Constitutional Minute #6 Enumerated Powers of the U.S. Congress
With the U.S. Constitution, We The People created the federal government. It is our “creature” and has no powers other than those We delegated to it in Our Constitution. None!!
The federal government has three branches:
- Article I of the Constitution creates the Legislative Branch (Congress) and lists its powers;
- Article II creates the Executive Branch (President) and lists its powers;
- Article III creates the Judicial Branch (federal courts) and lists its powers.
In this short “minute”, we will consider only the enumerated powers of Congress. But the powers of the other two branches are likewise strictly limited and enumerated. Congress is NOT authorized to pass any law on any subject just because majorities in Congress think the law is a good idea!
Article 1, Sec. 8 of the US Constitution listed (enumerated) the only powers we delegated to Congress for the country at large. In a nutshell, those powers fall into four categories:
♠ International relations, commerce and war;
♠ Control immigration by restricting who may come to these United States, and establish a uniform rule of naturalization of new citizens;
♠ Domestically, to establish a uniform commercial system: weights and measures, patents and copyrights, a monetary system based on gold and silver, bankruptcy law, a [limited] power over interstate commerce, and mail delivery.
♠And, in some of the amendments, to protect certain civil and certain voting rights.
As you can see, there is nothing included above about “abortion”, “energy”, “minimum wage”, “housing”, “internet”, etc.
Those are powers retained by the States or the People.
If you would care for a more detailed explanation, go here: https://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/category/enumerated-powers-of-congress/
wethepeoplehandbook@gmail.com
www.buildingblocksforliberty.org
Constitutional Minute #5 The U.S. Census: Rule of Law or Rule of Man?
We Americans have forgotten the most important Principle of our Founding: The distinction between the “Rule of Law” and the “Rule of Men”.
What is the “Rule of Law”? The Rule of Law prevails when the civil authorities act in accordance with a body of Law which is established by a higher authority.
Now let us see what the Constitution says about the census.
Article I, Sec. 2, clause 3, provides that an enumeration of the people shall be taken every 10 years for the purposes of apportionment of (1) direct Taxes and (2) Representatives to the House.
To these ends, we gave the federal government authority to ask us only the number of persons living in our homes (and whether any of us are Indians). Read Article 1, Sec. 2, clause 3 and see.
Instead, they ask us our full name, telephone number, our sex, whether you own your home subject to a mortgage, whether you own it free and clear, whether you pay rent, or whether you live rent free, our age, date of birth, whether anyone in our home is of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin, etc., etc.
Housing programs? Planning decisions? Federal programs which differentiate between males & females? Social Security? Medicare? Other government programs for children, adults, childbearing women, or old people? What’s this? Can anybody point to where these are among the enumerated powers of Congress? No! These are powers which Congress has assumed…unlawfully.
So! Do you see? The federal government demands answers to questions which the Constitution does not permit them to ask, in order to administer programs which, the Constitution does not authorize them to administer; and then they threaten you with a fine if you don’t submit to their unconstitutional acts! That is the Rule of Men.
Under the Rule of Law – The Constitution – they may ask no more than the number of persons who reside in your home. That is all WE THE PEOPLE authorized them to ask.
Source and links here: https://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/the-u-s-census-rule-of-law-or-rule-of-men/
wethepeoplehandbook@gmail.com
The Constitutional Minute #4 What a Concept!
Let’s have a short conversation about our understanding of the heart and soul of our Constitution as intended by the founders. It’s the concept of “Enumerated Powers”. Simply put it means if a power is not specifically given to the government in the Constitution, then it does not exist. So, what’s not written is equally important because everything not written fall to the States or the People, ……NOT to any branch of the federal government!
Congress is not authorized to pass ANY law on ANY subject just because a majority in Congress thinks the law is a good idea! Nor are they authorized to delegate that authority to another branch (like the Executive Branch) because the Constitution does not say they can. This is the essence of “enumerated” powers.
Instead, the areas in which Congress is authorized to act are strictly limited and defined (“enumerated”), mostly in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution.
Thus, Congress has NO LAWFUL AUTHORITY to bail out financial institutions, businesses, and homeowners who don’t pay their mortgages; NO LAWFUL AUTHORITY to take control of our health care; NO LAWFUL AUTHORITY to violate your personal privacy and search you at airports; NO LAWFUL AUTHORITY to take away your IRA’s and other retirement accounts, NO LAWFUL AUTHORITY to take your guns, NO LAWFUL AUTHORITY to pass laws respecting energy consumption or “emissions”, education, housing, minimum wage, etc., etc., etc.
Therefore, all laws which Congress has made on such topics are unconstitutional as outside the scope of the legislative powers WE delegated to Congress in OUR Constitution.
WE THE PEOPLE did not give such powers to Congress when we ordained and established the Constitution, created the Congress, and listed its 22 enumerated powers over the Country at large. And WE did not delegate those powers to Congress in any of the Amendments.
You ask, “How can Congress make all these laws if they are unconstitutional?”
Congress gets away with it because WE are ignorant of what our Constitution says; and WE have been indoctrinated into believing that Congress can do whatever they want!
Bob Hilliard
www.buildingblocksforliberty.org
Constitutional Minute: Are we a democracy? NO!! Absolutely not!
Misconceptions
Let’s clear a common misconception which we have been led to believe in the past.
