Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Some accusations are older than others
I stumbled across this old political cartoon on Princeton University's web site:
This causes me to think two things.
First, accusations that the president is trampling on the Constitution have a long tradition in American politics. FDR was far from the first either to do it, or to be accused of doing it. Both George W. Bush and his detractors might take comfort from that.
Second, we get accustomed to Constitutional revolution from above. Few Americans today reject the constitutionality of the regulatory welfare state. My prediction is that within the next couple of decades few Americans will doubt the constitutionality of the gathering of domestic signals intelligence, either. Whether you take comfort from that or not probably depends more on your politics than your principles.
CWCID: Glenn Reynolds, who knows a safe bet when he sees one.
9 Comments:
By 
smitty1e, at
Tue Nov 11, 04:46:00 PM:
>Few Americans today reject the constitutionality of the regulatory welfare state
Pick me! Pick me! 10th Amendment! Federalism! If you think Europe is great, move there!
By Assistant Village Idiot, at
Tue Nov 11, 04:51:00 PM:
smitty1e - heh.
People are very quick to call something unconstitutional in the opposition party, and I am frankly tired of it. Many SCOTUS decisions are divided, suggesting that there was at least something to be said for the other side of the argument.
By Escort81, at
Tue Nov 11, 05:00:00 PM:
FDR was about as populuar on Princeton's campus in the 1930s as W is today. My father, who will be 93 years old in two weeks, was Class of 1937 and was one of a small minority of FDR Democrats on campus (including the faculty). Of course, there were no women or persons of color as students on campus (although there was a Japanese student in the Class of 1936; he was the son of a VIP). By 1940, the date of the publication of the cartoon, my father had enlisted in the U.S. Navy and voted for FDR via absentee ballot.
I think I agree with both of your points. Abusing the power of the state somehow becomes less offensive when your guy controls the levers of power.
By Chris, at
Tue Nov 11, 05:37:00 PM:
In the next 40 years the regulatory welfare state is going to be severely tested. Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security are going to push the nation's finances to the brink. I wonder how the generation that has to deal with the final collapse will interpret the Constitution?
By 
, at
Tue Nov 11, 06:00:00 PM:
Some irony in it being the Princeton web site which posts this cartoon.
Woodrow Wilson, onetime President of Princeton, moved on to become President of the US.
And WW really knew how to trample the Constitution. IMO he was the most arrogant and power hungry President in all our history.
But there is no accounting for MO.
By smitty1e, at
Tue Nov 11, 06:13:00 PM:
@Chris:
I think they should pick a date, say, 01Jan20, and say that, as of then, all records for entitlements are transferred to the States, and they have to figure out how to bill their populations to cover them.
As for the non-entitlement portion of the Federal budget, that should be billed to the States, with an automatic VAT proviso to cover any deficit the state can't manage to cover.
Also, load-shed the 16th Amendment and the IRS--nothing left to do that the Treasury can't handle.
Then the Fed just articulates the budgetary requirements, and manages disputes between the states. This using of the tax code to sculpt societal behavior is as fondly remembered as a bad hangover.
Other than acute situations like war, the Fed does not engage in deficit spending, instead setting a reasonable example for the population to follow.
Bonus:
I'd put in a 'kill switch' amendment to the Constitution that means the Congress requires a 2/3 vote of confidence from State legislatures at the 18 month point, or none of the bums up for re-election can show up on the next ballot. Not term limits per se, but a means of lowering the probability that the Franks, the Stevens, the Dodd, the Pelosi, the Reid, the Murtha, the Cunningham, etc., whom you cannot vote against, gets to sit out a cycle and ponder their misdeeds.
I'd also randomize Committee appointments in the Congress, as they are as Constitutional as political parties.
Summary: we have a Constitution, and literacy thereof trumps Hope and Change.
By , at
Tue Nov 11, 07:47:00 PM:
OK. Here it is:
Down is the NEW up.
Tyranny is the NEW democracy.
Global warming is the NEW gospel.
Appeasement is the NEW peace.
Acquiesence is the New resolve.
Pick your poison my ladsand ladies, it's going to get tough.
By , at
Wed Nov 12, 02:18:00 PM:
I too saw the exhibit, and I too thought of the similarity to rhetoric of today. There, we diverged. While you laughed off the coincidence I thought this cartoon good evidence the battle will never be won.
By Noumenon, at
Sat Nov 15, 03:08:00 AM:
>Few Americans today reject the constitutionality of the regulatory welfare state
I think I'm one of them. I don't agree with Mencius Moldbug about all that much, but here's how he put it:
By my count, Anglophone North America ex Canada is on its fifth legal regime. The First Republic was the Congressional regime, which illegally abolished the British colonial governments. The Second Republic was the Constitutional regime, which illegally abolished the Articles of Confederation. The Third Republic was the Unionist regime, which illegally abolished the principle of federalism. The Fourth Republic is the New Deal regime, which illegally abolished the principle of limited government. link
