It has been popular over the last century to defend populist causes with a fluid interpretation of the Constitution. Attempts to find support for everything from abortion to welfare have been based on a “loose” interpretation of our founding document. This is actually as old as the document itself. Thomas Jefferson demanded a strict interpretation until he became president and loosened up for the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. For decades the largest constitutional battle was over a national bank. With our long history of the Federal Reserve and FDIC insurance we find this surprising, but the battle over this was of great constitutional significance. The problem was that the Constitution does not give Congress the power to create corporations, so according to the strict interpretation based on the Tenth Amendment only states could charter banks. Eventually this battle was dropped as more pressing problems came to the fore—like the Civil War. With the obliteration of the Tenth Amendment during reconstruction those demanding a strict interpretation of the Constitution were forced to retreat. (more…)

For the last several weeks we’ve had round the clock Stimulus talk. It is amazing that a President with a clear majority in the House and a near super-majority in the Senate has such a hard time passing his agenda. The only reason for this can be that even those who are strongly in his camp see that this bill is not meant to stimulate anything but Democratic turn out at the ballot box. Why else would so much of the stimulus be delayed until 2010? That year is very important because traditionally the party of the president loses Congressional seats in mid-cycle elections. With no ‘historical vote hysteria’ to push up the turn-out on the left and a resurgent right, President Obama could find himself on a short leash with the next Congress. He is doing all he can to buy votes. Many believed this package would be an easy win for Obama, but not so. (more…)

The hip pocket congress handed to our new President is to be as anti-business as ever. The leadership of the 111th Congress is intent on siphoning millions of dollars from business owners to benefit their trial lawyer constituency through discrimination lawsuits while silencing the voice of workers in union votes. Classic liberal tactic: enact legislation harming employees and stifling the economy while claiming to champion of the poor downtrodden worker crushed under the imaginary jackboot of business brown-shirts. Such polemics never result in good policy. (more…)