Since I saw a butt on an ad after a video played on the old video player I was using (don’t use Revver) I switched to the old youtube and am re-posting my old videos so enjoy them again:
This is a dumb video I did a while back for a project in a class I had to take.
If you look close you can see my hand throwing the ball at the guy. We also gave him a wedding cake magazine to use in the beginning, in case you didn’t notice. We actually had to use a stunt double for the guy at the end because we made him run so much. The original guy, at the end, was actually laying there looking like that for real and we decided to shoot him. Then I rolled my basketball at him.
You may have seen or heard recently any of a number of politicians justifying actions taken by government by citing the general welfare clause of the Constitution. It may surprise many to find out that there is no such clause in the Constitution.
“Whaaaaaa????”, you may say. “B-b-but I memorized the preamble and it is most definitely in there” Sorry but you are wrong. Let’s get down to it and learn here and now that the preamble is not legally binding as it is merely an introduction to the finest political document ever penned. If one goes by the preamble, which may be the only part of the Constitution they ever read in school, then they could be led to believe that any of the three branches of government in the United States could be responsible for any of the things written in the preamble. Such a situation would clearly be incredibly confusing and contradictory to the system of checks and balances that was actually established. Using anything in the preamble as justification for government action is clearly not the way our government was established. Although with executive orders, signing statements and Courts using case law and outright activism, the original checks and balances are currently very useless. Regardless of that, the original situation was definitely not one in which a branch of government could pick their favorite part of the preamble and force anything they want on the people willy nilly.
Now for those who can read and have made it to Article 1 Section 8, you may think, “Aha, it has the words ‘general welfare’ in there”. Indeed it does. But it is NOT saying that the government can force citizens to pay for goods and services for other people. It is NOT establishing a system for government to give money away to the citizens of the nation. “Well that is your opinion”, I hear a non-critically thinking voice cry out. The line that has the phrase “general welfare” in it is the line that gives congress the power to tax. If you understand the Constitution then you know that it was established to limit government power and split it up among many different people to keep others in check. The powers of these branches of government were enumerated and given some specific limitations. To further clarify things, at the end of the Bill of Rights we have, of course, the tenth amendment; which says that if a power was not given to the federal government then it is left up to states or individuals. With this limiting purpose in mind let us return to Section 8:
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
This line is not a “general welfare clause” but rather is a taxation clause. Let’s put on our thinking caps here and really dive in. “Lay and collect taxes, duties imposts and excises” OK I got that part, Congress can tax me. But why? Oh I see, to pay debts (listed second in section 8), have an army/navy or provide for the common defense (listed 12th and 13th in section 8), and general welfare of the United States. With your thinking cap on tight, go for it. You know the answer. No, OK, first of all, it says “of the United States” not “of the citizens of the United States” or “the people”. This is made more clear when someone goes where they have never gone before and reads the rest of the Constitution and they find that there are more references to “the United States” clearly distinguished from “the States” or “the people”. These taxes are not supposed to be collected and used for the general welfare of “the people” but for the general welfare of the “United States” which is a nation. Of course the people will benefit from having national debts paid and having defense but that is not the focus of the enumerated power here in section 8. The end product of having that line written is to say that congress can raise funds through taxes which they will use to take care of their enumerated powers. If you do not agree with that, go read the “Federalist Papers” and find some of the writings of James Madison the Father of the Constitution. Reading such with your thinking cap on should clear that up for you nicely.
Another item to note is that if “general welfare” can be stretched over anything that can be construed as good for our nation, then this one line about taxes inadvertently grants congress all powers of government, thus destroying any checks or balances that may have ever existed. If it is good for the country then congress has power over it. Such “general” terms as “good” and “welfare” (which meant “well-being” in 1789) are relative terms and can be viewed differently in the eyes of different people. This wide-open language gives politicians and the power hungry, plenty of room to work in whatever they want regardless of its relation to the intent of the Constitution. This goes against the whole point of the Constitutional system of limited government with checks and balances. To view the words “general welfare” as granting additional powers besides the power actually being enumerated is to destroy the Constitution.
