I tend to look at all laws and government activities as 'constitutional', since they emanate from the Constitution. The Constitution is what gives the government the right to enact laws, and to enforce them. It is what indirectly empowers the government to do everything that it does.
The Constitution, as you say, is much briefer and more limited in what it does directly - and I tend to confuse what is directly in the Constitution with what it empowers the government to do. The effect is the same, and as some recent decisions have shown, SCOTUS is certainly not infallible in its decisions regarding what the Constitution does and does not empower the government to do.
Speaking of what the government does - yes, a lot of what it does is a balancing act. Balancing the freedom of people to do things vs. the duty to protect everyone from the harmful acts of themselves and others. And I'm sure we can have endless discussions on this subject.
Before there is much chance of reasonable fruit from such discussions, we would have to agree on exactly what the role of government is - and what it should be. I'm sure we both see the two as distinct, and can point out numerous differences between them. And I'd love to have that discussion some time. Not today though - it's getting late. |
