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A Little Tidbit from Jefferson Davis
salzo
Member Posts: 6,396 ✭✭
Just finished reading THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT by JEFFERSON DAVIS. An excellent account of how the Federal government abandoned the constitution. Davis goes to great lengths showing how the Federal government had abused its powers, and takes great care in specifically spelling out what the constitution authorized the federal government to do, and how the Federal government continually violated the constitution.
Many great passages, but this is one of my favorites;
"If the common treasury of the states had, as under the confederation, been supplied by direct taxation, who can doubt that a rigid economy would have been the rule of the government;that representatives would have returned to their constituents to justify appropriations for which they voted by showing that they were required for the general welfare, and were authorized by the Constitution under which they were acting? When the money was obtained by indirect taxation, so that but few could see the source from which it was derived, it readily followed that a constituency would ask, not why the representative had voted for the expenditure of money, but how much he had got for his own district, and perhaps he might have to explain why he did not get more. Is it doubtful that this would lead to extravagance, if not corruption? Nothing could be more fatal to the independence of the people and the liberties of the states that depended for support on the public treasury, whether it be in the form of subsidies, of bounties, OR RESTRICTIONS ON TRADE FOR THE BENEFIT OF SPECIAL INTERESTS. In the decline of the Roman empire, the epoch in which the hopelesssness of renovation was made manifest was that in which the people accepted corn from the public granaries; it preceded but a little the time when the post of emperor became a matter of purchase. How far would it differ from this if constituencies should choose their representation, not for their integrity, not for their capacity, not for their past services, but because of their ability to get money from the public treasury for the benefit of their local interests; how far would it differ from a purchase of the office if a president were chosen because of the favor he would show to certain moneyed interests?"
"Sometimes the people have to give up some individual rights for the safety of society."
-Bill Clinton(MTV interview)
Many great passages, but this is one of my favorites;
"If the common treasury of the states had, as under the confederation, been supplied by direct taxation, who can doubt that a rigid economy would have been the rule of the government;that representatives would have returned to their constituents to justify appropriations for which they voted by showing that they were required for the general welfare, and were authorized by the Constitution under which they were acting? When the money was obtained by indirect taxation, so that but few could see the source from which it was derived, it readily followed that a constituency would ask, not why the representative had voted for the expenditure of money, but how much he had got for his own district, and perhaps he might have to explain why he did not get more. Is it doubtful that this would lead to extravagance, if not corruption? Nothing could be more fatal to the independence of the people and the liberties of the states that depended for support on the public treasury, whether it be in the form of subsidies, of bounties, OR RESTRICTIONS ON TRADE FOR THE BENEFIT OF SPECIAL INTERESTS. In the decline of the Roman empire, the epoch in which the hopelesssness of renovation was made manifest was that in which the people accepted corn from the public granaries; it preceded but a little the time when the post of emperor became a matter of purchase. How far would it differ from this if constituencies should choose their representation, not for their integrity, not for their capacity, not for their past services, but because of their ability to get money from the public treasury for the benefit of their local interests; how far would it differ from a purchase of the office if a president were chosen because of the favor he would show to certain moneyed interests?"
"Sometimes the people have to give up some individual rights for the safety of society."
-Bill Clinton(MTV interview)