The Interstate Commerce Lie

Michael LeMieux

12/18/2010

The federal government was not designed to be a bureaucracy that had, for the most part, any direct effect on the populace of the country. In fact, the only power granted by the Constitution to the federal government lay in ensuring that government did not trespass against the citizens. It was the responsibility of the individual states to deal with the needs of the people. Federal legislative control was designed only to have jurisdiction within the District of Columbia and the areas ceded by the states to the federal government for forts, (and other federal sites as needed) or to make laws dealing with interstate commerce or dealing with foreign nations. Since the federal government was created, it has slowly and methodically grown in size and scope until it has permeated every aspect of our lives. Thomas Jefferson stated: “Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have …. The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases.” I believe the current federal position towards its citizens has proven this axiom to be all too true.

From the writings of the founding fathers, we know that the federal government’s powers, defined by the constitution, were to be limited and general and were not to be used against the citizens of the several states. James Madison, in Federalist 45 said, “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined . . . to be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce.” Notice that all of these items deal with generalities of government and

And now… the rest of the story. …..