This page is intended as a resource to keep you informed on the cases currently under consideration that have an impact on the issues of Constitutional Freedom.

The Growth of Government in America
Published in The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty - April 1993
by Stephen Moore

Stephen Moore is Director of Fiscal Policy Studies at the Cato Institute. This article is adapted from a study prepared by the Institute for Policy Innovation.

Let us begin with a simple but vitally important proposition: Government in America was never supposed to engage in the multitude of activities that it does today.

When the United States gained its independence more than 200 years ago, the founding fathers envisioned a national government with explicit and restricted responsibilities. These responsibilities pertained mainly to protecting the security of the nation and ensuring “domestic tranquility,” which meant preserving public safety. Especially in the realm of domestic affairs the founders foresaw very limited government interference in the daily lives of its citizens. The founders did not create a Department of Commerce, a Department of Education, or a Department of Housing and Urban Development. This was not an oversight: They simply never imagined that the national government would take an active role in such activities.

The minimal government involvement in the domestic economy would be funded and delivered at the state and local levels. Even that involvement was to be restricted by Congress’ authority over interstate cornmerce, an authority granted to Congress by the founders ‘for the purpose of preventing the state governments from interfering with commerce. MORE....READ ENTIRE ARTICLE................. ............
 

 ACLU targets God, Taxpayers
from the http://www.derbydailyrep.com/articles/2004/07/23/news/edititorial/edit1.txt

By Jim Clements

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), in my humble opinion, has been one of the greatest scourges of this nation for some time now. I was shocked recently to learn that under a 1976 federal law called the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Awards Act, the ACLU has been gouging taxpayers for lawsuits they initiate. The law was designed to help plaintiffs in civil rights cases, but the ACLU has perverted it for First Amendment cases they file. They claim it is a civil right NOT to see a cross, the Ten Commandments, or hear the pledge of allegiance, etcetera.

So when the ACLU recently sued the Los Angeles County Supervisors to have a small cross removed from its seal, LA County caved rather than fight, purportedly to avoid legal costs. The problem is, taxpayers will still be forced to pay the ACLU for their legal fees.

This is a cash cow the ACLU has found quite profitable in recent years. As a result of the famous Ten Commandments monument case against Judge Roy Moore in Montgomery, Ala., in which the ACLU sued and a Carter appointed judge forced the removal of the monument, the ACLU and two other leftist organizations stuck it to Alabama taxpayers for $540,000 in attorney's fees and expenses.

In Kentucky, the ACLU bilked taxpayers for $121,500 for another Ten Commandments "offense," and taxpayers in one Tennessee county had to fork over $50,000 for the same thing. And back in California, when the ACLU sued to deny the Boy Scouts use of San Diego's Balboa Park recently, which the Scouts had used since 1915, they collected a staggering $790,000 in legal fees, plus $160,000 in court costs, again compliments of taxpayers. The crux of the lawsuit was the ACLU's contention that because the Boy Scouts refuse to accept homosexual scoutmasters, and because "to do my duty to God and my country" is part of the scout oath, they should be designated "a religious organization".

With thousands of "religious symbols" all over the country, this madness will continue unless good Americans stand up to hate groups like the ACLU and say enough is enough.

Fortunately, a bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives (H.R. 3609) by Rep. John Hostettler of Indiana, which would end the ACLU racketeering by amending the federal law that makes it possible. Under this bill, the ACLU would no longer be able to collect attorney fees for winning these ridiculous lawsuits. This is a bill all people should encourage their representative to embrace.

It would be interesting to see just how motivated the ACLU is to pursue its anti-Christian agenda if its members are forced to pay for it themselves.

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