The Founders of the United States of America built a government on a power base from the People. The Peoples' power of liberty was understood to be God-given, not government-granted. The People voluntarily cooperate to govern themselves mainly at local levels, then at State levels, and finally at Federal levels.
They rightfully distrusted distant Federal power, so they devised a rule book, the Constitution of the United States, to specify the basic relationship between the Federal government and the States' governments and the People. The design was to have a Federal government with strict boundaries around it; so, they allotted only a few designated powers to the Federal government with all other powers retained by the States and the People.
These designated powers are contained in Article I, Section 8, and there are only eighteen of them. The Federal Government is ONLY supposed to operate within those strictly limited powers. However, the last century in America has seen a massive move of the Federal Government outside of this box.
We must reform this relationship.
Welcome to eighteenpowers.org--Rediscovering the Founders' Design of Limited Government.
I’m struck by the tone of Obama’s speech at the recent Commencement at the University of Michigan, especially in light of his own record on (in)toleration of dissent. As the perfect politician, he takes a middle stance publicly, but then destroys dissent by any means necessary in private.
I fear the road ahead to a large degree. My fear is rooted from simple observation of an increasing polarity of worldviews in our country combined with the reality of our financial situation as a culture.
April 15th represents our responsibility to our government to cover the costs of her operation. Few will argue the necessity of her existence and few argue that she has potential to be good. Many argue to what degree she should impose herself on the labor and liberty of her citizens. But, this is nothing ..read more
Read THIS ARTICLE from the NYT’s Nicholas Kristof.
Many features of healthcare should function as a “public” service…like fire protection or police. Few would argue that trauma care or truly emergent care, like a heart attack or stroke, should be denied to anyone, regardless of ability to pay. So, why not fund it publicly and organize it publicly alongside “traditional” American medical care. Why must we pursue an “all or nothing” approach? Some of healthcare should be thought of as a public good, but some of it should be thought of as a consumer good. But, do it at the ..read more
Marked inflation in the prices of goods and services should be what we fear. Most economists with a brain will agree that true inflation is fundamentally an issue of the supply of money, not what happens to prices, which is what most consumers understand inflation to be.
Our money supply is controlled by the Federal Reserve, and Ben Bernanke is the director of the show there. In order to fight our recent economic burst bubble, Bernanke and the Fed have massively inflated our supply of money to attempt to re-inflate the bubble. The increase in our money supply in the last ..read more
Long live Switzerland.
I MUST provide a link to an article in the New York Times from this morning. My regular readers will be all too aware of my strong feelings towards individual liberty and privacy. But to hear it from a liberal European…and in the New York Times…oh my goodness.
