E-Newsletter No. 28 _____ April 2016

Last month we put forward a radical idea – – the federal government should stop trying to assume all of the roles that properly reside with the states, or with civil society, or with the individual. The Tenth Amendment in the Bill of Rights states that The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. Our Editorial Board believes the federal government should re-focus its attention towards its responsibilities that were specified in the US Constitution.

However, the Progressives’ agenda is that the federal government should grow to assume whatever responsibility(s) the federal government deems that it should have. So the real question becomes, what is the proper role of the federal government? We have included the following link to the applicable section of the US Constitution (Article 1, Section 8) that lists the responsibilities of the federal government.

http://www.f2ppr.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/The-US-Constitution-Article-1-Section-8.pdf

As you read through the list, it is readily apparent that there is one common theme – the federal government’s primary role is one of protection – to protect the general welfare of the country as a whole, and to protect the rights of the country’s citizens.

The first sentence sets forth the responsibility to provide for the common defense of the country. Section 8 goes on to make references to the country’s army, navy, militias, forts, arsenals, and dockyards.

The federal government’s responsibilities also include establishing tribunals (courts) to protect the citizens’ rights.

The specific language that was used by the Founders is interesting to note – for example, “To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” Again, the role of the government is to protect the rights of individual citizens. This sentence does not say that the federal government has the responsibility to make progress in science and the useful arts (although the supporters of the Progressive agenda would disagree).

It should be noted that our Editorial Board does disagree with one of the responsibilities that was originally listed in the Constitution – – it is time to privatize the US Post Office. There is no longer any reason for the federal government to run the Post Office (and lose billions of dollars each year while it mis-manages what is essentially a business operation).

The government is also responsible for providing punishment for any counterfeiting of the country’s currency. The government needs to protect the value of our currency (and it shouldn’t debase the value of our currency by borrowing $19 trillion of debt to be repaid by future generations).

The federal government is also responsible “To regulate commerce with foreign nations.” As we have noted elsewhere on our website, our Editorial Board believes the focus of the federal government should be directed outwards – – towards our country’s relationships with other countries around the world. Unfortunately, the liberal / progressive agenda serves to distract the attention of the federal government away from this fundamental role, and instead distracts the federal government with a focus on “internal” domestic issues that should be dealt with by the states, civil society, families, or by the people themselves (i.e., personal responsibilities). Common Sense tells us that these self-evident truths are just as true today as they were back in 1776.

US Debt Clock – – March 1st – $58,980 per citizen / April 1st – $59,420