“Oh now there he is again hating on people. Some people just don’t have insurance and are dying because they don’t have it and you want them to die”, I hear that silly voice crying out again. Wow, for those who still do not get it, wow. First off, no one has ever died because they did not have insurance, ever, in the history of humans. “Oh sweet Aetna come save me, I don’t have any premiums.” People die from disease, bodily malfunctions, accidents, violence or old age. Those are your only options. Not having insurance does not kill you. If you are unlucky enough to have such things happen to you and you require the goods and services provided in the health care industry then insurance might have been a good purchase, but there are ways around not having it. Personally, I was struck ill a few years back and thought I was dying. I was uninsured as I was a college student and didn’t qualify for the oh-so-helpful government programs and I was rejected by private insurance a few months earlier because I get “white-coat hypertension”. I went to the emergency room and incurred thousands of dollars in bills which I, of course, could not pay. The hospital had a charitable donation program that they qualified me for after reviewing some information. For the rest of my life now, I am going to donate to hospital charity programs. Oh what’s that I hear, the non-critically thinking, silly voice doesn’t give much to others? Well if we all chipped in and took care of each other we would do a much better job than anyone in Washington D.C. could do. Last year I had a friend who had been fighting cancer for a while. In fact, I never knew him at a point when he was cancer free. I and several other people donated time, talents and other material possessions to try to lighten the burden on our friend and his wife. He died exactly a year ago today. Our giving and receiving of contributions made us all better people. And people coming together to help one another is the real system that will make our country and even our health care industry better. It is not just pie in the sky either, try it out.
In addition to charity amongst the citizens of our nation there are other ways that are allowed under our Constitution. Take for example the state of Massachusetts. They have a big expensive and deficit bloating health care program all their own. Well guess what, it is perfectly Constitutional. Oh my, who would have ever imagined that a government run health care program could be Constitutional? If it is run by a state or local government, it fits perfectly well with the Constitution and the tenth amendment. The central federal government will not be the solution to any of our problems. In fact, to quote the great Reagan:
“In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem. From time to time we’ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?”
If we can just learn and apply good principles then we will govern ourselves. So many in our society now look to someone else to help others and those who seek power and control (maybe not even for bad reasons) are perfectly willing to be given more power to be in charge of something we should be doing ourselves. It is when we disregard what we know we should be doing for those around us that we have need of masters and there are plenty who will use any reason to be your master.
To sum it up, there is no “general welfare clause” but rather a tax clause with the word “welfare” in it. To apply the term “general welfare” to government health care and retirement plans is to stretch that one line to points of being completely absurd and so all-encompassing as to grant all government power to one branch. There are ways that small groups of people or even larger groups of people such as cities or states can work out such problems without destroying the Constitution and I might add, such things should be tried out as long as they do not put said groups under the bondage of debt. Lastly, just give. Seriously, give. Find people who need your help and give it to them. They are all around you and sometimes find you, but most times don’t. If the government hadn’t taken as much money as they did you might be able to give more, but for now give your time or anything else you can give. Just don’t give more power to control our lives to someone else. If we keep moving the line in the sand, then what is the point of the line?
UPDATE:
I must post this video here as it was my inspiration for this.
Wow, chairman of the judiciary committee. We are in huge trouble.
I did not draw this but only colored it in. A friend had drawn it and given up on finishing it. I thought it was far too clever to not finish. Now gaze upon its glory.
I could go on about how it sends a message about humans and their relation to animals. About how we hold a higher place of authority than they because of our level of awareness of others and communication with them coupled with our level of technology. We could go deep into philosophical and ethical questions but I would rather just say, “Ha ha, the man brought in the paper.”
At a church youth activity when I was in high school we had a stick pull competition. The two contestants sit on the ground with their feet together and pull on a stick between them, with the goal of pulling the other person out of their place or having them let go of the stick.
