The real pandemic? Out-of-control federal government. Of course this has been accelerating ever since Lincoln abrogated the Constitution and made war on states which had chosen to leave the voluntary union of states. We are long past the point where this monstrosity needs to be broken up. But today's sorrows were written in the Constitutional Convention, when the individual states were coerced or tricked into giving up the sovereignty enjoyed under the Articles of Confederation. After having won their freedom from one tyrant, they almost immediately began surrendering it to yet another.
The article includes Madison's famous quote about legislative authority over war-making. Here are two more interesting ones I came across:
--Alexander Hamilton: " 'The Congress shall have the power to declare war;' the plain meaning of which is, that it is the peculiar and exclusive duty of Congress, when the nation is at peace, to change that state into a state of war."
--James Wilson, as he addressed Pennsylvania's ratifying convention: "This system will not hurry us into war; it is calculated to guard against it. It will not be in the power of a single man, or a single body of men, to involve us in such distress; for the important power of declaring war is vested in the legislature at large. . . ."
I hadn't heard of Wilson before. Some background on the Scottish-born Pennsylvanian: "Wilson reached the apex of his career in the Constitutional Convention (1787), where his influence was probably second only to that of Madison. Rarely missing a session, he sat on the Committee of Detail and in many other ways applied his excellent knowledge of political theory to convention problems. Only Gouverneur Morris delivered more speeches." https://teachingamericanhistory.org/resources/ratification/people/wilson/
Bravo!
I don't see the words "tax" or "debt" in here. Otherwise, great going.
The real pandemic? Out-of-control federal government. Of course this has been accelerating ever since Lincoln abrogated the Constitution and made war on states which had chosen to leave the voluntary union of states. We are long past the point where this monstrosity needs to be broken up. But today's sorrows were written in the Constitutional Convention, when the individual states were coerced or tricked into giving up the sovereignty enjoyed under the Articles of Confederation. After having won their freedom from one tyrant, they almost immediately began surrendering it to yet another.
** Stark Outtakes and Extras **
The article includes Madison's famous quote about legislative authority over war-making. Here are two more interesting ones I came across:
--Alexander Hamilton: " 'The Congress shall have the power to declare war;' the plain meaning of which is, that it is the peculiar and exclusive duty of Congress, when the nation is at peace, to change that state into a state of war."
--James Wilson, as he addressed Pennsylvania's ratifying convention: "This system will not hurry us into war; it is calculated to guard against it. It will not be in the power of a single man, or a single body of men, to involve us in such distress; for the important power of declaring war is vested in the legislature at large. . . ."
I hadn't heard of Wilson before. Some background on the Scottish-born Pennsylvanian: "Wilson reached the apex of his career in the Constitutional Convention (1787), where his influence was probably second only to that of Madison. Rarely missing a session, he sat on the Committee of Detail and in many other ways applied his excellent knowledge of political theory to convention problems. Only Gouverneur Morris delivered more speeches." https://teachingamericanhistory.org/resources/ratification/people/wilson/