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    The future of liberty depends on reclaiming America’s first principles.

    Enough is Enough: Why General Welfare Limits Spending

    January 13, 2011 at 11:00 am

    3 Comments

    When it comes to finding a constitutional authority to validate congressional action, the General Welfare clause is like a box without bottom: there is no project too local or too narrow not to fall under the rubric of “general welfare.” The scope of the General Welfare clause was hotly debated … More

    The Coming Constitutional Debate

    January 12, 2011 at 12:00 pm

    23 Comments

    The Constitution has returned to Congress. It began with a ceremonial reading of the document on the House floor for the first time in US history. While the event had some problems, the act of reading the document that provides the authority for Congress in the first place sets the … More

    The Colorblind Constitution: Frederick Douglass on Race and America’s Founding

    January 11, 2011 at 3:30 pm

    13 Comments

    In a move one blogger called “Huck Finning the Constitution,” the 112th Congress left out the infamous “three-fifths compromise” in their much-publicized reading of the Constitution on the House floor. The “three-fifths compromise” is a clause in Article I, Section 2, which states the number of Congressional representatives from a … More

    The Constitution in One Sentence: Understanding the Tenth Amendment

    January 11, 2011 at 11:00 am

    10 Comments

    After the House of Representatives’ reading last week, the Constitution is suddenly the talk of the town.  Congressmen and women on both sides of the aisle are eager to display the latest “must-have accessory” – their pocket Constitutions.  This renewed interest goes beyond simply reading the document; people actually want … More

    Nancy Pelosi: Reader of the Constitution

    January 6, 2011 at 5:00 pm

    19 Comments

    Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

    The sublime irony of having Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) not only participate in a reading of the Constitution, but be assigned Article I, Section 1, seems to have been lost on those who attended the first-ever reading of the august text in the House of Representatives this morning. This, after all, … More

    The Return of the Forgotten Man?

    January 5, 2011 at 1:00 pm

    2 Comments

    During the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised to act in the name of “the forgotten man,” that is, the poor man, the old man, the man “at the bottom of the economic pyramid” in need of government help.  Amity Shlaes explained that FDR redefined the forgotten man and his … More

    Four Myths about the Filibuster

    January 5, 2011 at 11:12 am

    9 Comments

    There are four myths about the filibuster that you will hear over and over again. These myths are needed to justify any attempt to change the Senate’s rules with a simple majority vote. This is a power grab, pure and simple. The fact of the matter is that the explicit … More

    Morning Bell: Tea Party Congress Returns to Constitution

    January 5, 2011 at 9:07 am

    53 Comments

    Shortly after noon today, all 435 Members of the House of Representatives will raise their right hands and take the following oath: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear … More

    Video: Filibuster Hypocrisy

    January 4, 2011 at 3:26 pm

    7 Comments

    During his speech this afternoon at The Heritage Foundation, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) blasted the effort by some Senate Democrats to strip the filibuster from the Senate, stating “The brazenness of this proposed action is that Democrats are proposing to use the very tactics that in the past almost every … More

    Morning Bell: The Fight for the Filibuster

    January 4, 2011 at 9:18 am

    33 Comments

    When does a day last three weeks? When Senate Democrats want to rewrite the rules of the Senate to make it easier for the Majority Leader to end debate and block the amendment process. This Wednesday, the United States Senate is set to meet for its first “legislative day” of … More

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    The Morning Bell
    A Bumper Crop of Food Stamps

    Tweet this Where do food stamps come from? They come from taxpayers—certainly not from family farms. Yet the “farm” bill, a recurring subsidy-fest in Congress, is actually 80 percent food stamps and other government nutrition programs. The food stamps sweeten the farm deal for lawmakers, who admit that the combination … More

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