BarkleUSA
04-19-2008, 08:21 AM
Imagine if we could benefit from the wisdom of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams in a Q&A discussion.
http://history-resources.com/fd/images/founding_fathers.gif
“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”
-Benjamin Franklin
For the benefit of our liberal guests that seem confused as to the intended role of the Federal Government I offer the following Q&A. The Questions are ones I hear a lot of liberals asking these days and the answers are provided by our founding fathers.
Q: In the US Constitution, isn't it the role of government to "provide for the general welfare"?
A: “Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.”
-Thomas Jefferson
Q: Shouldn't the Democratic Congress be able to supeona the private papers of the Executive branch (POTUS) in order to fish for evidense of wrong doing?
A: “An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others.”
-James Madison, Federalist No. 58, February 20, 1788
Q: Doesn't the government have a right to take private property to preserve wetlands, protect snail darters and spotted owls?
A: “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If ‘Thou shalt not covet’ and ‘Thou shalt not steal’ were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free.” -John Adams, A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, 1787
Q: Isn't it the role of government to punish the rich and give to the poor?
A: “To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.”
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816
Q: But if the voters elect people that can help the poor and punish the rich what's wrong with that?
A: “When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”
-Benjamin Franklin
Q: Shouldn't the government provide money for aids in Africa and to fund abortion clinics and other worthwhile charities?
A: “The government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.”
-James Madison
Q: What about giving 1.6 million to the widows of the WTC or Katrina disaster relief? Isn't that government's role?
A: In 1794, when Congress appropriated $15,000 for relief of French refugees who fled from insurrection in San Domingo to Baltimore and Philadelphia, James Madison stood on the floor of the House to object saying, “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”
-James Madison, 4 Annals of congress 179 (1794)
Q: Isn't it the role of government to regulate all aspects of our lives, from seatbelts to lightbulbs, from ethanol to education?
A: “When all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated.”
-Thomas Jefferson to Charles Hammond, 1821. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, (Memorial Edition) Lipscomb and Bergh, editors, ME 15:332
Q: Liberals only want to make things fairer and safer by continuously improving them for The Greater Good. What's wrong with that?
A: “There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
-James Madison, speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 16, 1788
Q: Doesn't the government have the power to do anything it wants?
A: “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.” James Madison, “Letter to Edmund Pendleton,”
-James Madison, January 21, 1792, in The Papers of James Madison, vol. 14, Robert A Rutland et. al., ed (Charlottesvile: University Press of Virginia,1984).
Q: Isn't it governments job to soak the rich oil companies for the greater good?
A: “A wise and frugal government … shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.”
-Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801
I urge all liberals to study these answers to gain a rudimentary understanding of conservatism before posting.
http://history-resources.com/fd/images/founding_fathers.gif
“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”
-Benjamin Franklin
For the benefit of our liberal guests that seem confused as to the intended role of the Federal Government I offer the following Q&A. The Questions are ones I hear a lot of liberals asking these days and the answers are provided by our founding fathers.
Q: In the US Constitution, isn't it the role of government to "provide for the general welfare"?
A: “Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.”
-Thomas Jefferson
Q: Shouldn't the Democratic Congress be able to supeona the private papers of the Executive branch (POTUS) in order to fish for evidense of wrong doing?
A: “An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others.”
-James Madison, Federalist No. 58, February 20, 1788
Q: Doesn't the government have a right to take private property to preserve wetlands, protect snail darters and spotted owls?
A: “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If ‘Thou shalt not covet’ and ‘Thou shalt not steal’ were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free.” -John Adams, A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, 1787
Q: Isn't it the role of government to punish the rich and give to the poor?
A: “To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.”
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816
Q: But if the voters elect people that can help the poor and punish the rich what's wrong with that?
A: “When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”
-Benjamin Franklin
Q: Shouldn't the government provide money for aids in Africa and to fund abortion clinics and other worthwhile charities?
A: “The government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.”
-James Madison
Q: What about giving 1.6 million to the widows of the WTC or Katrina disaster relief? Isn't that government's role?
A: In 1794, when Congress appropriated $15,000 for relief of French refugees who fled from insurrection in San Domingo to Baltimore and Philadelphia, James Madison stood on the floor of the House to object saying, “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”
-James Madison, 4 Annals of congress 179 (1794)
Q: Isn't it the role of government to regulate all aspects of our lives, from seatbelts to lightbulbs, from ethanol to education?
A: “When all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated.”
-Thomas Jefferson to Charles Hammond, 1821. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, (Memorial Edition) Lipscomb and Bergh, editors, ME 15:332
Q: Liberals only want to make things fairer and safer by continuously improving them for The Greater Good. What's wrong with that?
A: “There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
-James Madison, speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 16, 1788
Q: Doesn't the government have the power to do anything it wants?
A: “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.” James Madison, “Letter to Edmund Pendleton,”
-James Madison, January 21, 1792, in The Papers of James Madison, vol. 14, Robert A Rutland et. al., ed (Charlottesvile: University Press of Virginia,1984).
Q: Isn't it governments job to soak the rich oil companies for the greater good?
A: “A wise and frugal government … shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.”
-Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801
I urge all liberals to study these answers to gain a rudimentary understanding of conservatism before posting.