Spring Break
Demand nullification, dismiss federal laws
Seth Stern
Issue date: 4/24/09 Section: Opinion
I have one rule when interpreting how the nation was meant to function. Channel Thomas Jefferson, and all will be well.
The man credited with writing the majority of the Declaration of Independence -- who was a strict Constitutionalist, advocator of federalism and one of two men responsible for the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions -- was quite simply the man who best understood the path the nation needed in order to ensure its success.
James Madison and Jefferson are two men from our nation's past whose lessons carry a more profound impact with every passing day.
Throughout the history of our great nation, Congress, the Senate, the Supreme Court and the White House have repeatedly ignored the very clear intent of the Constitution -- a three-branched republic with power slightly tilted to Congress.
Before these transgressions began manifesting themselves in the form of increased taxes, growing bureaucracy, etc., Jefferson and Madison wrote the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions declaring the rights of states when the federal government overstepped its limits of jurisprudence - a.k.a. everything done by the federal government in the 20th century - to nullify federal laws.
Imagine the country we would live in today as if the federal government only provided that which the Constitution gives it permission to provide: no drug war, no income tax, no insurmountable deficit, no Patriot Act.
Why do we repeatedly elect people who wipe their feet on the Constitution? It seems we are stuck not between a rock and hard place, but between a manure truck and an organic fertilizer truck.
Liberals believe government is key to a better life -- more government equals better living. Conservatives meanwhile believe legislating morality is the correct path for the nation.
As a result, we have two groups of incompetent people arguing over which aspects of free people's lives their government should control. Hello? The answer to that moronic argument is none.
The man credited with writing the majority of the Declaration of Independence -- who was a strict Constitutionalist, advocator of federalism and one of two men responsible for the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions -- was quite simply the man who best understood the path the nation needed in order to ensure its success.
James Madison and Jefferson are two men from our nation's past whose lessons carry a more profound impact with every passing day.
Throughout the history of our great nation, Congress, the Senate, the Supreme Court and the White House have repeatedly ignored the very clear intent of the Constitution -- a three-branched republic with power slightly tilted to Congress.
Before these transgressions began manifesting themselves in the form of increased taxes, growing bureaucracy, etc., Jefferson and Madison wrote the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions declaring the rights of states when the federal government overstepped its limits of jurisprudence - a.k.a. everything done by the federal government in the 20th century - to nullify federal laws.
Imagine the country we would live in today as if the federal government only provided that which the Constitution gives it permission to provide: no drug war, no income tax, no insurmountable deficit, no Patriot Act.
Why do we repeatedly elect people who wipe their feet on the Constitution? It seems we are stuck not between a rock and hard place, but between a manure truck and an organic fertilizer truck.
Liberals believe government is key to a better life -- more government equals better living. Conservatives meanwhile believe legislating morality is the correct path for the nation.
As a result, we have two groups of incompetent people arguing over which aspects of free people's lives their government should control. Hello? The answer to that moronic argument is none.
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