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by wtallis 1882 days ago
> Constitutionally-mandated requirement of the federal government

The constitution says: "The Congress shall have Power [...] To establish Post Offices and post Roads;"

This is not a constitutional mandate. It is constitutional authorization. The federal government is not obligated to fully exercise every power it is granted.

2 comments

In this case, and speaking specifically around the time that the Constitution was ratified, I suspect a Congress that failed to exercise that power would have been replaced by a Congress willing to, since people liked receiving correspondence and it was fairly vital to doing any kind of long distance business.
Lol, a government will always exercise any power it is given, and that's why your laws must be overly limited in the first place.

Just see the interstate commerce clause and what's happened with that