“To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.”

Foregoing meaning: : “listed, mentioned, or occurring before”.

So Congress has “implied powers” to carry into execution the powers that were previously listed in Article 1 Section 8. But this clause limits Congress by stating that these laws made in pursuance of executing the forgoing powers must be “necessary and proper” to executing those powers.

The point of the article was that government decided to just do whatever. We’ve just forgone the very necessary and very legal process of simply amending the document. The idea behind amending the Constitution is to prevent the exact type of situation we see today.

The Constitution is a very specific administrative document that consists of interlocking if/then statements. It seems vague for three reasons –

1) Education has failed. The Federalist Papers and Anti-Federalist Papers are no longer required reading.
2) Society is now operating on a whole series of assumptions that simply aren’t true. For example, America being a “democracy”. Article Four, Section Four says we’re guaranteed “a republican form of government”. And no, that’s not the insane neocons version of republican.
3) A lot of moneyed interests across the entire industrial and political spectrum went on the mother of all PR blitzes to change the definition of wording and terminology. They’ve parsed the whole subject of the Constitution to erode its value to get what they wanted.

Rick’s painted a very broad brush when it comes to what libertarians think. Maybe I disagree with Friedman. Rick doesn’t know because he didn’t ask. He assumed. But he did assume correctly that we’re all about using our own consumption power to take our proverbial ball home – which I do. I found that big media used the FCC to monopolize the airwaves and cheapen the content, so I canceled it years ago. I also cut up my credit card. I’m not about to ask Rick to do these things because it’s not my place. It’s just the way we approach monopolies once their abuse makes them a pariah. In fact, that’s why they fail eventually. If anything, the internet is doing that to mainstream media.

To T., he needs to cite which powers are vested. A lot of people use the general welfare clause the same way. Again, that’s why we have a process of amending the document. Also, the Ninth Amendment forbids the enumeration of certain rights to the government from being construed so as to deny rights retained by the people.

Mr. Carlson correctly assesses that, yes, things are bad. I myself call our department of defense a department of offense the way it is being used. However, he forgets that the whole point, and a lot of the history behind that point, involves not asking permission and using other powers not granted to the government. Again, we should go through the process of amending the Constitution if we want a central bank of issue. That is the very source of the power our “oppressors” wield. Instead of asking for money for oppressing the world and sacrificing soldiers, they just go ahead and extort an inflation tax – then lie about how much they counterfeited. Remember, we had actual growth, growth shared according to one’s contribution. Today, that growth depends upon how close you can position yourself to the money spigot. Unfortunately, Carlson is dead in assuming everything is so dramatically different that human nature no longer applies. In fact, Jefferson, Franklin and many others fought the same evil out of necessity. The Bank of England ordered Parliament to forbid the issuance of colonial script, which led to the real causes of the revolution. If anything, our founders would have most of Congress in jail were they alive today.

David Smith hit the nail on the head.

I think James is right that the 10th Amendment reassured states’ fears. However, it included individuals purposefully. Again, the thoughts and clarifications of our founders are well documented. The document is, again, precise. For example, the writ of habeus corpus shall not be suspended unless in cases of rebellion and insurrection the public safety may require it. Then, the neocons rammed the Military Commissions Act through. I’m not sure if someone else saw it, but I didn’t see an invasion or a rebellion going on.

I do agree with your frustration though.

Respondents: The author’s intent is to show how far we have swung from original intent to contemporary practice. To the one of you that quoted the Necessary and Proper Clause, many of the items that the author listed are neither necessary nor are the proper as instituted. He made the very good, very accurate point that Congress has not the Power to expand its own Powers. I believe we would all agree that this is neither necessary nor proper under the original intentions of the Framers. Agreed? A national government that is able to institute such programs as have been instituted since FDR is not found in our Constitution. However, a government where the States are able to amend the Constitution, delegating further Powers and responsibilities to the Federal Government, is a concept not foreign to our Constitution. So, then, where is ‘retirement planning’ in the Constitution? Or ‘healthcare’ or ‘healthcare insurance’? Or ‘education,’ as the author mentioned? They are absent because these would be items left to the States, or to the People. And if we now desire them to be Federal items, Article 5 provides the “necessary and proper” method of delegating such authority.

Foreign Respondent: Nice not having to have your own military, is it not? Oh, and 50% of our budget does not go to the military, national defense, or as you put it, offense. Quoting such figures when you obviously don’t know what the true figure is makes you appear totally, irrefutably a dunce. Get the right figure, include a term like “approximately,” or stick to the devil you know. How’s your healthcare system, btw? I can walk into any local hospital today and have my spleen removed if I desire…how long is your waiting list? The idea of government running hospitals and schools should make us all wince and cause flashbacks of Hitler and Stalin to pass through our collective memories.