By Oliver DeMille -Free democracies protect the property of all. -Socialist nations protect the property of none. -Monarchies consider all property the estate of the king. -Aristocracies have one set of property and investment laws for the very rich and a different one for the rest.* -Free democracies assess tax money fairly from all the [...]
By Kyle Roberts MODERN INTERPRETATIONS OF THE COMMERCE CLAUSE The major modern interpretations of the meaning behind the commerce clause come from two professors who wrote fifty eight and seventy four years ago, respectively. The first was Walton Hamilton who in 1937 wrote “The Power to Govern; The Constitution – Then and Now.” He argued [...]
By Kyle Roberts The Commerce Clause has morphed into a congressional carte blanche for “constitutional” legislation. As a result of improper constitutional interpretation and verbal legal maneuvering, the original understanding of the clause and its operation has been totally lost. I have written elsewhere that the proper source for grasping original understanding of the Constitution [...]
By Kyle Roberts “All men are created equal” is perhaps the least understood and most abused phrase in American Independence literature. As with most other historical concepts – stripped of original context – it has come to be the philosophical authority for virtually every social doctrine, special interest persuasion, international proceeding, and progressive ideology. As [...]
By Chris Brady According to Ronald Reagan, some of the most dangerous words were, “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.” Reagan in that one little quip summed up what plagues much of the United State’s current condition. Author W. Cleon Skousen coined the term “Counter-Productive Compassion” to describe what I see displayed [...]
By Kyle Roberts The former Alaska Attorney General John Havelock recently wrote: “The ‘Originalists’ of 2011 want to throw out much of what generations of judges have had to say, [about the Constitution] in favor of a new interpretation of what the draftsmen thought.” “Originalists color themselves as conservatives, but this approach … reveals the [...]
By Oliver DeMille Paine versus Burke It is popular to describe the differences between two big divisions of each major political party. For example, Democrats are sometimes called cluster liberals (who “view politics as a battle between implacable opponents”) versus network liberals (who “believe progress is achieved by leaders savvy enough to build coalitions,” even [...]
By Kyle Roberts This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Read Part 1 here. The Power of the States Large-scale republics do not allow the people to effectively monitor their elected officials. The more people there are, the more issues follow. When issues increase it is harder for the people to create a stable [...]
By Kyle Roberts One of the disadvantages of a republic is agency costs. The smaller the ratio between the people and their elected officials the more secure are the rights of the people. Conversely, the larger the ratio between the people and their elected officials the less secure are the rights of the people. This [...]
by Oliver DeMille The rise of independents in American politics is a major trend that has drastically changed the political landscape. But why is it happening now? Are both major parties so bad now — indeed so much worse than they have ever been — that the majority of involved citizens just can’t stand them [...]
