The most damaging wrong interpretation of the Constitution.

Posted by jsw225 9 years, 11 months ago to Government
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Hi guys!

Another blog post from me. This time I discuss what I believe to be the one misinterpretation that has caused the most damage.

-Dannes.


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  • Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 11 months ago
    Nice article. You are certainly correct that the commerce clause has been twisted worse than a pretzel.<br abp="583"><br abp="584">One statement that I'll take exception to, is that the Articles of Confederation were an abysmal failure. Only from a certain perspective (that of large, centralized government). The more that I learn about the AofC, the more I like them. The politicians of the day didn't like it as it left a very weak central gov't. I think that is a very good thing as compared to what is happening today.
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  • Posted by dbhalling 9 years, 11 months ago
    Second Amendment: While I agree the militia argument is nonsense another body above the Supreme Court, would just be the new Supreme Court with the same problems. No amount of procedural safeguards can absolutely guarantee that governments will not infringe on its citizens rights.

    Commerce Clause: This clause has clearly been perverted and was meant to stop tariff and regulatory barriers to commerce between the states.
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  • Posted by $ jbrenner 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I am seriously considering leaving, but I don't think that they would actually live up to letting us leave their rule. They need our money too much.
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  • Posted by $ jbrenner 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Canada was as far along the path to socialism, but very importantly, not ever in the serious debt associated with it. That is why they could recover. In fact, America was not in serious debt until this millenium. People forget that the budget had a couple of surpluses during the Gingrich/Clinton era. Now you just can't cut enough to get this into fiscal sanity.
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  • Posted by 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Swing and a miss! I'm not a christian, or any other religion. You're going to have to build your straw man elsewhere.
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  • Posted by 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    But it's not a natural right! Not in the slightest!

    No real human right is a claim on others. And this fabricated fairy tail of "Freedom From Religion" is exactly that.

    "Freedom From Religion" is a claim on others just in the same way that Universal Healthcare is.
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  • Posted by dbhalling 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It is the result or a synonym. No establishment does not mean freedom of religion but not freedom from religion - that is just a christian nonsense.
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  • Posted by dbhalling 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Which means freedom from religion in the public sphere.

    And yes everything has to be interpreted in context - the context is the Declaration of Independence and Natural Rights.
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  • Posted by 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    No interpretation needed when it means exactly what it says.

    And considering that I have no religion, you're going to have to come up with a better reason to back Mr. Black.
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  • Posted by dbhalling 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    That history may be true, but the reality is that it the christian argument of freedom OF religion is nonsense and is a clear attempt by christians to force christianity into the public forum. The interpretation is without any foundation, is contrary to Natural Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and history. And it will be the argument that Muslims and other religions will use to force religion such as Sharia law into our courts.
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  • Posted by 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It doesn't clearly mean a "Separation of Church and State" because it literally doesn't say that. If you get to interpret the Constitution to your whims, then you won't like it when I interpret it to my whims.

    It literally means "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of a religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

    It does NOT say "Separation of church and state." If it meant that, it would have said that. It does NOT mean that the courthouse can't have a 10 Commandments plaque. It does NOT mean that children must not pray in schools.


    Do you know the real genesis of this mal-interpretation became codified as precedent? Hugo Black was named to the Supreme Court by FDR. He was also a Grand Dragon of the Klu Klux Klan. While he was in the Supreme Court, too. Mr. Grand Dragon hated Catholics. Despised them. The entire "idea" of Separation of Church and State which was not the intent, nor found anywhere else in federal law, was pulled out of his butt in order to screw over the Catholics.
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  • Posted by Hiraghm 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    The Solar System.

    I prefer Venus, myself.

    Either way, we need to give them a moon.
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  • Posted by Hiraghm 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    "States collected taxes for churches and tortured people for confessions."
    Which States did that? Virginia? Massachusetts?
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  • Posted by Hiraghm 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    "First of all the establishment part of the first amendment clearly means separation of Church and State. There is no other possible interpretation."

    WRONG.

    The first amendment says clearly, if you understand simple English words, that there shall be no ESTABLISHMENT of religion, not SEPARATION.

    This means no equivalent of the Anglican church. If you knew history, you'd know this. As you probably do know history... it gives an indication of your veracity and your agenda. Check your premises.

    It was not the practice of religion alone, or the exposure to same, which worried the Founding Fathers, but the creation of a national church. Period.

    The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom is NOT the Constitution.


