Senators hold hearings and question prospective judges before they may be seated on the bench of the supreme court. All too often these Q. and A. sessions are little more than grandstanding by the senators. I'd like to see them get down to the basics in some of their queries with such questions as:
Have you read the constitution?
Have you read the Federalist Papers?
On December 5, 1947, Albert Einstein, the physicist, and Oskar Morgenstern, the economist, accompanied Kurt Gödel, the mathematician to his U.S. citizenship exam, where they acted as witnesses. Gödel had confided in them that he had discovered an inconsistency in the U.S. Constitution, one that would allow the U.S. to become a dictatorship. Einstein and Morgenstern were concerned that their friend's unpredictable behavior might jeopardize his chances. Fortunately, the judge turned out to be Phillip Forman. Forman knew Einstein and had administered the oath at Einstein's own citizenship hearing. Everything went smoothly until Forman happened to ask Gödel if he thought a dictatorship like the Nazi regime could happen in the U.S. Gödel then started to explain his discovery to Forman. Forman understood what was going on, cut Gödel off, and moved the hearing on to other questions and a routine conclusion. Do you know what inconsistency in the Constitution Kurt Gödel claimed to have discovered?
The commerce clause in the constitution has been used to justify much meddling and interference by the Federal Government in the affair of the citizens by such things as setting minimum wages and controlling prices. These laws by the Federal Government cause distortions in the economy by creating shortages and surpluses. How should we proceed to correct the situation?
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