Tag: Founding Fathers

Oct 15 2010

Section 8

The Constitution of the United States — Section. 8

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

[emphasis added]

Congress is suppose to raise Taxes —

To provide for the general Welfare.

It’s in the Constitution!

Looks like the Congress can clap down on Foreign Trade too —

Hmmm?   I wonder if the includes “the exporting of Jobs” too?

Outsourcing effects the “general Welfare” too,  right?

(It’s hard to “be well” — without a Job.)

Jul 05 2010

George Orwell and Howard Zinn on Nationalism

Crossposted at Daily Kos

Writing in 1945 in his remarkable essay Notes on Nationalism, author George Orwell noted the following distinction between patriotism and nationalism

Nationalism is not to be confused with patriotism.  Both words are normally used in so vague a way that any definition is liable to be challenged, but one must draw a distinction between them, since two different and even opposing ideas are involved.  By “patriotism” I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force on other people.  Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power.  The abiding purpose of every nationalist is to secure more power and more prestige, not for himself but for the nation or other unit in which he has chosen to sink his own individuality.

— Author and journalist George Orwell

May 20 2010

Let’s Get Fundamental

“The generation that made the nation thought secrecy in government one of the instruments of Old World tyranny and committed itself to the principle that a democracy cannot function unless the people are permitted to know what their government is up to.”

—Henry Steele Commager

I took that quote from a recent posting by Bruce Fein on the Libertarian site of the The Future of Freedom Foundation. Commager was a great influence on me as a young student and Fein is a hero of mine. Fine delights me, not because I share his POV completely but because he is one of those rare creatures that do exist in Washington–a decent and honorable man of principle. Fein and other libertarians like him believe in a kind of Constitutional fundamentalism. They believe in limited government, of course, but they believe that the separation of powers is fundamental to a relatively free society. The Founders were intelligent students of political science and had, unlike most people today who write about politics, read the classics. Reading the classics makes one skeptical of mankind and governing systems. So the Founders devised a system that was somewhat inefficient but insured political stability. One of the chief means of doing that was to put the power of the purse and or war squarely in the hands of Congress which is closest to the people.  

Sep 25 2009

Glenn Beck praises SLAVERY! Ye Gods, man!

Crossposted at Daily Kos

    Beck’s new book “Arguing on behalf of with Idiots” is a real gem, which includes this piece where Beck explains why SLAVERY is good and Uhmerican, just like the Founding Fathers wanted it.

    Provision Beck praised actually “barred Congress from ending the international slave trade before 1808.”

    Beck praises “Migration or Importation” tax provision in taking cheap shot at “immigrants.” In the chapter, Beck reprints and then praises Article I, Section 9, Clause 1 of the Constitution. Beck specifically highlights in yellow the phrase “ten dollars for each person”:

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from page 278 “Aguing with Idiots”

mediamatters.org

    Oh, and by gem, I mean AssNugget

More below the fold  

Aug 27 2009

Teabaggers And “The Most Dangerous System in America”

Much has been made by teabaggers in the healthcare debate that we need to “return to the country our founders envisioned”. With all due respect to the founders who – as Enlightenment thinkers – got a lot of things right, this would be like asking Henry VIII for relationship advice.

Aug 22 2009

We would have a King if the Founding Fathers were Neo-Cons

Crossposted at Daily Kos and progressiveelectorate.com

   

    Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past    ~ George Orwell, 1984

    In the face of the revisionist historians on the right who would have you believe that Jesus was more important to the founding and building of America than our founding fathers, or that our founding fathers were in some way actually Religious and Fiscal Conservatives, I submit this theory for your approval.

The founding fathers were progressives

The Tories who supported the King of England were Conservatives.

If the Founding Fathers were Conservatives, we would still have a King.

    Conservatives are never revolutionary, not unless that revolution is intended to halt progress and go backwards to the natural state of power in a nation.

    Thus, conservatives conserve power and progressives seek change and progress.

more below the fold