Thoughts from Maharrey Head

Pres. Trump unilaterally ordered the execution of an Iranian general. Did he have the constitutional authority to take this action? The short answer is no. In this episode of Thoughts from Maharrey Head, I explain why. More importantly, I explain why it matters.

Thoughts from Maharrey Head focuses on constitutional issues and political decentralization. When you're finished listening, you'll be 10 minutes closer to freedom!

Visit my website at https://michaelmaharrey.com

While everybody obsessed over impeachment, there was other news out there. Well, it wasn't exactly news, because pretty much nobody reported on it. But some significant things happened - things that could actually impact your life. Things the political class would rather you not think about. In this episode of Thoughts from Maharrey Head, I talk about it.

You can visit the show notes page here: https://bit.ly/2ZcdMDY

Thoughts from Maharrey Head focuses on constitutional issues and political decentralization. When you're finished listening, you'll be 10 minutes closer to freedom!

Visit my website at https://michaelmaharrey.com

This week's episode of Thoughts from Maharrey Head is a hard dose of reality.

Both Republicans and Democrats claim to revere the Constitution. But do they? Really?

I don't think they do. In fact, I think the vast majority of politicians, including the current president, view the Constitution as nothing but a prop in their political theater.

You can visit the show notes page here: https://bit.ly/340sM98

Thoughts from Maharrey Head focuses on constitutional issues and political decentralization. When you're finished listening, you'll be 10 minutes closer to freedom!

Visit my website at https://michaelmaharrey.com

Progressives don't like it so much when the government expands its own power in ways they don't like. One of the first articles I wrote for the Constitution 101 series was titled "Living and Breathing Is Dead." It makes the fundamental point that if the government can interpret and apply the Constitution in such a way that it expands its own power, the Constitution itself is meaningless. You can't have "rule of law" when the "rule of law" is subject to reinterpretation at the whim of government judges, bureaucrats and elected officials. A constitution must mean what it was intended to mean when ratified, or it's really pointless to have one.

Progressives (on both the left and the right) have pushed this notion of a "living breathing" Constitution for decades in order to further their own policy agendas. Well, some folks in Florida recently got a nasty dose of their own medicine when a state judge essentially said city governments get to interpret statutes as they see fit.

While this wasn't a constitutional issue, it illustrates the danger of "living breathing law." In this episode of Thoughts from Maharrey Head, I talk about it.

You can visit the show notes page here: https://bit.ly/2nHgaEc

Thoughts from Maharrey Head focuses on constitutional issues and political decentralization. When you're finished listening, you'll be 10 minutes closer to freedom!

Visit my website at https://michaelmaharrey.com

Remember the Tea Party? Remember what it was all about? It was about taxing. spending and the national debt. Today, the Trump administration is running up Obama-era budget deficits. And a lot of the same people who were holding signs at Tea Party rallies are now Trump supporters. What happened to those Tea Party principles? Was it just political theater? In this episode of Thoughts from Maharrey Head, I talk about it.

You can visit the show notes page here: https://bit.ly/2m8UwYq

Thoughts from Maharrey Head focuses on constitutional issues and political decentralization. When you're finished listening, you'll be 10 minutes closer to freedom!

Visit my website at https://michaelmaharrey.com

You've probably heard President Trump brag about the economy. He's called it the best economy in American history. This is absolute hogwash. In this episode of Thoughts from Maharrey Head, I explain why. I also talk about the real reason the economy is in trouble. Hint: it has very little to do with Trump or Obama.

You can visit the show notes page here: https://bit.ly/2LkBl6R

Thoughts from Maharrey Head focuses on constitutional issues and political decentralization. When you're finished listening, you'll be 10 minutes closer to freedom!

Visit my website at https://michaelmaharrey.com

Most Americans think July 4, 1776, birthed a nation. It's didn't. It actually birthed 13 independent nations that soon formed a union. The notion that Independence Day birthed a nation is part of a broader "one nation" myth advanced by the likes of Joseph Story and Abraham Lincoln, and perpetuated by the Pledge of Allegiance.

In this episode of Thoughts from Maharrey Head, I debunk the "one nation" myth starting with the Declaration of Independence and then moving forward to the ratification of the Constitution. I answer the key question - where does sovereignty lie in the American political system?

You can visit the show notes page here: https://bit.ly/2XwNudc

Thoughts from Maharrey Head focuses on constitutional issues and political decentralization. When you're finished listening, you'll be 10 minutes closer to freedom!

Visit my website at https://michaelmaharrey.com

Political activism can be pretty detached from our day-to-day lives. We fight for abstract principles like "liberty" and "limited government" and "constitutional principles." But this week, it got really personal for me.

A friend of mine was indicted on federal marijuana charges. He could face 10 years to life in prison. Think about that for a second -- life in a cage for a plant. The actions of government have a real impact on real people. In this episode of Thoughts from Maharrey Head, I talk about it.

You can visit the show notes page here: https://bit.ly/2EWnvVY

Note: There are a few times in the episode where it sounds like I'm saying "Ethan." I'm not I thought about trying to fix it, but the end was good enough that I didn't want to re-do it.

Thoughts from Maharrey Head focuses on constitutional issues and political decentralization. When you're finished listening, you'll be 10 minutes closer to freedom!

Visit my website at https://michaelmaharrey.com

If you learned anything about nullification in school, it's probably in relation to the Nullification Crisis of 1833. And if that's that's the case, you almost certainly learned several myths about nullification. In this episode of Thoughts from Maharrey Head, I give you an accurate historical overview of the events that precipitated this so-called crisis, and in the process, smash a couple of those myths.

You can visit the show notes page here: https://bit.ly/2EuMoYC

Thoughts from Maharrey Head focuses on constitutional issues and political decentralization. When you're finished listening, you'll be 10 minutes closer to freedom!

Visit my website at https://michaelmaharrey.com

People keep telling me that military intervention in Venezuela would be perfectly constitutional because of the War Powers Act. Newsflash -- a congressional act does not amend the Constitution. In this episode of Thoughts from Maharrey Head, I give an overview of constitutional war powers and explain why undeclared wars are still illegal despite the War Powers Resolution of 1973.

You can visit the show notes page here: https://bit.ly/2vXddzT

Thoughts from Maharrey Head focuses on constitutional issues and political decentralization. When you're finished listening, you'll be 10 minutes closer to freedom!

Visit my website at https://michaelmaharrey.com