From: keithl@klic.rain.com (Keith Lofstrom)
Subject: Re: Freedom, Social Responsibility, Individual Responsibility
Organization: Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 23:13:31 GMT

In article <1992Dec13.223549.25391@hounix.org> wlarkin@hounix.org (Ward Larkin) writes:
>
>The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States
>of America has a somewhat similar phrase ( that is, the
>life, liberty and pursuit of happiness phrase ) but's it's
>intent is to protect the people from oppressive government,
>not to assure the people the freedom to do whatever they
>wish.
>
>That phrase from the Constitution is
>
>     No person shall be ... deprived of life, liberty
>     or property without due process of law ....
>
>In the case of these helmit laws ( both bicycle and
>motorcycle ) there was due process law, and there
>laws were well within the overall purpose of the
>Constitution:
>
>   to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,
>     provide for the common defense, promote the
>     general welfare, and to secure the blessings of
>     liberty to ourselves and our prosperity.

er, that's "posterity" ... you know, like what you sit on :-)

Yes, that is what the Constitution is for.  The founders designed a
government to do those things, and described it in some detail.  They
did NOT give this government carte blanche;  most of the Constitution
describes RESTRAINTS on it's actions, such as the 10th amendment:

    The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution,
    nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States
    respectively, or to the people.

If the government had the power to do anything it wanted, then it would
be awfully silly for the founders to include this clause, no?  What are
the powers delegated to the Constitution?  Well, read section 8.  It's
longer than I wish to quote directly, but in summary: the government can
borrow and coin money, tax, run courts, a patent office, a post office,
and a military, and declare war.   That's IT.  There is nothing in there
about personal safety, charity, disaster relief, education, undeclared
war, substance abuse, or the environment.  All these things were known
about in 1789.  They were not included because there were not supposed
to be there, as the copious writings of the founders attest. 

If you want to give the government more powers, write some new amendments.
The government is not entitled by the Constitution to grant itself more
powers.  To take powers without jumping the Constitutional hurdles is
at best lazy and at worst leads to totalitarianism.

I recognize the ability of the current government to make me do anything
they want; that ability is based on their power to jail or kill me.
However, I do not confuse that ability with a right, and I will not
lift a finger to defend that government or it's functionaries.  The
current U.S. government is operating outside the law it was formed under.
No doubt a huge government is popular right now, and in the short term
appears successful to those who aren't it's victims.  But as the
government's appetite increases, so will the victims;  the power and
the loot has to come from somewhere.  Eventually some group will
object to the things YOU do, and you will get a taste of what many of
us are already familiar with.  Bon appetite!

Keith
-- 
Keith Lofstrom         keithl@klic.rain.com       Voice (503)-520-1993
KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Power ICs