{"id":443813,"date":"2010-03-18T16:44:31","date_gmt":"2010-03-18T20:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/?p=32808"},"modified":"2010-03-18T16:44:31","modified_gmt":"2010-03-18T20:44:31","slug":"pulling-the-plug-on-our-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/443813","title":{"rendered":"Pulling the Plug on our Constitution"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_32809\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"width: 190px\"><strong> <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/papundits.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/03\/longwalkshotcliff2010-03-18-alexander.jpg\" ><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-32809 \" style=\"margin-left:5px;\" title=\"LongWalkShotCliff2010-03-18-alexander\" src=\"http:\/\/papundits.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/03\/longwalkshotcliff2010-03-18-alexander.jpg?w=180&#038;h=323\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"323\" \/><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Democrat Leadership<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:small;\"><strong><a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/alexander\/bio.asp\" >Alexande<\/a><a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/alexander\/bio.asp\" >r<\/a>&#8217;s Essay <\/strong><\/span><strong><a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/alexander\/bio.asp\" ><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;If the federal government should overpass the just  bounds of its authority and make a tyrannical use of its powers, the  people &#8230; must appeal to the standard they have formed, and take such  measures to redress the injury done to the Constitution as the exigency  may suggest and prudence justify.&#8221; &#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/document\/federalist-papers\/federalist-33\/\" >Federalist  No. 33<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Our Constitution is on <a href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/alexander\/2009\/10\/15\/our-constitution-is-on-life-support\" >life  support<\/a>, and House Democrats are about to pull the plug.<\/p>\n<p>Leaders of the Democrat Party (&#8220;Progressives&#8221; as they call  themselves, Leftists as we call them) have been unable to garner popular  or even Democrat Party support for their plan to socialize our health  care system. Fortunately, Republicans are united in their opposition to  this one issue.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/alexander\/2008\/04\/11\/obama-pathos-part-1-barack-who\" >Barack  Hussein Obama<\/a>, titular head of the Demos, proclaimed, &#8220;I want some  courage. I want us to do the right thing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi concludes, &#8220;Nobody wants to vote for  the Senate bill.&#8221;\u00a0\u00a0 &#8230;\u00a0\u00a0 <span id=\"more-32808\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>She is proposing to overtly circumvent our Constitution by way of the  &#8220;Slaughter Solution.&#8221; Rep. Louise Slaughter, chairman of the House  Rules Committee, proposes to pass legislation using the &#8220;self-executing  rule,&#8221; which will allow the House to accept the already-passed Senate  health care bill by presumption alone, thus negating a formal up-or-down  vote by House members.<\/p>\n<p>Pelosi confessed, &#8220;I like it because people don&#8217;t have to vote on the  Senate bill.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, there is precedent in invoking the &#8220;self-executing  rule&#8221; &#8212; by Republicans, no less &#8212; concerning &#8220;mundane&#8221; legislation  agreed to by House leaders of both parties. Unconstitutional as these  precedents are, there is nothing &#8220;mundane&#8221; about ObamaCare.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Slaughter&#8221; and &#8220;self-executing&#8221; may describe both the process and  the electoral future of many Democrats in the House.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the Leftist-controlled political and popular debate about the  Democrat proposal to turn over to the central government control of  more than 17 percent of the U.S. economy, is focused on one question or  another &#8212; what will it cost or save, who will pay and who won&#8217;t, who  will be covered and for what, will there be enough physicians to support  this in 10 years, will federal funds be used for abortion, can our  economy afford another trillion dollar boondoggle, does it really  address the entitlement cost tsunami we&#8217;re facing, <em>ad infinitum<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>These might be interesting topics for debate, but none are germane.<\/p>\n<p>The only relevant debate must begin with <a href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/alexander\/2010\/03\/11\/when-debating-a-liberal-start-with-first-principles\" >First  Principles<\/a>, our Constitution and Rule of Law.<\/p>\n<p>Does our Constitution allow the Executive and Legislative branches to  collaborate to confer authority upon the federal government over, in  this case, so-called &#8220;health care reform&#8221;?<\/p>\n<p>Those who laid the Foundation of our Constitution were crystal clear  about its enumeration of both the authority and limits upon the central  government.<\/p>\n<p>James Madison, our Constitution&#8217;s primary author, wrote, &#8220;The powers  delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few  and defined [and] will be exercised principally on external objects, as  war, peace, negotiation and foreign commerce.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Madison continued, &#8220;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, subject to particular exceptions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>(And regarding all those &#8220;exemptions&#8221; and &#8220;exceptions&#8221; for members of  Congress, I draw your attention to James Madison&#8217;s words in <em>Federalist<\/em> No. 57: &#8220;If this spirit shall ever be so far debased as to tolerate a  law not obligatory on the legislature, as well as on the people, the  people will be prepared to tolerate any thing but liberty.&#8221;)<\/p>\n<p>Thomas Jefferson asserted: &#8220;[G]iving [Congress] a distinct and  independent power to do any act they please which may be good for the  Union, would render all the preceding and subsequent enumerations of  power completely useless. It would reduce the whole [Constitution] to a  single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever  would be for the good of the United States; and as sole judges of the  good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please.  Certainly, no such universal power was meant to be given them. [The  Constitution] was intended to lace them up straightly within the  enumerated powers and those without which, as means, these powers could  not be carried into effect.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Clearly, our Constitution, does <em>not<\/em> authorize Congress to  nationalize health care, anymore than it authorizes Congress to do most  of what it does today.<\/p>\n<p>That notwithstanding, Obama and his Leftist cadres in the House and  Senate are moving forward with their endeavor to inflict socialized  medicine upon the United States.