Rational Nation USA

It is hard to believe nowadays, but the words libertarian and liberal both have roots in the word liberty.  Roger Cohen is the rare American liberal who still stands up for our constitutionally protected rights, while casting a jaundiced eye on the government that is supposed to protect them. Mr. Cohen has written an excellent article criticizing airport security, big government, and the damage they are doing to our society.  All excerpts are from his NY Times article, The Real Threat to America . Like most of us, he doesn't see government as evil, but more as a blundering behemoth that tramples our rights while trying to "save" us. He also displays an understanding of human nature that our founders displayed when they crafted our divided and limited government... Give a bureaucrat a big stick and a big budget, allow said bureaucrat to trade in the limitless currency of human anxiety, and the masses will soon be intimidated by the Department of Fear....

By: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA I just caught the Richmond - Times Dispatch   article entitled "Give States a Tool to Check Federal Power." The gist of which is to create another amendment to the Constitution. My immediate reaction... all this "Independent Conservative" and follower of Jeffersonian principles can say is amen. But after further thought I recaled the power already exists to curtail federal government expansion of power. It is known as the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.  The tenth amendment reads as follows; "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." As one can readily see any powers not specifically delineated to the Federal Government by the Constitution rests with each state respectively.  In other words if the federal government is overstepping it's authority,...