Power in the People

[Keith Broaders]

If Congress has the power to pass any legislation that they collectively think is necessary and proper, why is it necessary to even have a Constitution. The authors of the Constitution wanted to prevent the  abuse of power by Congress, so they created a short list of delegated powers to limit the ability of Congress to exceed their authority.

In the Tenth Amendment the authors of the Constitution asserted that all powers and authority not granted to the United States nor prohibited by it to the states was reserved to the states and to the people respectively.

The Founding Fathers who wrote the Constitution were representatives of the states and the new government they created was to be the servant of the states and the people.

The Constitution would never have been ratified without the Bill of Rights. Many of the delegates at the Convention insisted of additional amendments that would secure the life, liberty and property of the people.

If Congress has the power to pass any legislation they feel is necessary and proper the powers delegated to Congress become meaningless.

The people are supposed to be sovereign and Congress was created to protect the rights of the people. If Congress has a monopoly on amending the Constitution, how would it be possible for the people to limit the power of Congress.