after North Korea conducted a test of a nuclear weapon.
“North Korea has ignored its international obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint and further isolated itself from the community of nations,” Obama said.
The president’s statement came from Prague, the Czech Republic, where the president was to make a speech Sunday on nuclear proliferation.
The United States will take “appropriate steps to let North Korea know that it cannot threaten the safety and security of other countries with impunity,” said State Department spokesman Fred Lash.
Rep. Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the launch would raise tensions unnecessarily.
“It is alarming that North Korea carried out this missile launch in direct defiance of the international community,” said the California Democrat. “The test is an unnecessary provocation that raises tensions in the region, and I urge the North Koreans to stop using their missile and WMD programs to threaten their neighbors and the rest of the world.”(Daily News)
We hopefully have some more tricks up our sleeves than just rhetoric.