Yet again, this class had absolutely nothing to do with charity. It was basically a civics class on separation of powers, and it didn't really touch on anything having to do with small government, as Beck promised it would in his introduction to the class. It did possibly set the stage for the final Charity class. Stoner spent a good amount of time talking about the Necessary and Proper Clause in the Constitution, which is kind of the negative capability of Constitution wonks. You can kind of make anything you want out of the Necessary and Proper Clause, and Stoner chooses to interpret it as being for small government.
Stoner talked a lot about Congress and the Supreme Court and checks and balances. He actually appealed to our better natures, suggesting that the populace wants to "elect, they hope, someone a little bit better than themselves, but like themselves.” He said that we would be “changing the whole structure of Federalism” if we look to the government to solve our problems. And he talked about bureaucracy, but he made clear that not all bureaucracy is a bad thing. He said it was a great thing that "Social Security checks come out when they’re supposed to come out, month after month after month," for example. You can almost picture Glenn Beck's head exploding in the background. Stoner even called the Constitution "resilient," countering Beck's own claims that Obama is about to override the Constitution and hand us over to the socialists wholesale. So there was no hilarity to be had in what Stoner said. Instead, I had to amuse myself with the misspellings in the title cards:
And in the post-class chatroom:
[Comment From TLT1: ]
Hello...you educated freaks!
[Comment From Michele - Texas: ]
It's because of you - we will be able to keep this alive for generations to come. Thank you Prof Stoner
[Comment From JACK (GA): ]
NEED TO REPEAL THE 16 AND 17 AMENDMENT
James Stoner:
Lots of you are asking about the Seventeenth Amendment, making Senators directly elected. I think a number of states were effectively doing that already, and I don't think that an amendment that seems to reverse something that made the Constitution more democratic is likely to succeed. Put your efforts into electing the best people to the Senate, I would say.
[Comment From Ed S: ]
Beck U is the best in higher education
[Comment From KrisK: ]
It's a pity the Constitution isn't taught this way in our public schools. I don't even remember it being mentioned in my history classes.
[Comment From JACK (GA.): ]
I LOVE TO LEARN ABOUT OUR CONSTITUTION
But I'm going from Beck U's best professor to its worst: Next Wednesday is the Faith 103 class. I'm already dreading it.
