In characteristic, succinct style the Eighth Amendment has few words – Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted – yet the Eighth Amendment has produced a vast volume of commentary and litigation since its ratification in 1791. This should not be surprising, as the three major provisions of the amendment address some of the most controversial and emotionally charged issues concerning the rights of criminal defendants, which were greatly expanded during the eras of the Warren Court (1953-69) and the Burger Court (1969-86).
While most people don’t know and cloistered academics, progressive politicians, bumbling bureaucrats and activist judges don’t care, there is little doubt that historically the Constitution’s framers took definitive steps to ensure that the federal government would not intrude into state issues through the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, which reads: 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.
While most people don’t know and cloistered academics, progressive politicians, bumbling bureaucrats and activist judges don’t care, there is little doubt that historically the Constitution’s framers took definitive steps to ensure that the federal government would not intrude into state issues through the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, which reads: 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.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. These are the 21 simple yet transcendent words of the Ninth Amendment. This country would not exist as we know it if the Bill of Rights and in particular the crucial Ninth and Tenth Amendments weren’t also included to protect federalism – states’ sovereign rights over federal socialist tyranny.
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In my last column, “Birth of a conservative intellectual,” I presented a personal narrative of how I rejected the zeitgeist of Darwinism, liberalism, socialism and hedonism that permeated most American colleges and are zealously embraced by most of my classmates, to become a Reagan conservative during my senior year at DePauw University, leading to the genesis of my first essays 30 years ago. Below is my second essay I published on this long odyssey of becoming a conservative intellectual in America.
I’ve been a Ronald Reagan conservative for 30 years now. This epiphany experience compelled me to write the essay below, which was the first of two essays written exactly 30 years ago for my school newspaper, The DePauw, during my senior year at DePauw University. I was 21 years old.
Note that this essay on aesthetics demonstrates a realization of the superior cognitive value of classical music over other forms of music years before the “Build Your Baby’s Brain” music series became popular for pregnant woman.
Conservative intellectual Dr. Thomas Sowell, in a recent column, “Teaching Americans to hate their country,’“ made the historical observation about how 100 years ago progressives like John Dewey of Columbia University changed the American education paradigm whereby teachers were no longer considered “the transmitter of society’s culture” (as they have been for roughly the past 6,000 years) but activist “agents of [progressive, socialist] change,” as evidenced by the way most Americans have been happily educated inside its Marxist propaganda factories called “public schools.”
President Obama is hellbent on using his 23 executive orders not only to take away America’s guns, but he is deputizing all doctors to snitch on any of their patients who are gun owners. Obama’s progressive plan to eradicate the Second Amendment is systematic – first by registration, second by regulation, third by confiscation, and finally by mass extermination.
In my last column, I made the historical connection between presidents Wilson and Obama, characterizing Obama as “Wilson reborn.” In other words, if the radical legislation Wilson signed 100 years ago in 1913 was what I call “the birth of a Tragedy,” then America is collectively living through the ghoulish resurrection of Wilson through Obama. To help people understand the existential connection between these progressive leaders, Mark Levin, a conservative intellectual, radio host and best-selling author, on his Dec. 19 show, took the occasion to read from Woodrow Wilson’s 1908 treatise, “Constitutional Government in the United States.”
“The corruption, crime, and incompetence of the D.C. government has been an embarrassment to our nation’s capital for decades. It is long past time that Congress restored the honor and integrity of George Washington to the beautiful city which bears his name.” ~ Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), speaking on the BOWSER Act “It is […]
Fifth Circuit’s Ruling against “Nasdaq Board Diversity Rule” Safeguards Meritocracy Over Mediocrity
“The evidence presented by Nasdaq in its rule proposal, contrary to its claims, does not show that board diversity provides better returns for shareholders.” ~Excerpt from a Manhattan Institute led amicus curiae brief in the case of Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment vs. SEC. “We will terminate every diversity, equity, and inclusion program across the […]
The Keep Nine Amendment: A Permanent Solution to Threats of Court-Packing
“I think that was a bad idea when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt tried to pack the court. If anything would make the court appear more partisan, it would be that. So, I am not at all in favor of that solution. Nine seems to be a good number. It’s been that way for a […]
THE CRUEL AND UNUSUAL 8TH AMENDMENT
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