From: "William H. Geiger III" <whgiii@amaranth.com>
Date: Sat, 24 Aug 1996 11:31:33 -0700 (PDT)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: "Regulation of Commerce" and the Crypto Issue
In-Reply-To: <ae432be9000210041c17@[205.199.118.202]>
Message-ID: <199608240915.EAA13219@mailhub.amaranth.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


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In <ae432be9000210041c17@[205.199.118.202]>, on 08/23/96 at 02:51 AM,
   tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May) said:

>In fact, since nearly everything involves "commerce" in some way, whether
>interstate or not, the "regulate commerce" clause can presumably be used as
>a jusitification for interfering in all sorts of areas.

>The several legal experts out there on this list can clarify any errors of
>interpretation I have made. I certainly know that the commerce clause
>cannot be used to suppress certain kinds of speech, though the boundaries
>of where it may be applied seem unclear.

>I do expect it to be used for crypto, though, and this might even be upheld
>by the Supremes, especially in any areas directly involving "digital
>commerce."

>We should watch for this, and think about ways to deflect or derail such
>interpretations.

This clause has been one of the "weak links" of the Constitution used by our government to regulate business in the 20th century. Rosevelt used it as justification for many of his unconstitutional projects in the 30's. Nixion used it for his "price freezes" in the 70's.

This clause had good purposes when it was put into the Constitution. What it was for was the following:

    -Give the government the power to establish tariffs & regulate trade with foriegn governmnets.(this had previously been handled by the individual states)

    -Prevent the states from imposing tariffs on products coming into or leaving their state or otherwise hamper commerice between the states.

This clause was never intended to give the federal government unlimited power to "regulate commerce" inside of the country.

Remember that our founding fathers were fearfull of a powerfull centralized govewrnment. They established checks and balances, and only gave the federal goverment the minimum amount of power needed to keep the country together. All other powers were to be regulated to the states and the people.

We have no-one to blame but ourselfs. Our founding fathers new that we needed an inteligent, well informed, population for a democracy to survive. Unfortunatly we have truned into a country of sheep who beleive everything the "boob tube" tells them. At the drop of a hat they are willing to give up hard earned fredoms paid for with the blood of our ancestors for small promises of security.

I remember the oath I took years ago when I joined the Marine Corps:

"To Defend the Constitution from ALL threats foreign AND DOMESTIC"


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