Page 110 - Beers With Our Founding Fathers

Beers with our Founding Fathers

age twenty-one years to age

eighteen years.

27. Congressional salaries cannot
be enacted until the next
(1789) (1992)
session of Congress following
passage.

The Eighteenth Amendment (prohibition of alcohol) was

repealed by the Twenty-First. I submit that the Eighteenth was
unconstitutional on the foundation that it restricted the people and
empowered the government. The Constitution is for those laws

which empower the people and restrict the government. If the

Constitution were to prohibit human trafficking, I would oppose it
only on these same grounds, and of course would otherwise support

such meaningful legislation. Similarly, and on this foundation, any
proposal to amend our Constitution by being prohibitive to the

people and thus empowering the government would be
unconstitutional. This would include any amendments that would

infringe on the Bill of Rights or those enumerated thereafter – such
as women’s right to vote and abolishing slavery. Although the

Constitution is a document to be amended, it is not a ‘living’
document – as defined when legislative acts happen from the

judicial bench. Those amendments must be chosen carefully and
with purpose.

The strength and durability of the Constitution lies in its
simplicity and ability to be amended. It is not an ‘evolving’ or ‘living’

document. The simplicity created a form of government unseen in

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