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View Full Version : our.gop.com Constitutionalist Republicans debate on the Elastic Clause




GunnyFreedom
12-08-2009, 11:25 PM
About a month ago, there was formed on our.gop.com a group for Ron Paul Republicans which quickly became the largest group on the site. I then formed a group called "Constitutionalist Republicans" for those Republicans who were at heart Ron Paulers but didn't know it because of the media smearjob having left them with a false impression. It has now grown to 136 members, second behind the Ron Paul Republicans group of 588 members, followed closely by "Back To Goldwater Republicans" with 133 members.

Currently, I am in a debate on the wall (that will hopefully move into the discussion forum now that I have fixed it -- it was broken) over "the elastic clause" of the US Constitution and whether it gives Congress the power to enact laws not authorized by the enumerated powers of the Constitution.

Please feel free to join the group and weigh in!

http://our.gop.com/Groups/Constitutionalist_Republicans

phill4paul
12-08-2009, 11:43 PM
I would Gunny, but I'm real caught up in the 14th amendment right at this time.;)

All I could contribute is that as a Constitutionalist I thought I knew the Constitution. Knowing the Constitution with out a thorough understanding of the history of the Constitution is a crime I consider myself guilty of.

The wording, the time period, all lead to an understanding of the original intent.

GunnyFreedom
12-09-2009, 12:12 AM
Oh no worries, it was just an invite for interested parties to weigh in. But yes, we did not arrive at where we are in a vacuum. History is crucial to understanding what brought us to this point.

The big-government people would have us believe that Hamilton was right, and that Madison did not understand the meaning of the words that he, himself wrote. I blame our Federal education system for glossing over the intent of our Founders as revealed in the Federalist papers, and just going with the Hamiltonian "The debate is over. The science is settled. There is a consensus" kind of thing. Believe me, that tactic was not new with Gore-ian AGW.

The debate over the 14th is something that I intend to bring to the our.gop.com group when I can draw a bunch of folks into active participation. I figure get some activity rolling and send out a few bulletins, draw some of the membership back into activity and then start opening the 14th Amendment question.

First, however, I want to establish some authority on historical accuracy. I kinda figured this debate over the "elastic clause" WRT Madison and Hamilton is the perfect opportunity to do just that.

Very few people today even know what "the elastic clause" refers to and why. In effect, it was an early attempt to pervert the clear wording of the Constitution to create the situation which the 14th Amendment actually codified.

Alexander Hamilton was an imperialist. The first NeoCon if you will. The themes that are tied together by the 14th in a neat bow had their origin in the Hamiltonian approach to the Constitution. The 14th Amendment is the fulcrum, and the Hamiltonian interpretation (ie "the elastic clause") is the far end of the lever.