
 |
|
Nov. 6, 2009
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How
to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Nov. 5, 2009
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking
Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker
With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater?
With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change
With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 30, 2009
Oct. 29, 2009
JWisdom.com We Must Revamp our
Religious Vocabulary With Gavriel Aryeh Sanders ( 10 minutes)
Oct. 28, 2009
JWisdom.com Why what we wear
impacts who we are
With Rabbis Mordechai Becher, Menachem Golberger and Aliza Bulow ( 10 minutes)
Oct. 27, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The United Nations Is Outraged Again, Or: Department of Mideast Static
JWisdom.com The Science of Love
With Rabbi Jonathan Rietti ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 26, 2009
JWisdom.com Wisdom and Wonks
With Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 23, 2009
JWisdom.com Watermark and oneness
with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 4 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick Stop using limited powers in a way that expands our enemies' advantages over us
Oct. 22, 2009
JWisdom.com No More More Family Fights --- Really?
By Sarah Chana Radcliffe ( 5 minutes)
Oct. 21, 2009
Tonya Alanez: Holocaust denier sues survivor, calling Auschwitz memoir 'vicious lies'
JWisdom.com Meditating Jewishly: A
Panacea for Success by Sarah Yoheved Rigler ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 20, 2009
Dennis Prager: Obama and Dalai Lama: Why Israel Worries about U.S. President
JWisdom.com Abraham was not religious
By Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer ( 6 minutes)
Oct. 19, 2009
JWisdom.comWhy Good People Do Bad Things
By Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 16, 2009
JWisdom.com Hearing Voices
By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 minutes)
Oct. 15, 2009
JWisdom.com: Former MTV producer and stand-up comedian Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff: Taming a Control Freak (A VERY fast 15 minutes)
|
| |
Jewish World Review
March 11, 2009 / 15 Adar 5769
Good Ideas
By
Walter Williams
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
During winter months, I work out 10 minutes on the treadmill and
lift weights at seven stations four mornings a week. Over the years, during
the spring through fall months, I racked up about 2,000 miles on my road
bike. This level of exercise helps account for why, at 73 years, I'm in such
good health and physical fitness. So my question to you is whether you think
regular exercise is a good idea. I think the answer is definitely yes, if
nothing other than its beneficial effects on health care costs. Since
exercise is a good idea, would you support a congressional mandate that all
Americans engage in regular exercise?
Instead of simply saying, "Williams, you're a lunatic!" and
rejecting such a congressional mandate out of hand, let's ask why it should
be rejected. We should keep in mind that there's precedent for
congressionally mandated measures to protect our health and safety. Seatbelt
and helmet laws are examples. If you're in an accident and wind up a
vegetable, you will be a burden on taxpayers; therefore, it's argued,
Congress has a right to mandate seatbelt and helmet usage. Wouldn't the same
reasoning apply to people who might burden our health care system because of
obesity or sedentary lifestyles? If it is a good idea for Congress to force
us to buckle up and wear a helmet on a motorcycle, isn't it also a good idea
to force us to regularly exercise?
There is only one question to ask were there to be a debate
whether Congress should mandate regular exercise. Whether regular exercise
is a good idea or a bad idea is entirely irrelevant. The only relevant
question is: Is it permissible under the Constitution? That means we must
examine the Constitution to see whether it authorizes Congress to mandate
exercise. From my reading, the Constitution grants no such authority.
You say, "Aha, Williams, you've blown it this time. What about
Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, which says Congress shall provide
for the 'general welfare of the United States.'? Surely, healthy Americans
contribute to the nation's general welfare." That's precisely the response
I'd expect from your average law professor, congressman or derelict U.S.
Supreme Court justice. Let's look at what the men who wrote the Constitution
had to say about its general welfare clause. In a letter to Edmund
Pendleton, James Madison, the father of the Constitution, said, "If Congress
can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote
the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing
enumerated powers, but an indefinite one ..." Madison also said, "With
respect to the two words "general welfare," I have always regarded them as
qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a
literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution
into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its
creators." Thomas Jefferson said, "Congress has not unlimited powers to
provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated."
If you compare the vision of our nation's founders to the
behavior of today's Congress, White House and U.S. Supreme Court, you would
have to conclude that there is no longer rule of law where there is a set of
general rules applicable to all persons. Today, we are commanded by
legislative thugs who, with Supreme Court sanction, issue orders commanding
particular people to do particular things. Most Americans neither understand
nor appreciate the spirit and letter of the Constitution and accept
Congress' arbitrary orders and privileges based upon status.
What to do? Thomas Jefferson advised, "Whensoever the General
(federal) Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are
unauthoritative, void, and of no force." That bit of Jeffersonian advice is
dangerous. While Congress does not have constitutional authority for most of
what it does, it does have police and military power to inflict great pain
and punishment for disobedience.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Walter Williams Archives
© 2006, Creators Syndicate.
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Michael Barone
Dave Barry
Tony Blankley
Andy Borowitz
David Broder
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
John Fund
Frank J. Gaffney
Lloyd Garver
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Lewis Grossberger
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Laura Ingraham
Cheri Jacobus Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ed Koch
Ch. Krauthammer
Michael Ledeen
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Dick Morris
Bill O'Reilly
Jim Mullen
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Jonathan Rauch
Celia Rivenbark
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Pat Sajak
Debra J. Saunders
Culture Shlock
Roger Simon
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
Lisa Benson
John Branch
Gary Brookins
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holber
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Ranan R. Lurie
Jimmy Margulies
Rick McKee
Michael Ramirez
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Ed Stein
Danna Summers
John Trever
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters

How 2
Lori Borgman
The Savvy Consumer
Elder matters
Fixit
Dr. Peter Gott
GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko
Richard Lederer
Tech Maven
Every Monday Matters
Nutrition Myths
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
How Stuff Works
|