“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.”
My last essay discussed the style of the Constitution’s preamble. Gouverneur Morris, its principal author, composed a passage that was grand, euphonious, and balanced. This essay addresses the preamble’s substance. The preamble of a legal instrument recites understood...
by Michael Maharrey In and of itself, the federal government possesses no power. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Most Americans will read my opening statement with raised eyebrows. Some will immediately dismiss it with a shrug, figuring the author some kind of nutcase. Others will...
by Steve Palmer “It is certain that the most natural and human government is that of consent, for that binds freely, … when men hold their liberty by true obedience to rules of their own making.â€, William Penn  King Constitution It seems a paradox that...
by Shane Musgrove Some say that you can “vote with your feet†– a phrase popularized by Ronald Reagan (most often taken out of context) in 1976 and a philosophy some attribute to Ayn Rand which was alluded to in Atlas Shrugged. Nevertheless, taken for only the...
by Gary Galles, Mises.org 2009 has seen the greatest proliferation in American government command and control in over half a century, together with its corresponding constriction in liberty. Power is increasingly being centralized in the federal government—at the...
