Double Naught Spy said:
Antipitas said:
I'm still waiting for someone to tell me, under what legal theory does the Congress have the authority to "bail out" any private business.
This is a simply one - the Constitution, Article I, sections 8 and 9.
OK. Double Naught, reference me the
exact clause in either sect. 8 or sect. 9 that gives the Congress such a power.
You are not allowed to use, clause 1 of section 8:
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; unless you can give me a counter argument to what Justice Story expounds upon in his Commentaries.
The fact of the matter is that Congress had no such authority until FDR came along. Until that time, the so-called general welfare clause was related only to collecting taxes, not their disbursement. It was FDR and his New Deal that usurped a tremendous amount of power that was never before even hinted at, let alone considered.
Remember, it took an amendment to ban alcohol, but with the New Deal, it only took a statute to ban other drugs.
Double Naught Spy said:
The other is to ask just what would part of the Constitution or law preclude Congress from performing the bailout.
Wrong view. What is not enumerated is forbidden. This was the very talking point of federalism by Hamilton. Time and again, in the Federalist Papers, it was expounded upon. If that wasn't enough, the 10th amendment addresses this specific point.
10th Amendment said:
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.
We could go on about this, suffice it to say, that as long as the majority of the people allow the Congress and the President to get away with the things that have been done, it will never change. The Judiciary has no power to enforce its own edicts. If the Legislative and Executive branches thumb their collective noses at the Judicial branch, what can they do?
It's been that way since Jackson gave the Courts their wake-up call.