“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.”
The Constitution created a relatively small federal government, with powers limited to certain listed subjects. It was a frugal institution, designed to “preserve the blessings of Liberty” and to bring out the best in human beings. So how did it happen that federal...
A lot of people believe that the federal government is a friend to liberty because it protected African-Americans against discrimination in the 1960s. But research shows that this was the exception to the rule, at best. Centralized authority, including the federal...
EDITOR’S NOTE: On August 14, 1935, the Social Security Act was signed by FDR. The following article, originally published in 2005, examines the Act and the entire system of Social Security, from a Constitutional perspective. After President Bush put forth his...
by H.L. Mencken This satirical piece first appeared in The American Mercury, 41 (June 1937), 129-36, and was reprinted in condensed form by The Reader’s Digest, 31 (July 1937), 27-29. In order to indicate what reached the widest audience, the condensed version...