This headline over at ABC News states the problem quite well [although I know that was not their intention]:
President Trump signs animal cruelty bill into law,
making it a federal felony
Where in The Constitution does it say the Chief Executive can do this? Where does that Sacred Document say that the Congress can pass such a law?
The answer is that The Constitution does not Delegate such a Power to the national government.
But that doesn’t stop our elected officials from passing such laws every Session.
The First Question that must ALWAYS be asked when passing a Law or promulgating a Regulation is: Is this Constitutional?
If not, than this is a matter that should be left to The Several States [see: Tenth Amendment, The].
And, if their Constitutions do not Delegate such Powers to them, then we next go to County and Local level governments to see if their Charters allow them to impose such Laws and Regulations.
When we do not ask this First Question, we show our Contempt for The Constitutions and Charters of our govenments. Passing such Laws and Regulations and Executive Orders is Repugnant and a signal to The Sovereign People that they are Free not to Obey such Laws and Regulations.
Perhaps we should Petition the Convention Of States to include, among it’s other proposed Article V Amendments, one that reads something like this:
SECTION 1: Before a Law is brought to a final vote by either house of the Congress, it shall, in both The House Of Representatives and The Senate be subject to a full and complete investigation before Special Committees charged with determining whether said Law is allowed under The Constitution Of The United States. If it is found Repugnant, it will be sent back to the House from which it originated.
Citizens of The United States may challenge the decisions of the said House and Senate Special Committees before The Supreme Court Of The United States directly. They may take such actions of Redress before or after said Law is passed.
SECTION 2: Any Regulation or Executive Order issued by any Department or Quasi-Governmental Agency of the national government shall be subject to a full and complete investigation before a Special Executive Branch Committee, chosen by the President, charged with determining whether said Regulation or Executive Order is allowed under The Constitution Of The United States. If it is found Repugnant, said Regulation will be declared null and void immediately.
Citizens of The United States may challenge the decisions of the said Special Executive Branch Committee before The Supreme Court Of The United States directly. They may take such actions of Redress before or after said Regulation or Executive Order is passed.
In the case of this national animal cruelty law, this is not, as I stated, the business of the national government, dammit. It is nothing but a cynical Populist move on the part of Trumpius Pompey Maximus Sulla and the Corrupt Kleptocratic Congress to win favor with voters, who seem to never ask The First Question.
The time has come to stop the Madness.
But the parliament in which the Colonies have no voice, taking as much of their money as it pleases, and appropriating it to such purposes as it pleases, even against their consent, and as they think repugnant to their safety, renders all their property precarious, and therefore it is subversive of the end for which men enter into society and repugnant to every free constitution.
—Samuel Adams, writing as ‘CANDIDUS’, The Boston Gazette, 20 January 1772
Your attested Copy of the proceedings of the Town of Framingham at a legal meeting on the 15th of March last has been receiv’d by the Committee of Correspondence of the Town of Boston.
The just resentment which your Town discovers at the power of Legislation for the Colonists assumed by the British Parliament, and its exerting that power in raising a revenue and applying it to purposes repugnant to the common Safety, and the resolution of that town to defend our rights & Liberties purchas’d with so much Blood & Treasure, must do them honor in the Estimation of all who place a true Value upon those inestimable Blessings. May HE who gave this Land to our worthy forefathers, animate us their posterity to defend it at all Hazards; and while we would not lose the Character of loyal subjects to a prince resolv’d to protect us, we will yet never forfeit that of Men determined to be free.
—Samuel Adams, writing for the Boston Committee Of Correspondence, 13 April 1773
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