Thoughts on Bush's address on the Economy

Okay, so driving home I caught most of Bush's address to the nation about the proposed $700 billion bailout package for millionaire fat cats on Wall Street. Since it was a national address, my students probably will be talking about it tomorrow, so that means I need to have it addressed in my class too. Here is how I'm going to approach it.

In my government classes we just finished talking about the Constitution, and how it was built on several principles. One of these was limited government- in fact, our founding fathers believed very strongly in a limited government- that is a government that can only do those things which are written in the Constitution. Here is the question I am going to pose to my students tomorrow:

Where in the Constitution does the federal government have the power to speculate on financial markets by buying and selling ultra-risky mortgage backed securities? Which clause in the Constitution might be the basis for this power? Is this action something our founding fathers would have approved of?

By now, my students have already memorized the lesson that a government that has the power to do anything for you can do anything to you. Even high school students recognize that this bailout is not right. The $700 billion dollar bill will be shoved through Congress with very few people looking at it- imagine how much corruption will come pouring out of this. The same politically connected individuals that caused this mess are now going to having billions thrown at them. That's not fair.

Bush is not a conservative. Prescription drug coverage, massive expansion of the Departments of Education and Homeland Security, and now a revolutionary bailout- this is the best example of an unchecked, lame-duck second term President doing whatever he wants to do, now unconnected with reality, ideology, or party. Scary stuff.

UPDATE: This is really good article by David Warren- he's Canadian, but seems to understand what made America great once and what we have lost now. It's good- check it out.