Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[thomas <thomas AT tbeckett.com>]

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Phillip Rhodes wrote:
| thomas wrote:
|> There is a fairly significant body of law on this, known as "Substantive
|> Due Process", and which deals with limitations on the power of Congress
|> to do stuff.  Needless to say, the courts generally give the Congress a
|> lot of leeway with this.
|
| Yes, but that doesn't make it right.  And remember "We the People" have
| the ultimate / fundamental / primordial powers.  Or at least I (and many
| others) contend that we do.  The men who wrote the Declaration of
| Independence thought so.  So "We the People" can over-rule the courts.

True, the People can overrule the courts by exercise of the means
provided in Article 5 for amending the Constitution.  And the fact that
We the People have declined to do so indicates to me that We the People
have not chosen a Libertarian form of government.

|> Well, there is clause 3, the Commerce Clause:  "To regulate Commerce
|> with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian
|> Tribes. . . ."  That would be the loophole you can drive a herd of
|> camels through.
|
| Yes, and they've used it for exactly that purpose.  Again, I argue that
| they've intentionally mis-interpreted that... now the trick is to
| convince enough other people to feel the same way, so we can do
| something about it.

I'm not going to say that our government is flawless.  In many instances
it is a big fat pain in the ass.  And right now the people who hold the
reins of power in our government are doing their level best to run it
into the ground in order to serve their own short-sighted personal
interests.  That being said, I do believe that the government we have is
better than any alternative that human history has yet presented.

Our form of government -- at all levels -- does far more good than harm.
~ And it contains the means to correct and control its excesses, as our
history has shown generation after generation.  Such controls aren't the
necessarily the quickest means, but they have proven effective.

This conversation itself is an example of the benefits that government
has conferred upon We the People.  It is taking place through the
resources of iBiblio, which is part of the University of North Carolina.
That is, a creation of the government.  It takes place through that
miracle of technology known as the Internet, which exists solely because
of the investments our government made beginning before most of us were
born.  If the Libertarian vision had been adopted in the early
nineteenth century, we would not have these tremendous resources
available to us.

Okay, time for bed.  G'night (or G'morning) y'all!

Tab

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Thomas A. Beckett, JD & MBA              Business Law and Consulting
828-713-1668            <http://www.tbeckett.com>           919-824-5696
Authentication instructions: <http://www.tbeckett.com/verification.html>
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