
 |
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon With its colorful cache of purples and oranges and reds, COLLARD GREEN SLAW is a marvelous mood booster --- not to mention just downright delish
April 18, 2014
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Clarifying one of the greatest philosophical conundrums in theology
John Ericson: Trying hard to be 'positive' but never succeeding? Blame Your Brain
The Kosher Gourmet by Julie Rothman Almondy, flourless torta del re (Italian king's cake), has royal roots, is simple to make, . . . but devour it because it's simply delicious
April 14, 2014
Rabbi Dr Naftali Brawer: Passover frees us from the tyranny of time
Eric Schulzke: First degree: How America really recovered from a murder epidemic
Georgia Lee: When love is not enough: Teaching your kids about the realities of adult relationships
Gordon Pape: How you can tell if your financial adviser is setting you up for potential ruin
Dana Dovey: Up to 500,000 people die each year from hepatitis C-related liver disease. New Treatment Has Over 90% Success Rate
Justin Caba: Eating Watermelon Can Help Control High Blood Pressure
April 11, 2014
Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Silence is much more than golden
Susan Swann: How to value a child for who he is, not just what he does
Susan Scutti: A Simple Blood Test Might Soon Diagnose Cancer
Chris Weller: Have A Slow Metabolism? Let Science Speed It Up For You
April 9, 2014
Jonathan Tobin: Why Did Kerry Lie About Israeli Blame?
Samuel G. Freedman: A resolution 70 years later for a father's unsettling legacy of ashes from Dachau
Jessica Ivins: A resolution 70 years later for a father's unsettling legacy of ashes from Dachau
Matthew Mientka: How Beans, Peas, And Chickpeas Cleanse Bad Cholesterol and Lowers Risk of Heart Disease
April 8, 2014
Dana Dovey: Coffee Drinkers Rejoice! Your Cup Of Joe Can Prevent Death From Liver Disease
Chris Weller: Electric 'Thinking Cap' Puts Your Brain Power Into High Gear
April 4, 2014
Amy Peterson: A life of love: How to build lasting relationships with your children
John Ericson: Older Women: Save Your Heart, Prevent Stroke Don't Drink Diet
John Ericson: Why 50 million Americans will still have spring allergies after taking meds
Sarah Boesveld: Teacher keeps promise to mail thousands of former students letters written by their past selves
April 2, 2014
Dan Barry: Should South Carolina Jews be forced to maintain this chimney built by Germans serving the Nazis?
Frank Clayton: Get happy: 20 scientifically proven happiness activities
Susan Scutti: It's Genetic! Obesity and the 'Carb Breakdown' Gene
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Feb. 11, 2009 / 17 Shevat 5769
The Hell with Our Constitution
By
Walter Williams
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Dr. Robert Higgs, senior fellow at the Oakland-based Independent
Institute, penned an article in The Christian Science Monitor (2/9/2009)
that suggests the most intelligent recommendation that I've read to fix
our current economic mess. The title of his article gives his
recommendation away: "Instead of stimulus, do nothing seriously."
Stimulus package debate is over how much money should be spent, whether
some should given to the National Endowment for the Arts, research
sexually transmitted diseases or bail out Amtrak, our failing railroad
system. Dr. Higgs says, "Hardly anyone, however, is asking the most
important question: Should the federal government be doing any of this?"
He adds, "Until the 1930s, the Constitution served as a major constraint
on federal economic interventionism. The government's powers were
understood to be just as the framers intended: few and explicitly
enumerated in our founding document and its amendments. Search the
Constitution as long as you like, and you will find no specific
authority conveyed for the government to spend money on global-warming
research, urban mass transit, food stamps, unemployment insurance,
Medicaid, or countless other items in the stimulus package and, even
without it, in the regular federal budget."
By bringing up the idea of constitutional restraints on Washington, I'd
say Dr. Higgs is whistling Dixie. Americans have long ago abandoned
respect for the constitutional limitations placed on the federal
government. Our elected representatives represent that disrespect. After
all I'd ask Higgs: Isn't it unreasonable to expect a politician to do
what he considers to be political suicide, namely conduct himself
according to the letter and spirit of the Constitution?
While Americans, through ignorance or purpose, show contempt for our
Constitution, I doubt whether they are indifferent between a growing or
stagnating economy. Dr. Higgs tells us some of the economic history of
the U.S. In 1893, there was a depression; we got out of it without a
stimulus package. There was a major recession of 1920-21; though sharp,
it quickly reversed itself into what has been call the "Roaring
Twenties." In 1929, there was an economic downturn, most notably
featured by the stock market collapse, after which came massive
government intervention you might call it the nation's first stimulus
package. President Hoover and Congress responded to what might have been
a two- or three-year sharp downturn with many of the policies President
Obama and Congress are urging today. They raised tariffs, propped up
wage rates, bailed out farmers, banks and other businesses, and financed
state relief efforts. When Roosevelt came to office, he became even more
interventionist than Hoover and presided over protracted depression
where the economy didn't fully recover until 1946.
Roosevelt didn't have an easy time with his agenda; he had to first
emasculate the U.S. Supreme Court. Higgs points out that federal courts
had respect for the Constitution as late as the 1930s. They issued some
1,600 injunctions to restrain officials from carrying out acts of
Congress. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned as unconstitutional the New
Deal's centerpieces such as the National Industrial Recovery Act and the
Agricultural Adjustment Act and other parts of Roosevelt's "stimulus
package." An outraged Roosevelt threatened to pack the Court, and the
Court capitulated to where it is today giving Congress virtually
unlimited powers to tax, spend and regulate. My question to my fellow
Americans is: Do we want a repeat of measures that failed dismally
during the 1930s?
A more fundamental question is: Should Washington be guided by the
Constitution? In explaining the Constitution, James Madison, the
acknowledged father of the Constitution, wrote in Federalist Paper 45:
"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal
government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State
governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised
principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign
commerce." Has the Constitution been amended to permit Congress to tax,
spend and regulate as it pleases or have Americans said, "To hell with
the Constitution"?
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.
|
|
Columnists
Toons
Lifestyles
|