The Constitution

If there is one thing that bugs me about politics more than anything else, it is that people don't seem to understand what the Constitution is, what is says, and who it even pertains to. I hear people say stuff all of the time like "freedom of speech, so I can say whatever I want". Well, no, you can't. Not if there are state or local laws against certain types of speech, like cussin' or what-have-you.

I'll try to keep this short, because entire college courses are taught on this subject. The United States Constitution is an agreement by the states as to what the Federal Government can and cannot do. Period. It does not limit the states and it most certainly does not limit the people. It spells out exactly what powers the federal government has and specifically what it cannot do (especially in the Bill of Rights) and leaves any other powers, even if they aren't mentioned, to the states and to the people. It is, in a nutshell, the procedure by which the federal government operates, and most importantly that which restricts what they can do to us.

So, by the U.S. Constitution, Congress shall make no law...against speech, against owning weapons, forcing the quartering of soldiers, etc, etc, etc. The constitution does not prohibit states from doing so though. States have their own constitutions that layout rights and powers. A state could be pretty authoritarian if they wanted to, but they would not be a popular place to live. This might explain the mass exodus from California, for example.

But, as the federal government is chock full of lawyers, they always find a way around the Constitution. Instead of making laws to control people, they pass regulations. Regulations are basically suggested guidelines and not laws. See, the Constitution does not give the federal government the right to classify a depression in your backyard that fills with water every time it rains as a protected wetland. So they use the EPA to make that a regulation and then tell states that "we suggest this, and if you do not adopt it within your laws, we will cut funding from something".

Tricky Dicks, eh? Which further supports my insistence that the only way to get the federal government back under control by the people is by taking away their ability to directly tax people and businesses.

Because the federal government gets their power from tax dollars, not the Constitution which was written expressly to limit their power.