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  • Posted by Hiraghm 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    "This show the 1st amendment was meant to keep religion out of public discourse, that the US was not founded on Judeo Christian values. The US was founded on reason and Natural Rights. "

    What nonsense.

    It was CULTURALLY Judeo-Christians who founded it. To suggest it wasn't founded on Judeo-Christian values is willful ignorance.

    There is no such thing as "natural rights". You have the natural right to be eaten alive by a pack of wolves. There's your "natural rights".

    The country was founded upon "God-given rights", just as the Founding Fathers said in the Declaration of Independence.

    The reason for this, and the reason it's important, is because any right from any source other than the Creator-of-all-things can be abrogated.

    ""The results should have been predictable, since a human being hasno natural rights of any nature."
    Mr. Dubois had paused. Somebody took the bait. "Sir? How about ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of
    happiness’?"
    "Ah, yes, the ‘unalienable rights.’ Each year someone quotes that magnificent poetry. Life? What ‘right’
    to life has a man who is drowning in the Pacific? The ocean will not hearken to his cries. What ‘right’ to
    life has a man who must die if he is to save his children? If he chooses to save his own life, does he do so
    as a matter of ‘right’? If two men are starving and cannibalism is the only alternative to death, which
    man’s right is ‘unalienable’? And is it ‘right’? As to liberty, the heroes who signed that great document
    pledged themselves tobuy liberty with their lives. Liberty isnever unalienable; it must be redeemed
    regularly with the blood of patriots or italways vanishes. Of all the so-called ‘natural human rights’ that
    have ever been invented, liberty is least likely to be cheap and isnever free of cost.
    "The third ‘right’? — the ‘pursuit of happiness’? It is indeed unalienable but it is not a right; it is simply a
    universal condition which tyrants cannot take away nor patriots restore. Cast me into a dungeon, burn me
    at the stake, crown me king of kings, I can ‘pursue happiness’ as long as my brain lives — but neither
    gods nor saints, wise men nor subtle drugs, can insure that I will catch it."
    Mr. Dubois then turned to me. "I told you that ‘juvenile delinquent’ is a contradiction in terms.
    ‘Delinquent’ means ‘failing in duty.’ Butduty is anadult virtue — indeed a juvenile becomes an adult"

    - Robert A. Heinlein "Starship Troopers"

    Henry Melton explained the same issue with "natural rights" in "We Hold These Rights"...

    I found it in "There Will Be War Volume VII: Call to Battle!"

    "No! I'm not the same as you!" he screamed at me. I stepped back instinctively; Willis never screamed. But he suddenly blazed: "I *can't* believe the lies you live by!"
    His voice abrupty dropped to a fatigued whisper. "Oh, how I wish I could." He straightened and looked back at me with demon eyes. "Listen to me, Clement Ster. I'll say this only once. I said *before* that you had no right to fight the Terrans. You condemned me for it. I say it *again*! You have no right."

    "But the beacon - the Terran ship?"

    He grabbed my shoulder tight in his huge hand and shook me. "Listen, Ster! I had no *right* to destroy them. Neither do the Terrans have the *right* to take over the Belt. *Rights* don't exist! There is only *power* and *action*. Your imaginary rights are only good for keeping people like you and Gren happy and righteous while slaughtering your enemies, if you can call *that* good."

    I opened my mouth to reply but he shook me silent like a misbehaving child. "Understand me, Ster. I murdered the crew of that Terran ship, and I destroyed someone else's beacon worth more than I could make all of my life. I did it because I had the power, and a fair chance of getting away with it. I did it purely for the *selfish* reason that I don't want the Terrans controlling the Belt and running my life! Just the same as you would have - if you had been the one with the power.
    "Don't tell me about defending our sacred rights, and wars against the oppressor. As long as there are people, there will be men killing each other for property, for power, whatever. The winner will always have been just defending his rights. The losers are the criminals. It's all *fiction*, Ster! If you have to kill somebody, then kill him. But don't talk nonsense about rights!"

    He stopped and I twisted out of his iron grip. He didn't look as if he noticed, away in some place inside his head. I didn't know what to do or say. I wish Quail were with me. I glanced back toward the control room, but there was no sign of him. I was alone.

