Heaven knows most of them don't understand it now. You only need to consult your local newspaper for daily confirmation.

For example, just the other day Vice President Al ("I invented the Internet") Gore promised to lead the federal government in the fight against traffic jams in our communities. Before an assembly of traffic reporters he announced a bold initiative: the administration wants to set up a special telephone line to enable citizens to get the latest traffic information. (Psst, Mr. Vice President. Turn on a radio.) This War on Traffic will also include-what else?-tax credits for employers who encourage workers to use carpools.

Mr. Gore thus continues President Clinton's agenda of using the power of government to improve our daily lives.

I hate to be the pooper at this feel-good party, but there is nothing in the Constitution that empowers the federal government to improve our daily lives. Someone familiar with that document would know that it has a rather short list of things that the federal government may do. The list relates mainly to protecting the independence and integrity of our civil society through a court system and armed forces. James Madison, who wrote the Constitution, said it created a government whose powers are "few and defined." Anything not on the short list of powers is forbidden to the federal government. How do we know? The Tenth Amendment tells us so. It says any power not delegated to the national government belongs to the people or the states.

In other words, Mr. Clinton and his intended successor do not possess the power to make our lives better. They have the power to enforce laws passed by Congress, which has the power to legislate only according to the "few and defined" powers delegated by the Constitution.

There's no authority for the federal government to solve the traffic problem. But lack of proper authority hasn't stopped our leaders from wielding power for quite a while. The Clinton administration has taken it upon itself to shrink the size of classes in schools. Where's the constitutional authority to have anything to do with education? The administration has decided it wants more policemen on the streets. Where's the authority to be involved in local law enforcement? The administration wants to tell airlines how to treat passengers. Where's the authority to interfere with private enterprise? The administration, bit by bit, is trying to accomplish a federal takeover of medical care. Where's the authority for that?

It doesn't exist.

The water's edge has been no barrier to this administration's assertion of unconstitutional power. It wants nothing more than to put U.S. troops in the middle of the tense conflict in Kosovo. It may also bomb Yugoslavia for not accepting an agreement that would govern its relations with the Albanian Kosovars, who don't want to be part of Yugoslavia.

Someone really should inform this administration that the Constitution does not empower the U.S. government to police the world. Mr. Clinton is apparently under the impression that he can send U.S. troops anywhere there is "instability." He has sent troops to Somalia, Haiti, and Bosnia. He is waging a low-level war in Iraq. The cost is tremendous, tens of billions of dollars, but stability remains elusive. Undaunted, Mr. Clinton seeks another place to work his stabilizing magic.

The purpose of the Constitution was to limit the power of government. This was one of the most revolutionary and progressive ideas ever developed in the West. It was indispensable to the freedom and dignity of the individual. But the idea passed out of fashion several decades ago. Today "progressive" people believe government should be able to do anything that makes us feel good.

The result was what Thomas Jefferson predicted: government has grown and liberty had yielded. Let's hand out those tests at once. I'm sure the politicians can be trusted not to cheat.

Sheldon Richman is senior fellow at The Future of Freedom Foundation, editor of The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty (The Foundation for Economic Education), and author of Separating School & State: How to Liberate America's Families (1995) and Your Money or Your Life: Why We Must Abolish the Income Tax (1998).

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