Happy Ending

Before I start the weekly rant, I thought an update on the little lost Shih Tzu would be appropriate.

The story has a happy ending. "Pudgy" - as we later learned the dog was named - was a Dewart Lake resident after all. Pudgy had not been abandoned, but wandered away. Where we found Pudgy was approximately two miles from his home, in fact.

The owner came by to claim him Saturday afternoon.

When the owner arrived, my 10-year-old daughter was holding Pudgy on the front porch. My wife told my daughter to put the dog down. You should have seen that little guy run to its owner's outstretched arms.

The owner called us after her neighbor read last week's column and told her about it. The owner told us she and her husband had just moved to the area and hadn't decided which newspaper to buy.

I suggested that perhaps she might try the Times-Union. "OK, you've got me," she said.

Everybody loves a happy ending. Well, almost everybody. My daughter really would have liked to keep little Pudgy.

Independence

Today is Independence Day.

It's the day we celebrate our independence from an oppressive government.

I am celebrating a recent Supreme Court decision that I believe has helped continue that very important independence.

Late last week the Supreme Court struck down the part of the Brady Bill that mandated police departments to perform background checks on people who buy handguns.

The purpose of the provision is to keep guns out of the hands of convicted felons or nut cases. That's not a bad idea.

But it's a bad idea for the federal government to force cops to do it. It was also kind of dumb because most states already do background checks on handgun buyers. And by next year, a federal data base will be in place that will make it real easy to check criminal records almost instantly.

The court left intact the rest of the Brady Bill, including the five-day waiting period to buy a handgun.

On the face of it, this ruling might seem a bit insignificant. After all, it's just the Brady Bill and background checks.

Basically, the court said that Congress doesn't have the authority to tell local policemen how they will spend their time.

And that is precisely why there's lots of liberal, big government types out there who are bit up in arms about this decision. They are aghast at the fact that the court stood up for the states in this case.

If Congress can't tell local cops what to do, what about local teachers? Local highway workers?

Friends of unrestrained government are concerned. How can the court rule this way, they ask?

Well, frankly, it makes perfect sense to me.

Funny thing about the Constitution. It always seems so clear to me. But some other people seem to interpret it so differently than I do.

For example, in this case, the court looked at the 10th Amendment.

It says, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Seems pretty straightforward to me. Nowhere does the Constitution bestow upon Congress the power to force local cops to carry out tasks as set forth in the Brady Bill.

The powers delegated to the United States by the Constitution were limited. The founding fathers wanted it that way. I think they would be amazed to see the scope of federal government these days.

The founding fathers envisioned a balance of federal and state power.

This, of course, is the antithesis of the cradle-to-grave liberal philosophy. That's the one that embraces the need for a huge, omnipotent, omnipresent government to impose a politically correct and enlightened social vision on the nation.

Even now, in this era of "balanced budget" rhetoric, the government is proposing increased numbers of federal programs and increased federal spending.

Everything from your lawnmower to your clothes dryer to your bicycle is federally approved or regulated.

The Supreme Court ruling upholding the 10th Amendment was a breath of fresh air. It's nice to see somebody paying attention to the Constitution.

I am feeling just a wee bit more independent this Independence Day.