Recent content by John T. Kennedy

The 16th amendment is unconstitutional?

Doesn't the constitution claim authority for the federal government to tax me? What if I want to let a Mexican citizen come live with me in Nevada next week? Dr. Paul seems to claim authority for the government to prevent that, but I don't see how you can say it's not interference with my...

Setting aside the question of why the Constitution has any binding authority, where does it say he can only pardon citizens? In Article II, Section 2, I read: "...and he shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment." Where...

Fine, but what makes the Constitution binding on Americans? The Constitution grants the government with various powers over me - the power to tax, etc. Why is that binding on me?

Dr. Paul holds that the confederacy was free to withdraw it's consent to be governed under the Constitution. Wouldn't any individula have the same right? In fact I don't so consent any more than the Confedercy does. Would President Paul allow me to secede?

Anti-Paul? I thnk Paul's obviously the best candidate by far, and all the other candidates are monsters. I'm not pro-constitution though, so naturally I have some questions. Dr. Paul is running as the champion of the Constitution. Surely it's fair to ask why he thinks it should have authority, no?

If the Confederates were free to withdraw from this supposed agreement, as Dr. Paul holds, then isn't any American equally free to do the same?

Who would that refer to? At the time of ratification only a very small fraction of Americans were even allowed to vote, and not all who had the vote supported the Constitution. Women, slaves, native Americans and even most men without property had no say in the document. Hard to see how it could...

What gives the constitution legitimate authority?

Yesterday on CNN I heard Ron Paul say he would pardon all those convicted of non-violent drug crimes. But at the debate when illegal immigration came up he said "The law is the law and it should be enforced". Which is it? Why should some laws be enforced and others be gutted by pardon?

Gah. I just saw Ron Paul stonewall the issue on CNN. He said the editor was responsible for what went in the newsletters and Blitzer was too dim to ask who the editor was. It seems to be an open secret that the editor was Lew Rockwell, a close confidant of Ron Paul to this day. If that's true...

Um, does Ron Paul know anyone who would know?

I can't imagine what you're responding to in my post. What precisely did I have backwards?

Thomas DiLorenzo, reccomended by Ron Paul the other day, says Spooner defended the South. That's not really true. Spooner rightly rejected the Union's claim of authority over the South. What DiLorenzo fails to mention however is that Spooner raised money to finance an invasion of the South by...

In that case the president could effectively pardon the companies that declined to collect those taxes. Competing on price, companies would stop collecting the tax if they were free from prosecution.