-Caveat Lector-
Pay No Attention to This Day
by Harry Browne
September 17, 2003
This day isnt important.
There are far more significant days in the year:
Labor Day, when we pretend to care about other peoples jobs while
frolicking at the beach.
Election Day, when we pretend were making a difference by voting.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Susan B. Anthony Day, when we
pretend to be politically correct.
Memorial Day, when we pretend that we live in a free country
because of all the people who were killed in the governments senseless
wars.
Flag Day, when we pretend the government is America.
Veterans Day (formerly Armistice Day, when we pretended that
World War I made the world safe for democracy).
National Teachers Day, when we pretend our children are getting
an education.
Earth Day, when we pretend that making the government more
powerful will make the environment cleaner.
United Nations Day, when we pretend to believe all those inane
statements about world peace.
Today doesnt seem to come anywhere near those days in importance.
You see, today is supposed to be Constitution Day. And no one really cares
about the Constitution anymore.
What It Was
The Constitution was supposed to spell out what government can do and what
it cant do. The governments few legal functions are listed in Article 1,
Section 8. It was a revolutionary document, in that no government in
history had ever had its duties and restrictions so carefully defined.
Despite frequent violations of the Constitution by the government, the
document did its job reasonably well for the first hundred years making
America the freest country in history.
As late as 1887, when Congress passed a bill providing federal relief to
drought-stricken Texas farmers, Grover Cleveland vetoed it, saying, "I can
find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution."
But that was about the last gasp for limited, Constitutional government.
Because the Constitution wasnt self-enforcing, it depended on the good
intentions of politicians something Thomas Jefferson specifically warned
against in 1798 when he said, "In questions of power, then, let no more be
heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains
of the Constitution."
Michael Cloud put it more succinctly in recent years: "The problem isnt
the abuse of power, its the power to abuse." So long as the politicians
have the power, theyll abuse it. And the Constitution was intended to
prevent the politicians from getting the power to abuse.
The Transformation
But by the end of the 1800s, too many Americans had lost their fear of
government and politicians. The introduction of government schools had
made it almost certain that most children would never learn the importance
of binding down government with the chains of the Constitution.
And so government was transformed in the public mind from a
necessary-but-dangerous evil into "the great fiction, through which
everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else," as Frdric
Bastiat described it.
More and more, the Constitution became a political toy, to be tossed
about, invoked, ignored, or misrepresented whatever suited a given
politicians agenda at any given moment.
The income tax amendment in 1913 hammered the final nail into the coffin
of limited, constitutional government. Now the politicians had not only
the authority, but also the unlimited revenue, to do whatever they wanted.
It seems very, very unlikely, for example, that Americans would have been
dragged into World War I if the government hadnt had the unlimited revenue
to finance it.
Even the Bill of Rights which eliminates all ambiguity by spelling out
specific things the government may not do was relegated to second place
behind the needs of politicians. By the first World War, the Supreme Court
had decided that the words "Congress shall make no law . . . " dont really
mean that "Congress shall make no law . . . " They mean only that the
government must have a "compelling interest" in doing something. Not
surprisingly, the government employees on the Court almost always decide
that the government does have a compelling interest.
Where Do We Go from Here?
Those conservatives who still care about the Constitution say that it
should be taught in the schools. As though government employees will
emphasize the original purpose of the Constitution in restraining
government. Instead, theyll give snap quizes on such weighty questions as
"How many years in a Senators term?" or "Who appoints the Supreme Court
justices?"
If the American people are to learn the importance of limited,
Constitutional government, we have to teach them ourselves.
But people arent interested in academic lectures on constitutional
government. Theyre far more interested in their own lives and rightly so.
Thats why repealing the federal income tax is our best tool. We can offer
them the reward of never paying income tax again in exchange for giving up
any unconstitutional federal programs.
The next time you want someone to understand the importance of the
Constitution, try approaching him this way . . .
If we repeal the federal income tax and yours is an average American
family, youll have at least $10,000 a year more to spend or invest. What
will you do with that money?
Will you put your children in a private school, where they can get
whatever kind of education you want for them?
Will you help your favorite cause or charity in a way youve never been
able to do before?
Will you start that business youve always wanted, plan a better
retirement, send your children to college?
All you have to do in return is to restrict the government to the
Constitution giving up whatever pittance unconstitutional government
provides to you personally.
If you try this, you may be surprised to find that the Constitution isnt
such a hard sell after all.
And maybe someday Constitution Day will mean something again.
Remember:More people have died in Ted Kennedy's car than have died in
United States Commercial Nuclear Power plant operations
visit my web site at
http://www.info-quest.org
Visit my energy page at http://www.info-quest.org/Energy.html
Check out the latest on the anwr drilling project http://www.anwr.org
visit my blog at
http://info-spectrum.blogspot.com
My ICQ# is 79071904
See the Pledge of alleginace to the flag that the 9th circuit court of
appeals doesn't want you to say.
for a precise list of the powers of the Federal Government linkto:
http://www.info-quest.org/Enumerated.html
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