Socialist Cut and Paste Logic [Part three]

The poster boy for MGLF thought in the media has got to be Lou Dobbs of CNN. I personally no longer watch CNN, simply because like most of its competitors it is filled with economic ignorance, political demagoguery, and Constitutional nonsense. I find this view to also be true to an extent at Fox news. When I am pursuing CNN.com, I do however read Lou Dobb’s commentaries. His latest required a lot of cut and paste logic.

Dobbs weighed in on the virtues of increasing the minimum wage. Forget the economic arguments which reveal the absolute fallacy of such a thing or the evidence, as I discussed in Part two. No, Dobbs put another spin on the whole matter. The minimum-wage legislation was an example of republicanism as explicitly stated in the Tenth Amendment. The only time a MGLF individual ever brings the Tenth Amendment into a discussion is as a point as to why individual rights or states rights are evil. After all in their interpretation of the Tenth Amendment, it gave individuals the Constitutional right to own slaves. The mere whisper of limited Federal powers as provided by this amendment will send a person of MGLF persuasion running for the scissors, glue, and a black and white photo of white robed individuals hanging a black man.

The Tenth Amendment of course gives no morality or legality to such. I am not going into a discussion concerning slavery and the Constitutional Convention; but I see no where in the Federalist Papers or the articles of the Anti-Federalist which interprets the Tenth Amendment as acknowledging the morality of slavery or allowing one to â??hang the black man.â? Jefferson considered the Tenth Amendment the most critical of all amendments. It specifically states that the powers given to the Federal government are only those which are enumerated; all others remain the powers of the states and the individuals. This meant that the states and their citizens were bound together under the principles of a confederation, not a federation. The ultimate check on Federal powers was the right of the states and individuals to break the agreement and secede.

How you go from this position as evidenced by the writings of the Founding Fathers to the preposterous logic of Lou Dobbs takes a lot of—cutting and pasting. The Tenth Amendment now is interpreted by the MGLF crowd as the process by where a number of states pass an idiotic law which pressures members of Congress to pass an identical idiotic law. So if some states want to jump off the proverbial cliff, then all the states are required to line up and jump off the cliff. Or as Forest Gump would say, stupid is as stupid does. Lou Dobbs

The Tenth amendment protected the individual states from having the laws of another state or states thrust upon them against their will by means of Federal legislation. It was the keystone of limited centralized government. Perhaps Mr. Dobbs and other MGLF persons would care to show the parts of the Constitution where the enumerated powers of the Federal government allow it to legislate a minimum wage, or dictate the standards for education, or set the prices of goods, or tax one individual and give the money to another, or a host of other items which constitute about 66% of the Federal government.

One of my favorite discussions about the Constitution was between radio talk show host Michael Medved and Senator Durbin of Illinois. The topic was the â??privacy clauseâ? and abortion. It was the through the â??privacy clauseâ? that the courts gave a Constitutional blessing to abortion. Medved argued that he could not find such a â??privacy clauseâ? anywhere in the Constitution. Durbin staunchly insisted that the clause existed and that Medved had overlooked it. Then Medved exclaimed that he had found it and was indeed wrong. He told Senator Durbin that the privacy clause could be found in Article VIII, section 3, clause 1 [I don't remember exactly the section and clause that was quoted]. At this point, Durbin triumphantly exclaimed his Constitutional knowledge. Then Medved let out a bombshell, you see the Constitution only contains SEVEN articles and the so-called â??privacy clause is no where to be found; at this moment, Senator Durbin abruptly hung-up!

Much of what the MGLF crowd interprets about the Constitution is clipped from imagination and the denial that the papers which our Founders wrote concerning the principles of republicanism simply do not state what in fact they do. One final note, I had a discussion with an individual not too long ago who is quite knowledgeable about the Constitution and politics. The question came up concerning the understanding of the Constitution by some of our local representatives, Kitty Rhodes and Shelia Harsdorf. The answer came with a smirk and simply stated, â??Not a thing.â?

Amendment 10 – Powers of the States and People
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

No related posts.