Constitution

Dear Editor, No American will be more happy than me to see the Bush era finally end. What a long, horrible, embarrassing nightmare these past eight years have been. We've had perpetual war, an economy on life support and a world that turned against us, with good reason. We've been misled and told lie after lie. Our military has been misused and abused. But the most damaging of all is we've had a full blown assault on our Constitution. George W. Bush waged war on the Constitution that he swore to uphold.

Dear Editor, Several states never ratified the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution. This amendment created what we know today as the Federal Reserve Act, or the federal income tax law. In reality, there is no "law" that we must pay a federal tax on our labor. I openly challenge anyone to show me such a law. The Constitution does not provide for such a tax. Under the Articles of Taxation, the Constitution provides authorization for states and municipalities to levy taxes, not the federal government.

Dear Editor, George W. Bush has committed many crimes over the years against the people of this country as well as the people of Iraq. He has made a mockery of the Constitution which he has sworn to uphold. No one, not even the president, should be above the law. He should be impeached immediately before he can do more harm to our country. Harry Wheat Danville

Dear Editor, A New Jersey man has challenged the legitimacy of the election of Barack Obama. The basis for his challenge is his belief that Obama was not born in the United States as our Constitution requires, and therefore, is not eligible to hold the office of president. This gentleman is simply wrong. There is ample documented proof that Barack Obama was born in the state of Hawaii. On the other hand, had John McCain been elected instead of Obama, this gentleman would have had a valid reason to challenge the election of McCain.

Dear Editor, It's the time of the year again where our flag catches air, yellow ribbons cling and "Proud To Be An American" bumper stickers are stuck to every vacant car, window and sign in sight. This Fourth of July, let's not look at where we stand but where we have come from. A country seeking freedom and independence to a country where freedoms are stripped every day. A country longing to abandon the Continental dollar because of massive inflation and devaluation of money supply to a country that prints money to fund unconstitutional programs, government spending and war. A country that puts great pride and honor into its Constitution and founding documents, to a country that says the Constitution is "quaint.

Dear Editor: Why are the Republicans so up in arms about the judicial branch of government? The judicial branch is there to check the executive and the legislative branches. Why did our founding fathers call for this in the Constitution? That is a very easy question for anyone who had a civics class. Why do our Republican leaders not get it? Nominations to the court are not guaranteed appointments. That is what the Constitution allows for. It allows our legislative branch to question these nominations by the executive branch.

In response to Roger Bowman's letter to the editor, I would be happy to turn down Social Security and Medicare. I believe Social Security, Medicare and the income tax are three of the biggest mistakes this country has ever made. If Obamacare is allowed to stand, it will be the fourth. Perhaps Mr. Bowman and the rest of the socialists out there are the ones who need to get educated about the founding of this nation and the meaning of the Constitution. The Founding Fathers feared nothing more than an all powerful central government and wrote the Constitution to protect us as individuals from the government.

Danville Board of Education voted Monday night to help with legal expenses involved in a lawsuit that is expected to be filed Wednesday by the Council on Better Education. The council plans to file suit against the state claiming that the state is not adequately funding public elementary and secondary education. The council, which represents 166 of the 176 school districts in the state, has asked each of its member districts to contribute money for the legal fund at the rate of 50 cents for every student in the district.

Dear Editor, Everybody needs to read Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. It gives government the right to regulate trade among the states and to ensure there would be no duties or tariffs between them. The rest of it is meant to regulate trade with foreign counties and Indian tribes. For the first 150 years, that is how the clause was used. Under threats of Franklin Delanor Roosevelt and Congress, the courts began to re-interpret the Constitution. Those advocating taking power away from the states and giving it to a powerful centralized government began circumventing the restrictions placed on the federal government by putting a new spin on what is called the commerce clause and coupled it to the necessary and proper clause.

Dear Editor, This letter is in response to Lee Adams and to others who are misinformed about private property rights and the powers and restrictions of the Constitution. When he asked, "Where in the Constitution does he have the right to smoke and to inflict pain on someone else with his habit?" He is right. The Constitution does not speak of anything like that, nor does it prohibit it. According to the 10th Amendment in our Constitution, "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.