SmallGovTimes.com

By: Steve Adcock | Published on 01/24/07    

Career politician Ted Kennedy's web site contains a pre-written letter that can be automatically sent to editors of major newspaper outlets in different parts of our nation, which already attempts to prove that Congress has made more progress in the last two weeks than in the last six years.

It is lovely to see Ted Kennedy has managed to hold on to his comedic sense. Here is the letter in full:

"To the Editor,

Maybe I'm dreaming, but it seems like the new Democratic Congress has done more in couple of weeks than the Republicans did in the past six years. It's refreshing to see our government actually working for us again, rather than getting wrapped up in power trips and partisan bickering.

I'm especially relieved to see Congress helping make college more affordable. Education is essential to the American Dream, but so many students are getting saddled with huge amounts of debt, and so many others simply can't afford to go to college in the first place. The United States is supposed to be about equal opportunity. Finally our government is putting that principle into practice."

To be fair, it is true that our government has not been working for us in the last six[ty] years. For as long as I can remember, Congress has succeeded in expanding our federal government to increasingly monumental proportions, further redistributing wealth and ignoring truly important issues of our time, such as immigration.

The second paragraph, however, is pretty dangerous to our society and completely refutes the limitations that the Constitution places on our federal government. In short, it is not Congress' job to make college more affordable. Congress' job is to protect the American people from threats, both foreign and domestic. So long as our government is concerned with unconstitutional matters like these, instead of what it was designed to do, I have no comfort level that another September 11th attack can be prevented.

I challenge any politician to point to an article or amendment within the Constitution that directly authorizes Congress to "make college more affordable", or for that matter, authorizes the Department of Education. Kennedy is indeed correct that education is important, but so long as he is a member of Congress, he has the obligation to govern based on the limitations that our Constitution provides.

The Constitution makes no authorization for the federal government to spend money on education, like subsidizing student loans or creating education policies, and that burden must be removed from the federal government. The government intends on making people depend on it through its various social programs, and that dependence works only to enlarge the government's reach even further. Federal education policies are not constitutional, and they are not right.

I encourage everyone to write to their local newspaper, but instead of support big government policies, instead demand that Congress obeys the Constitution and politicians live up to the oath they took. The future of our nation may depend on it.

Original URL:
http://www.smallgovtimes.com/story/07jan24.kennedy.letters/index.html