Constitution 101: A quick refresher

"A Republican Congress was unable to restrain spending on handouts and goodies demanded by its constituents because there is no Constitutional brake on federal spending. Yet the legal fact is that some 80% of federal programs, agencies, and departments are unconstitutional, because there is no specific "enumerated" authorization for them.

The Constitution is addressed to the federal government. Its purpose was to specify - to enumerate - what the new government was permitted to do. The basic principle of the Constitution is: the government can only do what it is specifically authorized to do. If there is no enumerated authorization to do X, then it is illegal, unconstitutional, for the government to do X.

There is no Constitutional authority - no enumerated power - for the federal government to have a Department of Energy, a Department of Education, or Environmental Protection Agency. Every dollar they spend, every regulation they enforce, their entire existence as a whole, is illegal and unconstitutional." -- Dr. Jack Wheeler