Gard, I have a minor disagreement with you on your immigration analysis.
LysanderSpooner
Number 234
Conspirator for: 16 years 46 weeks
Posted on: January 6, 2010 - 1:16pm
Gard,
Great "immigration" podcast. I agree with you that immigration laws are unconstitutional. I also appreciate that you present an argument to conservatives and constitutionalists on their own terms. Too many of our fellow ancaps argue with cons/const's from only moral principle. Now for my disagreement. You mentioned Article 1, Section 9. You mentioned that the article had to do with slavery. That article mentions persons with a capital P. Slaves were not considered persons. But this whole line of argument gets into Spooner's thesis in "The Unconstitutionality of Slavery".
Thanks for mentioning the phrase "States now existing". But that does mean that Congress can pass immigration laws pertaining to the original 13 states? And if it is a power that Congress has after 1808, shouldn't it have been mentioned in Art. 1, Sec. 8.
__________________
Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it
Learned Hand
In the past men created witches: now they create mental patients.
Thomas Szasz
Relinquish liberty for the purposes of defense in an emergency?
Why? It would seem that in an emergency, of all times, one needs
his greatest strength. So if liberty is strength and slavery is weakness,
liberty is a necessity rather than a luxury, and we can ill afford
to be without it—least of all during an emergency.
Gard,
Great "immigration" podcast. I agree with you that immigration laws are unconstitutional. I also appreciate that you present an argument to conservatives and constitutionalists on their own terms. Too many of our fellow ancaps argue with cons/const's from only moral principle. Now for my disagreement. You mentioned Article 1, Section 9. You mentioned that the article had to do with slavery. That article mentions persons with a capital P. Slaves were not considered persons. But this whole line of argument gets into Spooner's thesis in "The Unconstitutionality of Slavery".
Thanks for mentioning the phrase "States now existing". But that does mean that Congress can pass immigration laws pertaining to the original 13 states? And if it is a power that Congress has after 1808, shouldn't it have been mentioned in Art. 1, Sec. 8.
Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it
Learned Hand
In the past men created witches: now they create mental patients.
Thomas Szasz
Relinquish liberty for the purposes of defense in an emergency?
Why? It would seem that in an emergency, of all times, one needs
his greatest strength. So if liberty is strength and slavery is weakness,
liberty is a necessity rather than a luxury, and we can ill afford
to be without it—least of all during an emergency.
F.A. Harper