The God of the Machine - Tranche 31
Posted by mshupe 9 months, 2 weeks ago to Government
Chapter XV, Excerpt 1 of 1
The Fatal Amendments
The Bill of Rights is integrally of the Constitution. The only objection offered was that enumeration of rights might be construed as limiting them to the issues named . . . implying the European idea of “liberties” instead of American liberty. The test may be applied to any amendment by general questions: Does the amendment deny rights? Does it weaken the bases by impairing states? As the structure cracks, disrupting the private economy, the zealous amenders will be plied more furiously.
By the American theory the government is the agent of the citizen; it is absurd to hold that a person may not sue his agent. The Fourteenth Amendment confirmed Federal citizenship and civil rights, but it would have been better if the Bill of Rights had been explicitly extended to bind state governments. The proper use of power and the proper agency for its use are entirely different. The Fifteenth Amendment perpetuated the destruction. It deprived states of an indispensable attribute of sovereignty.
The formal stroke was the Seventeenth Amendment, which took the election of Senators out of the State Legislatures. The “Social Security swindle” is only validated by the income tax amendment. The appearance of an enormous bureaucracy was the natural phenomenon of a structureless nation. Politics became lucrative. The cost and display of government is always in inverse ratio to the liberty and prosperity of it citizens. Political power has a ratchet action; it only works one way.
The Fatal Amendments
The Bill of Rights is integrally of the Constitution. The only objection offered was that enumeration of rights might be construed as limiting them to the issues named . . . implying the European idea of “liberties” instead of American liberty. The test may be applied to any amendment by general questions: Does the amendment deny rights? Does it weaken the bases by impairing states? As the structure cracks, disrupting the private economy, the zealous amenders will be plied more furiously.
By the American theory the government is the agent of the citizen; it is absurd to hold that a person may not sue his agent. The Fourteenth Amendment confirmed Federal citizenship and civil rights, but it would have been better if the Bill of Rights had been explicitly extended to bind state governments. The proper use of power and the proper agency for its use are entirely different. The Fifteenth Amendment perpetuated the destruction. It deprived states of an indispensable attribute of sovereignty.
The formal stroke was the Seventeenth Amendment, which took the election of Senators out of the State Legislatures. The “Social Security swindle” is only validated by the income tax amendment. The appearance of an enormous bureaucracy was the natural phenomenon of a structureless nation. Politics became lucrative. The cost and display of government is always in inverse ratio to the liberty and prosperity of it citizens. Political power has a ratchet action; it only works one way.
