Previous

Contents

Next

Pot and Kettle
by L. Neil Smith
[email protected]

Attribute to L. Neil Smith's The Libertarian Enterprise

According to an article currently online at AntiWar.com—"Justice Dept, FBI Say Interest in Online Privacy an 'Indicator' of Terrorism" by Jason Ditz—the so-called Department of Justice, and its leg-breakers the Federal Bureau of Investigation, have sent a flyer out to businesses warning them that individuals who wish to protect their privacy and anonymity (by paying cash, for example) my be terrorists.

See the piece at [THIS LINK]

This idiotically evil act of war against the people of the United States isn't very different in principle from similar actions taken by Janet Napolitano and her goblins at the Department of Homeland Security, except that, for me, at least, it's the last straw. It also begs a question that should have been asked, loudly and frequently, a long time ago: what represents a greater threat to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, an individual who wants his private life unobserved by the state, or an agency of that state which is, in and of itself, against the law?

To help you answer that question—it isn't meant to be rhetorical—we present you here with Article I, Section VIII of the Constitution, which spells out in black and white the few things government is allowed to do under the highest law of the land. You won't find any provision for a national secret police force, or even for a department of so-called justice.

See how many other functions of the present government you can find—or fail to find—mentioned in this article. Remember that the Constitution is a charter and operating system for the state. Anything it fails to mention is not permitted, anything the government does outside those bounds is illegal, and those who do it are criminals.

Maybe we should send a warning flyer out to businesses about the FBI.

ARTICLE I, SECTION VIII

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence 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 an 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;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences 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, dock-Yards, 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.

Was that worth reading?
Then why not: