I’m glad someone decided to bite. Davenport, you point out correctly in your Wespeak [“Moutinho: Pay your taxes and read your history,” Nov. 18, 2008, Volume CXLIV, Number 21] that, in the 16th Amendment, “the Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes … without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.” But, as decided in Stanton v. Baltic Mining, the court asserted that the 16th Amendment conferred no new power of taxation. This amendment confers no new power because, in the Doyle v. Mitchell (1918) case, the Supreme Court defined the term “incomes” not as the compensation for services, but as the gain or increase of wealth arising from corporate activity. This makes the tax on the everyday laborer unconstitutional. Although the federal government technically requires you to submit a form listing all of your income, it does not require the everyday laborer to pay a portion of their earnings to them. Also, they are also supposed to submit BACK TO YOU a form saying where they spent your money (which they publish), but recently there have been trillions of dollars dubbed “undocumentable adjustments” in our budget, which is illegal for the government to do.
As a self-proclaimed champion of the Constitution, I obviously agree with taxes that are levied to promote the common defense and general welfare. In fact, I think climate change falls into both of those categories. However, many policies that are enacted today under the guise of the “general” welfare do not conform to the definition of general, but rather “partial.” The term “general” is understood as applying to society as a whole, and if a policy does not benefit the entire society, it does not qualify as for the “general welfare.” An example of a general welfare project is the building of roads.
In response to the criticism of a comment I made in my previous Wespeak [“Dear Obama supporters: have you read the Constitution?”, Nov. 14, 2008, Volume CXLIV, Number 20], where I asked, “What gives the government the right to take money from someone and give it to someone else?”, I still hold strongly to this conviction. Taking money from someone and giving it to someone else does not satisfy the definition of “general welfare.” It’s no different from you and me going out and playing Robin Hood, which is illegal. As far as the current state of economic inequality goes, if the government was out of your pocket, it would be much easier to pull yourself up by your bootstraps by saving/being thrifty, and not forking over a quarter of your paycheck to Uncle Sam.
The fact that the meaning of the Constitution changes with the times should also be subject to scrutiny. I don’t feel that the interpretation of the Constitution should be up to the times, but that it should be up to the language of the document (as I describe in my criticism of the “general” welfare). Above all, we are a republic, not a democracy. Let me explain the difference: a republic is governed by laws (i.e. the Constitution), whereas a democracy is governed by the opinion of the majority. Thanks to the Constitution, if the majority is large enough, we are able to change our laws. As for your example of segregation, I feel the language of the Declaration of Independence puts that to rest (“All men (/women) are created equal”). This brings me back to my original question to Obama supporters: do you wish to amend the Constitution, and if not, do you agree with its spirit? Socialism is not the spirit of America.
If power is taken away from the government, this only transfers power to the people. The people gain a greater freedom of choice, because they have more money in their pockets, and can therefore make more choices. If the towns or states want to vote for taxes, so be it. It’s far easier to move out of a state than the entire country. This type of power should not lie in the hands of the central government.
I’m glad I appeared as “easy pickings,” but my claims are backed by Supreme Court rulings and the American Spirit itself. Jefferson is my homeboy.
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