Monday, August 6, 2007

Earmarking Our Way To Oblivion

by J.J. Jackson
James Madison once remarked, “with respect to the two words ‘general welfare,’ I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.” In writing that letter to James Robertson, he reiterated the sentiments he shared with the nation in Federalist 41 where he denounced objections by the anti-Federalists to the term “general Welfare” being included in the Constitution because of it’s presumption of an unlimited and open ended scope as without “color”.

The fear of federally elected politicians being able to curry favor with their constituents by bringing home the bacon in the sense of tax dollars was why under the Constitution our government was given only limited powers to tax and spend. The founders knew that what have become known as “earmarks” would not serve this nation well and would corrupt the intent of limited government.

Full Story:
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/27068.html

Conservative Bloggers Comments:
The method in which earmarks & pet projects (aka pork) are doled out is no less than robbery of the American Taxpayer. This is not what the framers of the constitution had in mind when they drafted and signed that document. Both parties are offenders in this regard and action needs to be taken. This type of spending is no different than the spending that led to the many corporate scandals of the last 10 years. The corporate executives that are in jail or headed there in most cases did nothing more than our elected officials are doing on a daily basis in Washington. There are a few voices in the crowd in Washington attempting to make some changes, but unless we hold our elected officials accountable instead of holding out our hand for the pork, we will ALL be losers in the end.

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