Paying for College with the Constitution
Posted by Trent England - September 27, 2007Education is pointless without liberty. And liberty relies on the rule of law.
If you agree with those two statements, education took a hit yesterday when the President of the United States signed a bill to increase the national government’s role in higher education. It’s the same old storyline: government will take money from some people and give it to other people (here because they are enrolled in college). All the grand grandstanding around this legislation simply disregards the lack of congressional power (or competence) to fund or interfere with general higher education.
An early Supreme Court opinion explained, “this government is acknowledged by all, to be one of enumerated powers.” Today there are few national leaders who acknowledge such limits. It may yet prove a tragedy that in the quest for knowledge, so many of America’s leaders find it necessary to disregard our most fundamental law.
Thoughts? Add Comment -
SouthernRoots said on Sep 28 2007 at 10:25pm
To the politicians, the Constitution is boiled down to only one thing, and that is from the preamble:
"Provide for the General Welfare"
This sentence overrides any section about enumerated powers, dontchaknow?
RainMan90 said on Sep 30 2007 at 6:41pm
Since you and your organization are so outraged that Congress would use taxpayer dollars to help low-income students avoid crushing student loan debt, I can only imagine what your response would have been to the GI Bill for veterans of WW II. Oops, I forgot you consider this group of brave young men the "Greatest Generation" and that they saved the free world. On that point, I wholeheartedly agree with you. However, where in the US Constitution does it allow Congress to pay for the education of military veterans? Please do not try to argue it was part of the government's primary duty to provide for a national defense. These guys used their taxpayer-funded education dollars to develop their skills and to then access employment opportunities. They wanted to make things better for themselves, their families, and their communities.
I will close by reminding you of a major speech given recently by Federal Reserve Chairnan Ben Bernanke at a US Chamber of Commerce conference on education. In it, he said "policies that lead to broad investments in education and training can help reduce inequality while expanding economic opportunity".
From the above qoute, I contend that he believes it was just as important to invest in education and training in 1945 as it is in 2007.