Responsibility of US Government

Care to comment on the "Responsibility of US Government?" Let Us Know!

What is the responsibility of the US Government? Not "what do we want the government to do (for us)," but what are they SUPPOSED to be doing?

The way I see it, the Constitution (original + Bill of Rights) pretty much spells it out in it's entirety. Of course, later Amendments remedying the right to vote and the ending of slavery are great, but they do not add to what the government is charged with performing, they only prohibit the government from what they should not have been doing in the first place.

The preamble to the Constitution is nothing more than a statement of intent. It conveys no power or authority:

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Only the Articles and Amendments to the Articles convey (or restrict) power and authority. Unfortunately, the Preamble has been used to usurp power and authority - specifically, the phrase "promote the general welfare."

Article 1 establishes Congress (Senate & House) and gives the Congress the power to legislate - make laws and enforce them. It tells them how to go about electing the members and gives the House the SOLE Power of Impeachment and the Senate the SOLE power to TRY all impeachments and defines the limit of their impeachment powers.

It tells them when they MUST meet (once per year) and provides for compensation, grants them limited privileged immunity from arrest while in session or travelling to/from session - except for Treason, Felony or Breach of the Peace (whatever that means).

It establishes the process for making laws and authorizes Congress to make laws for raising revenues (taxation).

Article 1, Section 8. [Scope of Legislative Power] establishes the extent of Congressional powers and DUTIES:

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;
To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;
To establish post offices and post roads;
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries; (through Patenting, not funding)
To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;
To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;
To provide and maintain a navy;
To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;--And
To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.

The following two sections place LIMITS on the power of Congress & the States, and grants no powers.

Article 2 deals with the Presidency - Election, Installation, and Removal in Section 1, and the presidential powers in Section 2:

The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.
He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law: but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.
The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session.

Section 3 places a few specific duties upon the President - making the State of the Union address, receiving Ambassadors, MAKING SURE that the laws be faithfully executed, and commissioning Officers of the United States. The last section deals with presidential impeachment.

Article III deals with the federal court system:
Section 1. The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.
Section 2. (Judicial Powers Section) The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority;--to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls;--to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction;--to controversies to which the United States shall be a party;--to controversies between two or more states;--between a state and citizens of another state;--between citizens of different states;--between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of different states, and between a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens or subjects. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury; and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any state, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.
Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted.

Article 4 deals with the States and Article 5 with amendments.

Of the 27 Amendments, only 2 do not place further restrictions on government authority - one of which was repealed (18th, on prohibition, repealed by the 21st) and one which the Supreme Court has clearly stated, time and again, "confers no new power (of taxation)" - the 16th Amendment.

That's it, folks. These are all the powers and duties the Constitution provides for and allows. Specific attention should be paid to the 9th and 10th Amendments in the Bill of rights - a clear attempt to keep government bloat in check:

Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X
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.

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