<\/p>\n<p>They have again, one and all, abandoned their oaths to &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/alexander\/2008\/11\/14\/our-sacred-honor-to-support-and-defend\" >support  and defend<\/a>&#8221; our Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>Democrat &#8220;leaders&#8221; have all been questioned about constitutional  authority, and have <a href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/alexander\/2009\/10\/29\/nobody-questions-that\" >uniformly  asserted<\/a> that the question is irrelevant.<\/p>\n<p>Typical of their non-responses was this indignant question from  Speaker Pelosi: &#8220;Are you serious? Are you serious?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Such utter contempt for our Constitution explains why Democrats  refuse to support any measure to cite constitutional authority for  legislation. For example, the Enumerated Powers Act (HR 1359) would  require that &#8220;Each Act of Congress shall contain a concise and definite  statement of the constitutional authority relied upon for the enactment  of each portion of that Act,&#8221; but for years, insurmountable obstacles  have prevented passage of HR 1359 &#8212; and you know who they are.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div id=\"attachment_32821\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"width: 310px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/papundits.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/03\/democracydenied_10-03-18-alexander-full.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-32821 \" style=\"margin-right:5px;\" title=\"DemocracyDenied_10-03-18-alexander-full\" src=\"http:\/\/papundits.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/03\/democracydenied_10-03-18-alexander-full.jpg?w=300&#038;h=382\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"382\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Circumventing Rule of Law (Click ^ for larger version)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>As for the Slaughter Solution, Article 1 Section 7 of the U.S.  Constitution stipulates, &#8220;Every Bill which shall have passed the House  of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be  presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall  sign it, but if not he shall return it, and that in all such Cases the  Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names  of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the  Journal of each House respectively.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Typical of Republican protests about this effort to evade the  Constitution&#8217;s prescription for passage of legislation, Rep. Thaddeus  McCotter (R-MI) called the ruse &#8220;the acme of arrogance&#8221; and the  &#8220;shredding the U.S. Constitution.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, more than a few Republicans have dabbled in such  unconstitutional chicanery. Thus, I am reminded of the admonition  regarding hypocrisy in Matthew 7:4-5. In contemporary terms, Republicans  must first demonstrably abide by First Principles before calling on  Democrats to do the same.<\/p>\n<p>The only silver lining to this cloud: If Democrats pass ObamaCare,  every medical complaint by a Democrat constituent will be hung around  their necks.<\/p>\n<p>Fellow Patriots, stand firm for <a href=\"http:\/\/essentialliberty.us\/about\/introduction\/\" >Essential Liberty<\/a> for <a href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/alexander\/2009\/07\/02\/we-still-hold-these-truths\" >we  still hold these Truths<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Read more informative articles at <a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/\" >The Patriot Post<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Filed under: <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/111th-congress\/'>111th Congress<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/democrats\/barry-soetoro-aka-barack-hussein-obama\/'>Barry Soetoro (aka Barack Hussein Obama)<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/blogs-in-support-of-our-constitution\/'>Blogs in Support of Our Constitution<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/conniving-politicians\/'>Conniving Politicians<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/us-government\/constitution\/'>Constitution<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/democrats\/demo-gogues-democrats-politics\/'>Demo-gogues<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/democracy\/'>Democracy<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/democrats\/house-speaker-nancy-pelosi\/'>House Speaker Nancy Pelosi<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/liberals\/'>Liberals<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/marxists\/'>Marxists<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/news-and-views\/'>News and Views<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/political-prostitutes\/'>Political Prostitutes<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/politicians-for-the-destruction-of-america\/'>Politicians for the Destruction of America<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/democrats\/senate-majority-leader-harry-reid\/'>Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid<\/a> Tagged: <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/tag\/annie\/'>Annie<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/tag\/rep-louise-slaughter-d-ny\/'>Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY)<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/tag\/the-patriot-post\/'>The Patriot Post<\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/gocomments\/papundits.wordpress.com\/32808\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/comments\/papundits.wordpress.com\/32808\/\" \/><\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/godelicious\/papundits.wordpress.com\/32808\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/delicious\/papundits.wordpress.com\/32808\/\" \/><\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/gostumble\/papundits.wordpress.com\/32808\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/stumble\/papundits.wordpress.com\/32808\/\" \/><\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/godigg\/papundits.wordpress.com\/32808\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/digg\/papundits.wordpress.com\/32808\/\" \/><\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/goreddit\/papundits.wordpress.com\/32808\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/reddit\/papundits.wordpress.com\/32808\/\" \/><\/a> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/stats.wordpress.com\/b.gif?host=papundits.wordpress.com&#038;blog=174708&#038;post=32808&#038;subd=papundits&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democrat Leadership Alexander&#8217;s Essay &#8220;If the federal government should overpass the just bounds of its authority and make a tyrannical use of its powers, the people &#8230; must appeal to the standard they have formed, and take such measures to redress the injury done to the Constitution as the exigency may suggest and prudence justify.&#8221; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4200,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-443813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443813\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}