[StBernard] Morning Bell: A Capitol Travesty

[Westley Annis]

What a tremendous disgrace to the history of our nation, and what our
founding fathers wrote in the Articles of Conferation and the Constitution. 

John Scurich


-----Original Message-----
The Heritage Foundation
THE MORNING BELL
TUESDAY, DEC. 2, 2008
A Capitol Travesty
Like everything else that comes out of Congress, the initial intentions were
good: to build a visitors center that shields citizens from extreme heat and
humidity and provides greater security for people working in or visiting the
U.S. Capitol. But what began as a $265 million project in 2000 ballooned
into a $621 million boondoggle that finally opens today
<http://theheritagefoundation.cmail2.com/t/y/l/dlmdy/tkljdtldh/r>  . Like
far too many legislative proposals that pass through its chambers, Congress
could not help but add its own priorities. Even though not included in the
original design, the structure now features new offices for lawmakers, a
theater, media studios and even a tunnel to the Library of Congress
<http://theheritagefoundation.cmail2.com/t/y/l/dlmdy/tkljdtldh/y> . This
all-too-familiar runaway Washington spending is not even the worst part of
the final product. That honor goes to the violence the center's
"educational" exhibits do to the Constitution.

Article I of the Constitution
<http://theheritagefoundation.cmail2.com/t/y/l/dlmdy/tkljdtldh/k>  begins:
"All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the
United States." Section 8 of Article I then goes on to enumerate those
powers, of which James Madison wrote: "If Congress can do whatever in their
discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the
Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an
indefinite one, subject to particular exceptions
<http://theheritagefoundation.cmail2.com/t/y/l/dlmdy/tkljdtldh/u> ."

But according to the Capitol Visitors Center, the Constitution is not about
limiting powers. Instead, it created six "aspirations" that Congress is
charged to realize. The explanation for the first aspiration listed,
"Unity," falsely identified "E Pluribus Unum" as our nation's motto. Wrong.
"In God We Trust" is our nation's motto. But do not expect to find any
discussion of God in the new visitors center. "Minerva, the goddess of
wisdom and righteous war
<http://theheritagefoundation.cmail2.com/t/y/l/dlmdy/tkljdtldh/o> " gets a
mention, but any other indication that the Founding Fathers believed that
all men "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights," like
it says in the Declaration of Independence, has been safely sanitized by the
political correctness thought police.

The liberal bias does not end there. The sixth aspiration, "General
Welfare," celebrates the creation of Medicare in 1965
<http://theheritagefoundation.cmail2.com/t/y/l/dlmdy/tkljdtldh/b> . We can
debate whether Medicare is, or is not, good public policy. But it is a
travesty of history to pretend the Constitution requires it. Summarizing his
thoughts after an early tour of the center, Heritage constitutional scholar
Matthew Spalding wrote
<http://theheritagefoundation.cmail2.com/t/y/l/dlmdy/tkljdtldh/n> :


	This exhibit is Congress' temple to liberals' "living Constitution,"
the eternal font of lawmakers' evolving mandate to achieve the nation's
ideals. No fixed meanings here, only open-ended "aspirations." In this
distorted view, the Constitution is an empty vessel, to be adapted to the
times, as change requires. It means nothing -- or anything.

The center opens to the public today at 1 p.m. if you'd like to have a look
at this travesty with your own eyes.