I read every word. Everyone should do that. Interesting what you find in the Constitution, and the Declaration. Perhaps more interesting is what you don't find.
I looked high and low but could not find the words "The federal government shall have the power to solve our perceived problems." Couldn't find it, or anything like it.
Also, couldn't find "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but these inalienable rights may be alienated by the federal government when it is deemed by the government to interfere with its solving our perceived problems." Couldn't find it.
What I did find was "To secure these rights, governments are instituted among men."
Also found "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."
In 200-odd years, the federal government , as generally perceived by members of all parties, has gone from protector of our rights to solver of our problems. Virtually all political discussions these days implicitly include the acknowledgment by those doing the discussing that the government should pass a law to do something to "solve" the particular problem being discussed, the only disagreement being what particular law will "work better".
The Founding Fathers declared that one of the "injuries and usurpations" committed by the British King which impelled them to wrench free from his control was his declaring himself "invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever." In other words, to solve their problems for them.
One other thing I did find: "The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."
Including my right to solve my own problems?
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