    "Clement," Willis said, in an easy conversational tone, so unlike him, "those men in that ship. They lived all their lives under a government that promised them the right to life. And that government lied, 'cause I just killed them! I wonder how big a slice of their souls the government charged for that politicians' promise. *Rights*! Moral excuses and politicians' lies." He shook his head in amusement, then abruptly looked me directly in the eyes, pinning me in place. "Clement Star, if you have to lie, steal, destroy, and murder, then *do* it! But then have the strength to take responsibility for what you did. Do you understand?"

    I couldn't move, I couldn't talk. He was like an elemental force. His words flared out at me. His eyes searched my face.

    Then it was as if he clouded over. I was released. He seemed to be talking to himself, as if I were no longer there. "No. I can see that you don't." He reached fro the hatch and started back down to his solitary room. "You will never understand. You will always believe in your rights - your wars - your holy causes. I wish I could."
    His voice was pained as he whispered, "Oh, how I wish I could!"


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  • Posted by dbhalling 9 years, 11 months ago
    First Amendment:

    The article states “For example, the Hugo Black interpretation of the First Amendment to suddenly include a “Separation of Church and State” into the amendment that didn’t exist in any precedent, or federalist papers. In one stroke, he completely changed the Constitution. What was once “Freedom *OF* Religion” became “Freedom *FROM* Religion.”

    Here is what the 1st amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”

    First of all the establishment part of the first amendment clearly means separation of Church and State. There is no other possible interpretation. Second of all, the Bill of Rights has to be read in the context of Natural Rights and yes you have a Natural Right to be free from religion. Christians like to make this distinction because they want prayers at public events, god in the pledge of allegiance (which by the way this was not added until the 50s and the pledge was created by a socialist and is clearly collectivist), publicly paid for nativity scenes. How will they like it when god is changed to Allah in pledge or we have religious scenes from the Koran?

    I do have some sympathy with the Christians in that the government has taken over so much of our life that we almost have no private life, which for Christians would seem to be forcing them out of their religion.


    The reality is freedom from religion was clearly established in the states before the 1st amendment, for instance see the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_St..., which states
    “That to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions, which he disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical;”

    This is the establishment clause spelled out and means no Nativity scenes paid for with public money, no public prayers, no ‘in god we trust’.

    Here is another quote from the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. “That our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions any more than our opinions in physics or geometry,”

    This show the 1st amendment was meant to keep religion out of public discourse, that the US was not founded on Judeo Christian values. The US was founded on reason and Natural Rights.
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  • Posted by dbhalling 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    The freedom from religion argument is nonsense,

    First Amendment:

    The article states “For example, the Hugo Black interpretation of the First Amendment to suddenly include a “Separation of Church and State” into the amendment that didn’t exist in any precedent, or federalist papers. In one stroke, he completely changed the Constitution. What was once “Freedom *OF* Religion” became “Freedom *FROM* Religion.”

    Here is what the 1st amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”

    First of all the establishment part of the first amendment clearly means separation of Church and State. There is no other possible interpretation. Second of all, the Bill of Rights has to be read in the context of Natural Rights and yes you have a Natural Right to be free from religion. Christians like to make this distinction because they want prayers at public events, god in the pledge of allegiance (which by the way this was not added until the 50s and the pledge was created by a socialist and is clearly collectivist), publicly paid for nativity scenes. How will they like it when god is changed to Allah in pledge or we have religious scenes from the Koran?

    I do have some sympathy with the Christians in that the government has taken over so much of our life that we almost have no private life, which for Christians would seem to be forcing them out of their religion.


    The reality is freedom from religion was clearly established in the states before the 1st amendment, for instance see the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_St..., which states
    “That to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions, which he disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical;”

    This is the establishment clause spelled out and means no Nativity scenes paid for with public money, no public prayers, no ‘in god we trust’.

    Here is another quote from the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. “That our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions any more than our opinions in physics or geometry,”

    This show the 1st amendment was meant to keep religion out of public discourse, that the US was not founded on Judeo Christian values. The US was founded on reason and Natural Rights.
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  • Posted by Solver 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Maybe. Any day world leaders may announce, if you don't want to live under our rule, you can leave.
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  • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 9 years, 11 months ago
    Hello jsw225,
    Hear,hear! Your point regarding the commerce clause and its abuse ranks right up there with that of the ninth and tenth amendments.
    Regards,
    O.A.
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  • Posted by 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It's not that freedom must fail, but that a truly free society has a shelf life. It can only last so long against the corrupt who have spent millenia perfecting the art of turning freedom into slavery. It used to be that a man could take his family to a new land and make a new free life when the liberals got too numerous. But where is there to go now?
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