I figured I would have a go at it and sat down with a stick. The first couple of people I beat were only joking in going against me and just having a laugh in doing so. They were followed by a couple of true believers who gave it their best but didn’t last long either. I did not participate in a match that lasted longer than 2 seconds and I am very serious about that number, it is not an estimate. Then came a big fellow from a town about 20 miles from mine whom I had seen around and knew that he was a pretty strong guy. He was a linebacker for the Permian Panthers, you know the team from Friday Night Lights. I was unsure of how a contest between the two of us would go as I was the strongest basketball/track guy but did not play football in any organized way, for very long anyway. If anyone could stop my reign of terror it was him. He had defeated everyone he went against with ease as well. As he sat across from me my stomach began to churn with nervousness. I began to imagine that I would shortly be dethroned. I had actually started caring about competing somewhere around my 6th victory. Since we had both defeated everyone else this was the title match. People gathered around and one of the leaders had a stick with a leather strap through it that had some writing etched on it, which was apparently the trophy for the winner.
We each took our grips on the stick between us and waited. I was a wreck inside and felt certain that I was going to lose the 2 out of 3 matches that would be required for this title match. As we waited for the word to begin I could have quit right there as I was no longer feeling it. The word came and the instant seemed like it was longer, but it was only half a second at most, all in that short time I felt me pulling him up off the ground barely when his foot slipped. With the slippage we were stopped and reset, as it was a misfire. This time I felt much different before we began. The word came and we struggled from side to side for a few seconds before I had pulled him almost up and over the top of me. “Just one more quick one”, I thought to myself. We got set again as I was boiling over with confidence and was drunk on power. You might expect that this is the part where I was served humble pie and quickly lost a match. If you thought that then you were wrong. This match was much quicker than the first and closer to my average victory time. I was declared the winner and shook hands with my, before then, unknown competitor. I expected straightaway to be handed the trophy stick for my decisive win but I had one more challenger. The man holding the stick was from a place called Monahans and he was the guy who scared everybody. He would play with giant tarantulas and had a huge beard that you could hide all kinds of weapons in. He was also very very large. I would have put him at about 280 lbs. to my then 220 lbs. He sat down and said, “You are the winner of the competition but you still have to go against me.” If you guessed that now I was nervous, you would again be very wrong. Even though this was a full grown, bearded, scary guy I was calm like a bomb. I will save you the time and tell you that I beat him faster than the other guy. It was a breeze.
Upon receiving my award I promptly named it “The Stick of Justice”. I still have it and cherish it to this day, as it is the only trophy that I still have from anything. It has an amazing power in that it repels bad guys for some strange reason, as I will tell you about later.
There is a small and annoying shadow that hangs over this victory. It comes from a friend. This friend has been claiming that he beat me at the stick pull that day and he has been spreading his lie for years. He has tried to spread the lie to me twice in the last few years and I remind him that I have the trophy and was completely undefeated that day. It doesn’t seem to sink in and next time I see this friend I imagine he will try to bring up the lie again. It will not work though as I have a perfect recollection of that day and of course the trophy “Stick of Justice”.
“You don’t have the right”, it’s a commonly heard phrase containing a commonly heard word. The word ‘right’ gets thrown around in such a haphazard and inconsistent way that it has almost lost all meaning.
Concern for the rights of people has only been on the plate for societies for a very small amount of time throughout history. Most of history has been dominated by rulers giving commands and decrees without regard for it’s effect on others and their rights. What makes the USA so special is that its system was created with inalienable rights. Why are they inalienable? Because they are given by “nature and nature’s God”. The fact that there are God given rights makes it impossible for government or anyone else to remove them. If rights are granted by government or a majority of people then these granted rights can be taken away. Rights coming from God also makes it impossible to add to the list of God given rights.
