“This government is acknowledged by all, to be one of enumerated powers.”

WOW!, what a novel concept from a time long forgotten in a land far, far, far away. Hmm, a representative republic of, by, and for people, limited by specific enumerated powers. If there were such a place still on the earth that remotely resembled even a minuscule potion of that concept o,r practiced just the tiniest of such a constitutionally enabling principle we could all move there.

You know what Jefferson said Mike. The tree of liberty must be water by the blood of tyrants and patriots from time to time. Will it soon be necessary to come to this?

Absolutelyy! The biggest power (enumerated in The Constitution) is left to the people and that is the Power of Amendment. And Amend it we have. The enumerated powers in Marshalls day are not the same as the enumerated powers of today.

Cal, Jefferson said the people should revolt every generation or every twenty years. The Amendment process is the best method the people have of doing that.

"We The People" have amended nothing. The politicians made all the amendments and they did so in order to give themselves more power over "We The People". Jefferson was right!

Amendments were and will be ratified by the States. To deny the Amendment process is to deny The Constitution which most of the right wing nuts do all of the time.

Apparently "Patriot" = right wing nut....to the commies I guess. Didn't we fight a couple of wars to get rid of you A**holes?

This simply means that every power that the People grant of their own to the government is explicitly stated -- i.e. enumerated. There is to be no assumptions of power -- the government cannot grant itself powers it does not have. BTW, the first 10 Amendments defined LIMITS to government power -- it did not grant any powers to the People or the government -- it explicitly enumerated what Congress MAY NOT DO. The context and tone of the Amendments changed after the War Between the States, which was about nationalism vs. federalism -- nationalism won, and from there on the Constitution was treated as a rule book for the People rather than a rule book for the government. It is the right wing that professes to be Consitutionalists, while the left proposes collectivism in all its form above the rights of man. Waffler twists whatever meaning he wants out of what the Founders say, but I think his arguments (as poor as they are) and consistent thumbs down to any Founder which makes it clear that the rights of the individual are paramount and the very foundation of self-government. The protection of our rights and property is the only real purpose of a republican government -- any attempt to use the 'law' to take from one to give to another is a corruption of the purpose of confederating in the first place under We the People.

I may be wrong in my phraesology but what do you call folk who deny the Amendment Process and therefore The Constitution. Give me a name please! Okay how about just nuts, period.

Too bad no one can agree on what those powers are.

The "Amendment Process" is a process by which the government gives itself more power, with little or no input from "We The People". Gee why would anyone deny or question that?

The Amendment Process is the opposite of what most people think. It is to "limit the power of government" over the people. The people tell the government what powers are theirs not the other way around. The government seems to forget their duties are listed. The Congress does trade deals (with permission of their constituents). The President does not make NAFTA trade deals. The Congress declares and funds war (with the permission of the people who die and pay for it). The President does not. ETC. This is why we need an Amendment to limit corporate "personhood" power in plain words. Corporations aren't humans. If they were they would go to jail for fraud and lying as of late. Financial Wall Street needs to serve hard time fir their Ponzi schemes. This is why the elite hate and try to ignore The Constitution calling it an old document no longer useful on an old piece of paper. It is ageless which still applies today.