"The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing (sic) Senators."
This is a small but enlightening passage from The Constitution because it gives Congress open ended permission to decide how its members are chosen. Congress can, as far as I can see, make a law stating that anyone whose name begins with the letter "A", for example, will vote in the next Congressional race. Two years hence, those whose names begin with the letter "B" will vote.
Members of Congress would be thrown out on their ears if they tried such a tactic. After all, no matter what letter one's name begins with, the people will not allow elections to be limited by such a random law. Anything more limiting than that would probably insight a riot.
Admittedly, that's a very small part of a very large document, but it seems to say that Congress does have some open ended power over the states, even if it's only in the area of electing its own members.
Other than to determine the "rules of its proceedings", Section 5 doesn't give Congress a great deal more power.
Section 6 merely says that members of Congress will be paid for their "hard work". However, it does state that they cannot double dip into The US Treasury. One can not be a member of Congress and a postal worker at the same time. At least that's what I get out of it.
A more interesting section, Section 7 talks about the passage of laws. Remember, according to Section 1, Congress is in charge of passing laws. It has law passing powers. Granted, they're law passing powers that must be "limited" to its specific areas of responsibility, as described in The Constitution. One area, as we've seen, is to determine how one becomes a member of Congress.
I find the first sentence of Section 7 very intriguing.
"All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills."
Congress can pass laws concerning the income of the US Treasury.
At this point, it seems that Congress has the power to raise money for The United States Treasury and, since it doesn't exempt any specific method of "raising revenue", it seems to be somewhat open ended.
Section 8 states, "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; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;"
Does this section tell us that state taxes are unconstitutional? After all, it would seem that state taxes, sales and income, thwart any chance of "duties, imposts and excises" from being "uniform" throughout the United States.
More importantly, the founders, once again, hold up the federal government of The FUSA, through Congress, as the vehicle by which funds that keep The FUSA operational should be managed.
What could the framers have had in mind with the phrase "general welfare"? Could those who call themselves "strict Constitutionalists" claim that this is so cryptic as to dismiss it?
It doesn't state that Congress shall provide for the "general welfare" of the people of The FUSA, however. I wonder what the framers were thinking of with the phrase "United States" when referring to its "general welfare"? What is a nation anyway?
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