Ouch. That title is a bold statement. For the past few weeks, I’ve been searching for evidence to the contrary and have yet to find it.
The Constitution of the United States is not just clear, but so extremely clear that misconstruing it is close to impossible (Article IX of the Bill of Rights even tells you what not to misconstrue, as do the Federalist Papers).
Article I, Section 8 enumerates all the powers of the Federal Government. Nowhere is any mention of regulating, centralizing, or otherwise federal involvement with education mentioned. Only the powers mentioned in the Constitution are granted to Congress. In other words, Congress is not granted the power to create the Department of Education (even though they did so in 1979).
I’m wondering a few things: has the Department’s constitutionality ever been tried in court? How many people in the education system know of this? Do people not care, or am I missing something completely?
(I realize that this is technically “political”, but I find it to be a very interesting topic. Almost 30 years of an unconstitutional department? Wow!)
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leafless said:
I guess the end justifies the means.:)
July 23, 2008 @ 8:31 pm
Edward Atkinson said:
Perhaps. But if any members of Congress believe they can improve the country this way, they are free to amend the Constitution.
It irks me that for almost a century (the problem is hardly limited to the Dept. of Education) the U.S. Congress has been bypassing the Constitution to improve the country.
July 25, 2008 @ 1:10 pm