Thanks for sharing this JSM!!
On Tue, Dec 28, 2010 at 1:03 PM, JSM <[email protected]> wrote: > > > The Constitution of the United States begins with the words "We the > people." But neither the Constitution nor "we the people" will mean anything > if politicians and judges can continue to do end runs around both. > > Bills passed too fast for anyone to read them are blatant examples of these > end runs. But last week, another of these end runs appeared in a different > institution when the medical "end of life consultations" rejected by > Congress were quietly enacted through bureaucratic fiat by administrators of > Medicare. > > Although Congressman Earl Blumenauer and Senator Jay Rockefeller had led an > effort by a group of fellow Democrats in Congress to pass Section 1233 of > pending Medicare legislation, which would have paid doctors to include "end > of life" counselling in their patients' physical checkups, the Congress as a > whole voted to delete that provision. > > Republican Congressman John Boehner, soon to become Speaker of the House, > objected to this provision in 2009, saying: "This provision may start us > down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia." > > Whatever the merits or demerits of the proposed provision in Medicare > legislation, the Constitution of the United States makes the elected > representatives of "we the people" the ones authorized to make such > decisions. But when proposals explicitly rejected by a vote in Congress are > resurrected and stealthily made the law of the land by bureaucratic fiat, > there has been an end run around both the people and the Constitution. > > Congressman Blumenauer's office praised the Medicare bureaucracy's action > but warned: "While we are very happy with the result, we won't be shouting > it from the rooftops because we are not out of the woods yet." > > In other words, don't let the masses know about it. > > It is not only members of Congress or the administration who treat "we the > people" and the Constitution as nuisances to do an end run around. Judges, > including Justices of the Supreme Court, have been doing this increasingly > over the past hundred years. > > During the Progressive era of the early 20th century, the denigration of > the Constitution began, led by such luminaries as Princeton scholar and > future President of the United States Woodrow Wilson, future Harvard Law > School Dean Roscoe Pound and future Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. > > As a Professor at Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson wrote > condescendingly of "the simple days of 1787" when the Constitution was > written and how, in our presumably more complex times, "each generation of > statesmen looks to the Supreme Court to supply the interpretation which will > serve the needs of the day." > > -- > When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying > the cross. > > Sinclair Lewis > > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at > http://www.PoliticalForum.com/<http://www.politicalforum.com/> > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
