Jake Bedevian

Mr. Burnham
Government
10 October 2014
Good Examples, Bad Examples: Still a Big government
Since the inauguration of the central government under the Constitution, its power
has increased exponentially. Now, the government is just out of hand. What used to be a
government that only followed the Constitutions strict guidelines has now become a
government that finds every loophole it can to exceed the strength it had before. This is
no fault of one man though and it is certainly very hard to trace back to a beginning.
Ever since people were put into positions of power, these same people have always
wanted more of it. Sometimes though, these people stand up for what is right and what is
good, other times it is just for their own agendas whether it be money or popularity. Each
branch of government has their own responsibilities.
In Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution, it states that Congress shall have
Power to lay and collect Taxes to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defecnce
and general Welfare of the United States To borrow money to regulate commerce
To establish an uniform Rule of NaturalizationTo coin money, etc This is the list of
things that the Legislative Branch of the Government has been appointed to do. Now, the
Tenth Amendment in the Bill of Rights states that The Power 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. This Amendment versus what the Constitution
states that the Legislative Branch can do has come up in many controversies throughout

the years in the United States. In the Supreme Court Case of McCullough vs. Maryland
this controversy had to be disputed. Congress wanted to set up a national bank, which is
not specifically listed in Article 1 of the Constitution. The first national bank was set up
even though Thomas Jefferson did not think it was constitutional, and later Congress set
up a second bank in 1816. This second banks main branch was in Maryland; though, and
Maryland believed as Jefferson had. They decided to try and drive out the bank by taxing
it, but the Chief Cashier at the Baltimore branch, James McCullough refused to pay the
tax. The State of Maryland ruled that McCullough had to pay the tax so McCullough
appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court unanimously decided Congress
did have the power under the Constitution to charter the bank. The Chief Justice at the
time, John Marshall, wrote the opinion for the Court. The second question he answered
was if a State may tax an agency of the US Government. Marshall stated That the power
to tax involves the power to destroy; that the power to destroy may defeat and render
useless the power to create This statement is a very true one, and also one that weighs
on the central government.
Since the central government has the power to tax, they have a lot of
responsibility. When one of the most public figures, the President, uses that responsibility
to his advantage for his own agenda then this causes people to believe that the size of the
government is too big. Barack Obamas healthcare policy has new taxes and regulations.
These new taxes are hurting not only the economy, but also the medical innovation that
the US has been known for.
In Article 2 Section 2 of the Constitution it says that the Executive Branch of the
government has the power to make treaties, nominate and appoint Ambassadors, public

Ministers, Judges and all other offices, grant reprieves and pardons, recommend to
Congress Measures necessary and expedient, convene or adjourn Congress, receive
Ambassadors and other public Ministers, Commission all Officers of The United States
and see that laws are faithfully executed.1 President Obama is using his power to
recommend measures that are necessary and expedient to Congress by trying to raise
minimum wage across the United States. Obama wants to increase the federal minimum
wage to $10.10 from $7.25.2 At first glance, someone might think that this is a good
thing because it would help the low class dissipate. That is not true actually, because the
40% minimum wage increase would take away tons of jobs to the labor force. This is the
opposite of what we want to do as a nation, because according to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics over six million people do no have jobs. The only way that this increase in
minimum wage could work is if prices were raised; however, the way the economy is
right now, no one in the middle and working class would be able to afford anything.
Also, 25% of the people working for minimum wage are teenagers. Therefore, if
President Obama convinced Congress to do this, all the teenagers with entry-level jobs
would be forced out of their jobs. So, why the President would be doing this is ridiculous,
because even though it looks good politically, it has such a negative effect on our
economy as bad as it is already. And the negative way it impacts the youth of America, is
no way to treat the future of this country.
The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights states that Congress shall make no
law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
http://1787-1.blogspot.com/2007/04/constitution-part-xi-limitedgovernment.html
2 http://online.wsj.com/articles/andy-puzder-minimum-wage-maximum-politics1412543682
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or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
This amendment means that the press is fully capable of writing whatever they
want so that they can report the news to the citizens of the U.S. The Press-Pool
Reports are in place to closely watch the president and report to other journalists
what is going on in the White House or with the President. Throughout the last few
presidencies the presidents press aides have been able to demand the press-pool
reporters to change the reports. This is just another example of the government
meddling in things that they were not put in charge to do. This one instance looks at
the federal government being unconstitutional by not following the First
Amendment. The Supreme Court case Wisconsin v. Yoder, which was in 1972, shows
an example where the First Amendment was shown correctly. The case was about
Amish parents taking their kids out of school before high school even though the
state of Wisconsin has a law in place where kids have to go to school until they are
16 years old. The case eventually was appealed to the Wisconsin Circuit Court and
was affirmed. But, when the Wisconsin Supreme Court heard the case, they agreed
with the parents claims to their First Amendment rights of free religion. The State
then appealed to the US Supreme Court. The Amish parents were able to state their
case of how their children do not need to go to school because of their way of life,
and seeing this the Supreme Court Justices determined that the Amish parents were
correct about their First Amendment claims.
This example of the central government following of the Constitution and its
Bill of Rights perfectly is what the government needs to do more of. If the central

government focused on doing what they were assigned to do by the Constitution

and stop worrying about things that they were not, I think more people would do
their jobs well. In turn the people that are supposed to fix the economy and establish
good healthcare laws would do their job better instead of worrying about the
government taking their business away from them. And eventually we, as a country,
would be better off in the long run.