LETTER: Westbroek facts not correct
Editor,
I just finished reading Jared Westbroek’s latest column (Opinion, Jan. 21) and the only thought I had was what a travesty it would be if this fine university awards him a degree in Law and Constitutional Studies. It’s pretty apparent he hasn’t read (or at least understood) the Constitution.
If he had, he would know that the words “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are not in the Constitution – they are in the Declaration of Independence. Or he would know that programs like Social Security are not unconstitutional since Article 1, Section 8 clearly states that the Congress has the power to collect taxes and the obligation to provide for the general welfare of the United States. In fact, promoting the general welfare was considered so important that it is also included in the Preamble to the Constitution.
As for Constitutional guarantees of free markets, again, Section 8 explicitly gives Congress the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the states, and with Indian tribes. Finally, Westbroek’s argument that Amendment 17 (allowing for election of senators by the people, instead of by state legislatures) led to the “entitlement society” ignores the fact that the New Deal wasn’t enacted until the Depression left many citizens jobless, homeless, and hungry several decades later.
Where Westbroek really shows his ignorance is in his assertion about how today’s GOP has shifted so far to the left. I feel pretty safe in saying that I was campaigning and voting for GOP candidates before Westbroek was even born. I left the party because the GOP has made such a huge shift to the right! Westbroek decries Arnold Schwarzenegger as one of these new left-leaning conservatives, but Arnold actually reflects the GOP of old: a defender of personal liberties and promoter of fiscal responsibility. It’s today’s GOP that has that all switched around. The candidate I campaigned for 33 years ago as a high school student would be considered too liberal to be nominated by today’s GOP. That candidate was Richard Nixon!
Dan Stormont