Are we a democracy? NO!! Absolutely not!
But this is propagated daily in the media by reporters and politicians.
Just listen to the daily news! Nary has a day gone by when we are not bombarded in the media about our “democracy”.
A democracy can be compared to two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.” Yes, you get to vote, but that’s little consolation to the sheep! Our founders did everything in their power to keep us from being a democracy and they said so in the Federalist Paper #10 (Madison) and in personal journals.
Source here: https://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/category/basic-concepts/
We are a Republic. A Republic is “a state in which the exercise of the sovereign power is lodged in representatives elected by the people…” (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary ). A “constitutional republic” is a state in which the representatives (and other officials) are limited and restricted by a constitution. This country was established as a constitutional republic.
“Federal” refers to the form of our government: An alliance of States with close cultural and economic ties associated together in a “federation” with a national government to which is delegated supremacy over the States only in specifically defined areas. All other powers are left to the States or the People!
James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 45 (9th paragraph):
The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those that are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people….
Read the above again slowly and weep for your country!! Our federal government was never intended to regulate energy, health, labor, education, transportation, agriculture, housing, etc., etc. Those were the powers “reserved to the several States”.
Bob Hilliard
Constitutional Minute #2 Do you need a law degree to understand the Constitution?
Think NOT that you must have a law degree to understand the Constitution of the United States; or that the lawyers, law professors and black-robed judges are the ones who understand it best.
They are the ones who perverted it.
To restore constitutional government, We the People must learn the basic concepts of “government”; and we must learn the Constitution, elect representatives who will honor their oaths to support it (Art VI, clause 3), and remove from office those who don’t.
The Constitution is a short document which anyone – who makes a reasonable effort – can understand quite well. The only way you can avoid being misled is to find out for yourself what it says.
You need only
(1) The Declaration of Independence,
(2) The Constitution, and
(3) The Federalist Papers.
The latter is a collection of 85 essays written for the public by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, and published during 1787 and 1788, in order to explain the proposed Constitution to the People and to induce them to ratify it.
They did just that.
Accordingly, The Federalist Papers are considered to be the most authoritative explanations for the meanings in the Constitution, not the courts! We do not need the media, the politicians, or judges to tell us. We can read them for ourselves in the founders own words.
Bob Hilliard
Buffalo, Texas
wethepeoplehandbook@gmail.com
Constitutional Minute #1 What if the NFL did not hire referees?
(Camp Constitution is happy to announce that we will be posting The Constitutional Minute by Mr. Bob Hilliard on a weekly basis)
Presently, the NFL makes the rules for professional football. They train and hire the referees to keep the players within those established rules and the rules are uniform throughout the country.
For example, every team must advance the ball ten yards to keep possession of the ball. That’s the rule. It’s not nine yards for one team and twelve yards for another.
This keeps the game consistent for everyone throughout the country…not only for the teams, but for the fans as well.
But…what if the NFL did not hire the referees? Instead, what if the fans voted to elect the referees?
Would you, as a voting fan, want (and need) to have a working knowledge of the rules so that you could make the most informed vote? And wouldn’t an informed vote mean better referees?
Of course it would!
The same principle holds true for the election of our government officials at all levels.
Think of the voters as those whose job it is to elect representatives to keep the government within the rules WE established.
The rules WE established for the federal government are in the US Constitution.
We are starting with a series of very short posts with the hope to stir the reader’s curiosity and an interest in acquiring a “working knowledge” of our Constitution.
Some say our Constitution is broken. Our Constitution isn’t broken! Our Constitution isn’t outdated. The problem is that WE – who Alexander Hamilton said are “the natural guardians” of the Constitution – didn’t bother to learn it. Since we didn’t bother to learn it, we elected representatives who also hadn’t bothered to learn it. And so everyone ignores it.
WE THE PEOPLE need “fixing”. Restoration of our religious and moral foundation and our Constitution is the answer to the healing of our Land.
Let the restoration begin with you.
About the Author
Bobby Hilliard spent most of his life in the foodservice business. First, he worked with his father in the family restaurant. Later as a foodservice design consultant. Retirement was to be filled with days on the golf course, but it did not work out that way.
February 2009 began protests all over the country as a manifestation of discontent of We the People of too much government spending, bailouts signed by President George W. Bush, and the many other federal government programs that were considered to be beyond the federal government’s authority. There seemed to be no end to it.
In order to find out where we have gone wrong, Bobby started searching websites to find like-minded friends. One website in particular had a constitution study group, so he joined. It was eye-opening! It was not hard to realize that the federal legislators’ failure to adhere to the limits in the Constitution was the problem.
After years of study on strict construction of the Constitution under his mentor, he collated 70 of her papers into the book The Handbook for We the People. The book is intended to be used as a supplemental text at the 11th and 12th grade levels in private high schools. The long-term goal is to start filling the pipeline with constitutionally literate students, teachers, candidates, legislators, and voters.
Bobby graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches in 1971 with a BBA in Business and married his girlfriend, Marilyn the same year. He spent his college summers manning the family shrimp boats in Galveston Bay catching shrimp for the restaurant. At the same time, he took flying lessons, and obtained his Private Pilot Certificate. Later, he built and flew his own homebuilt aircraft. He is 75 years old and never too old to learn.