What has been happening for a long time to the USA is that many people have attributed the status of rights to things that are not God given rights. You are lucky because you have me to help you clarify what is a right and what is not. It is very easy and, with the exception of one case that I know of, the great principle of rights is universally applicable and clear. Here it is: A right is something that you can claim without forcing anyone else to do anything.
Let’s try it out:
Bearing arms – Do you force anyone to do anything by owning a weapon?
No, thus that is a right that you have.
Education – Do you force anyone to do anything by laying claim on a formal education system?
Yes, thus it is not a right. You force people around you to pay for the education, you force the requirement for a teacher in the school to teach you.
Information – Do you force anyone to do anything by finding available information and possibly even publishing it to others? No, thus you have that right.
Life – Do you force anyone to do anything by just living your life? No, (with one huge caveat) Thus you have the right to live and exist. The caveat is that when you are an infant you do require others to be subservient to you. The reason that this works as a right is because of another right that we all have. We have the right to make contracts or agreements with others. When two people come together and act in unity they have the right to put themselves under bondage to the terms of an agreement. Two people creating a child are performing a contract action that will bind them to the consequences of that action.
Abortion – Does killing your unborn baby force anyone to do anything? Yes, it forces the child to die. Thus you do not have that right.
Food – Does a guarantee of having food force anyone to do anything? Yes, it must be grown and distributed by someone. Thus it is not a right.
Marriage – Does marriage force anyone else to do anything? Yes, it takes two to get married and it is a contract action that must be agreed to by both parties. Thus there is no right to get married.
Health care – It should be pretty obvious that no one has a right to health care. Claiming such forces someone to be your doctor and forces someone to pay for the service. Health care is a good and a service, not a right.
Slothfulness – Do you force anyone to do anything by laying at home and wasting away? No, you can sit on your couch til you die. You have that right.
I am very much a person that enjoys freedom and not being forced to do anything. If I am to provide a good or service for others I will do it by contract action. Government granting rights is not something that should happen and it is only made worse by government becoming the provider and facilitator of those rights. The principle of free agency in the realm of rights works every time. Give it a try when someone in the media or government claims something as a right for people.
Leave your comments (seriously come on, leave some comments). What do you think? Do you disagree? Or are you an intelligent person?
I haven’t seen many movie trailers that have really caught my eye for a while now. When I saw this one it was so inspiring and hilarious that I couldn’t help but want to see it.
Paragraph about desire to see the film. Additional sentence in aforementioned paragraph. Another statement to drive home the purpose of the paragraph.
A house exploded next to the office for the job I just got laid off from. I went in to move some stuff out and had to clean up some glass. A local news lady came by and asked me a couple of questions and then they filmed me sweeping. I checked their news story about it and was amazed to see my television debut. I was actually on TV once as a kid singing a song at school but all the other kids were there and you couldn’t really see me. In this one I am clearly visible. Enjoy:
It may surprise many to find out that the mammoth of a human being they know as Dale was once mocked by his second grade classmates as “Skinnybones”. It is the only name that has ever come close to 2 more obvious names in frequency of use. One day, during reading time I was conversing with two other kids about muscles. I made a point about how muscle size doesn’t necessarily represent the actual strength of a person.
Back in junior high math class one of the most interesting sections was the proofs. The transitive property is famous for it’s very sound logic. If a=b and b=c then a=c. Let’s take some cliches and apply this property to them just for the halibut.
1. If Time is Money and Money is Power then Time is Power.
Money is the root of all evil. Power is the root of all evil. Time is the root of all evil.
Money can’t buy me love. Power can’t buy me love. Time can’t buy me love.
Time heals all wounds. Money heals all wounds. Power heals all wounds.
Power corrupts. Money corrupts. Time corrupts.
2. If God is love and Love is blind then God is blind.
It doesn’t really work because our cliche sayings are not very logically sound. Time and money and power are not equal to each other. God is not actually love itself and love does not require braille. We humans love metaphors and other devices to help us grasp concepts and ideas.
