I was reading an article on Computerworld.com today on the proposal to shift some money away from subsidizing telephones to subsidizing broadband Internet access to rural areas. More specifically, the article was describing statements by U.S. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that there is no need for the federal government to provide this as a utility. I found myself ambivalent toward the opinions expressed by the author; part of me wants fast Internet for rural areas, yet another part asks if this is something the government should do.

I hope someday to live in a rural setting far away from the noise and hassles of the city or suburbs. My wife and I talk about whether we would rather live near the ocean or the mountains, yet in either case we are talking about finding a place that is quiet and beautiful. My biggest requirement is that I have high speed Internet access. What I don't see in this article I referred to, is that you have options for satellite Internet connections already, virtually anywhere in the United States, and that 3G and 4G services are spreading all the time. So why the push to correct this great inequality? The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) wants to pay for expansion of Internet to rural communities as a right. They make it sound as if those of us that have Internet connections are unfairly abusing those of us who do not.

This gets closer to the core of the matter for me: is Internet access as right? Did the Founding Fathers write about Life, Liberty, and Fast Broadband Access? If they did, I must have missed that part. Yes, having access to fast Internet in rural communities is a great idea that would be embraced by roughly the same percentage of people that have access to it now: estimates put broadband availability at 95% of American homes, and of those approximately 65% take advantage of it. Hmm, that's odd, that doesn't sound as though every American requires fast Internet in order to live a productive and happy life. Many do have access and still choose not to use it.

This seems like another waste of government time and money masquerading as a good idea. Yes, broadband access is good. No, I do not believe that the federal government should provide it as a right. It is a tool and a priviledge, it is not a right.

There is a lot of talk since President Obama’s idea of health care reform passed into law about the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution:

Amendment 10

The powers 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.

The main argument being made about the health care bill as it relates to the Tenth Amendment is that the bill requires citizens to purchase adequate health insurance whether or not they want to. This is being described as a violation of the Tenth, because nowhere in the Constitution is this power granted to the Federal Government. According to this amendment, the Feds cannot force citizens, or states, to purchase any product under a penalty. The powers that be think they are getting around the Tenth Amendment by saying the penalty for not buying insurance is actually going to be a tax. This is why they are creating all those new jobs in the Internal Revenue Service, so that they have enough people to scan through everyone’s insurance records and verify that they have purchased enough.

Apparently, no one in Congress remembers the last time there was a major argument over the rights of states versus the Federal Government. That was why the South seceded from the Union, and what sparked the Civil War. It wasn’t originally about slavery at all; it was about States Rights.

Makes me wonder what Congress thinks about that inaugural oath they all took to defend and uphold the Constitution.

I just spent the first half of my day watching TV. My time was divided between the excellent documentary on the History channel, WWII in HD, and various news and opinion shows. The result was that I was in a deeply emotional and patriotic mood from seeing the sacrifices made by my father's generation so that I could raise my family in freedom, and then contemplating the mamoth document that is the Senate health care bill.
 
If you are in any doubt about this bill, I urge you to spend some time reading through the Constitution for yourself, to see if you can see where health care is guaranteed to our people. For the short version, here are the stated powers of our government:

The Constitution has been on my mind a lot in recent months, as is true for a growing number of people in the United States. No matter your personal political affiliation, you probably feel that our rights have been eroding for some time. My wife and I are home schooling our son, which has given us many opportunities to discuss the vents in the news. After a somewhat spirited discussion over our feeling that political correctness is a direct attack on our freedom of speech, my wife suggested that I take my my opinions online to share them with others. She also suggested that my son and I could do this as a joint project. It still remains to be seen whether I will get him to help, but I'll keep trying.
I really don't intend this to be another political opinion blog, though I'm sure that some of my opinions will inevitably creep into my writing. So right up front I want to be clear that what I write here is my opinion, it is not news and it is not endorsed by or affiliated with any organization. In the same vein, I am not a lawyer, nor am I an expert in Constitutional law. Yes, I may actually be wrong sometime but I'll do my best to avoid that.

Goals of this blog

The title of the blog refers to the way in which our daily lives are affected by the US Constitution; please don't take it to mean that I will be providing insightful updates on a daily basis. My goal is to post at least once each week.
While still in start-up mode with this blog, I'll be posting larger chunks of reference-type content. Once that is done, my intent is to focus on a small piece of the Constitution and write about my thoughts on that topic, the way it applies to something in current events, or to examine the meaning of the text.
My primary goal in writing this blog is to encourage American citizens to discuss their own freedoms and rights, thereby learning to value these treasures before they are taken from us. I hope that other people will eventually begin to contribute, and the idea will spread.