role of government in the current debates surrounding the enactment of universal healthcare and the illicit drug war along the Mexican border, it is critical to look to the powers granted by the Constitution. Yet, the Constitution has always meant different things to different people throughout American history. As any law student will tell you, one of the major conflicts surrounding the Constitution is the concept of Originalism. This legal understanding holds that if the Constitution is to mean anything, the courts must interpret it through the lens of the men who put the ink to the paper and established the government (Scalia, 1998). Yet, significant flaws exist in this theory as the Founders themselves were not of one mind but were a diverse and politically combative group to the point of fighting duels with one another (e.g. Hamilton's murder at the hands of Burr). To return to these modern...
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