The tenth doesn't give much leeway. We strayed greatly and long ago. On Fri, Feb 19, 2010 at 12:31 PM, b_s-wilk <[email protected]> wrote:
> We, the people, are the government of the United States. >>> >> >> >> Yes, that's the way it is **supposed** to be. But it isn't, really. The >> federal government does all sorts of extra-constitutional things, and gets >> away with it. Who is doing anything about it? >> >> > Fred, > > The US Constitution gives a lot of leeway for interpretation, starting with > the preamble: > > "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, > establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common > defense, 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." > > Promoting the general welfare and securing the blessings of liberty covers > much of our investment in science, R&D, social programs, elaborated in > Article I, Section 8, beginning with: > > "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..." > > The extra-Constitutional things that have led to the huge debt and deficits > are off-budget wars, secret funds for secret programs, not the tiny fraction > of our budget that goes to infrastructure like broadband and cellular > communications. > > The government investment in infrastructure is an important part of > promoting the general welfare--for both people and businesses. Crumbling > infrastructure and citizens with poor health and limited means of > communication leads to loss of liberty--the antithesis of promoting the > general welfare. > > The "common defense" depends intrinsically on the health of the people and > the infrastructure. > > > Betty > > > ************************************************************************* > ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** > ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** > ************************************************************************* > ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
