RSLudlum
11-14-2008, 12:24 AM
Well, kinda sorta, there's no mention of RP but definitely talks about how popular plundering your neighbor is, and the problems with a candidate that doesn't adhere to this idea.
from a Freeman article written by Walter Williams in 2006 ;)
http://www.fee.org/Publications/the-Freeman/article.asp?aid=6598
excerpt:
Thomas Jefferson explained in a letter to Albert Gallatin, “Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.”
What accounts for today’s acceptance of a massive departure from the framers’ clear vision of what federal activities were constitutionally permissible? It is tempting to blame politicians, and yes, we can blame them to some extent. But most of the blame lies with the American
people, who are either ignorant of the constitutional
limits the framers imposed on the federal
government or have contempt for those limits.
If They Were Running Today
We can see this by imagining that Madison, Pierce, or Cleveland were campaigning for the presidency today. Imagine their saying to today’s Ameri*cans they cannot find “a right of Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents” or “any authority in the Constitution for public charity.” Or, “I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution.” Their candidacy would be greeted with contempt by most Americans. They would be seen as callous, mean-spirited men by a nation of people who have now come to believe they have a right to live at the expense of other people through a variety of federal programs. Such a belief differs only in degree, but not kind, from the belief that one American should be forcibly used, through the tax code, to serve the purposes of another American.
The tragedy is that once such a belief system becomes accept*able, it pays for all Americans to attempt to live at the expense of others. If one American does not use government to live at the expense of another American, that does not mean he will pay lower taxes. It only means that there will be more money left over for others. In a word or so, once legalized theft becomes the standard, it pays for everyone to become a thief. A hundred years from now what Congress does and what is in the Constitution will bear absolutely no relationship at all. As a result Americans will be poorer both in terms of liberty and standard of living. They just might curse today’s generation.
from a Freeman article written by Walter Williams in 2006 ;)
http://www.fee.org/Publications/the-Freeman/article.asp?aid=6598
excerpt:
Thomas Jefferson explained in a letter to Albert Gallatin, “Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.”
What accounts for today’s acceptance of a massive departure from the framers’ clear vision of what federal activities were constitutionally permissible? It is tempting to blame politicians, and yes, we can blame them to some extent. But most of the blame lies with the American
people, who are either ignorant of the constitutional
limits the framers imposed on the federal
government or have contempt for those limits.
If They Were Running Today
We can see this by imagining that Madison, Pierce, or Cleveland were campaigning for the presidency today. Imagine their saying to today’s Ameri*cans they cannot find “a right of Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents” or “any authority in the Constitution for public charity.” Or, “I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution.” Their candidacy would be greeted with contempt by most Americans. They would be seen as callous, mean-spirited men by a nation of people who have now come to believe they have a right to live at the expense of other people through a variety of federal programs. Such a belief differs only in degree, but not kind, from the belief that one American should be forcibly used, through the tax code, to serve the purposes of another American.
The tragedy is that once such a belief system becomes accept*able, it pays for all Americans to attempt to live at the expense of others. If one American does not use government to live at the expense of another American, that does not mean he will pay lower taxes. It only means that there will be more money left over for others. In a word or so, once legalized theft becomes the standard, it pays for everyone to become a thief. A hundred years from now what Congress does and what is in the Constitution will bear absolutely no relationship at all. As a result Americans will be poorer both in terms of liberty and standard of living. They just might curse today’s generation.