Re: DOES THE 9th AMENDMENT PROTECT RESPONSIBLE REC DRUG USE?

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Manny Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>brian bennett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>> no individual citizen has the *right* to void the self-directed free
>> choices of another -- thus there can be no *power* collectively
>> granted to the government to do so.

>And since no individual has the right to tax another individual, there 
>can be no power collectively granted to government to do so.

Au contraire.  A population can give the power to the government to tax in
exchange for services.

So "we", through our ancestors and/or forefathers who crafted the constitution
and voted in favor of it, granted the power to the government to tax us in
exchange for services provided (common defense, infrastructure, etc.).

So, I don't have the right to force taxation upon you from without, but we
as a people have given the power to government to set and collect taxes.  If
you don't like it, leave the confines of the country that is collecting the
taxes and set up your own autonomous country -- assuming you can find
somewhere the is not claimed by some country.  Perhaps the moon?  Or there
might even be some small islands available...

>The fact that the constitution can be amended (by government X) to grant 
>any power whatsoever (to government X) demolishes the pretense of a  
>constitution that limits government X's power.  

The constitution cannot be amended solely by the government.  It can only
be amended by representatives of the people (you and me) who meet in the
federal govrenment and then approved by the individual states.  In both
cases it requires a super-majority.

Well, except in the case of the Supreme Court reinterpreting it...

If you can think up a better system, why not find a place where you can
establish an autonomous country with your system and see how it works?

-Pete Zakel
 ([EMAIL PROTECTED])

"The streets are safe in Philadelphia, it's only the people who make them
 unsafe."
                -Frank Rizzo, ex-police chief and mayor of Philadelphia