[Congressman Billybob]

Thank you for posting this. It is a privilege to get published for the second time in two weeks in American Thinker. This is NOT just an academic article. It is a practical way to place on Congress controls and restrictions that have existed for up to a century on state legislators.

John / Billybob

[The Comedian]

Great idea.

It will never fly, at least with this gaggle of criminals.

We can't continue to operate under the ridiculous fantasy that this coup is concerned with the welfare of America, upholding the Constitution, equally applying law, or making America financially healthy.

It is only interested in looting everything while simultaneously trying to cement its place in permanent, unassailable power.

There are only two things that are capable of stopping it (and neither one of them is a new law): Armed revolution, or massive disaster (nukes, big quakes, plagues, solar radiation changes, or similar mega-death events).

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

[sig226]

The idea that a balanced budget amendment will stop the debt accumulation of the federal government is unworkable. Here's why.

They'll need a supermajority to create a debt issue, so they'll change the way they plan the budget. Whatever is debatable in terms of pork or patronage will go into the regular budget, where it will pass with relatively little scrutiny. They will then declare an "emergency" and insist that they had to exercise the special power to incur debt so they could address the "emergency." The "emergency" could affect Medicare, or the Department of Defense, or any other government agency that has a large expenditure and a large constituency. They'll ignore the fact that those expenditures could have been placed in the regular budget and insist that they must sell another trillion dollars worth of debt to deal with the "crisis" at hand.

They all know that they have to bring home pork if they want to keep their seats. They will instinctively game this system. The problem is that ever since the representatives discovered that they could purchase re-election with money from the public purse, that's all they do. In fairness to the one or two honest representatives in Congress, if they don't bring home the pork, they will lose the seat. So, they act like irresponsible children with dangerous toys.

The only way to deal with such children is to take away the toy. I have been proposing to do exactly that. No government entity may regulate commerce between the states. If an act violates the laws of one state, but not the state where the act originated, the state where the violation occurred may extradite and pursue legal remedy for such act.

The abuse of the commerce clause has been almost the sole source for expanding the federal government. The commerce clause has to go.

[CPT Clay]

Way to go John, American Thinker is a big outfit to get published!!!!!

[bitt]

proud of you. really. thanks for all you do for us.

[1010RD]

Do any states have BBAs currently in place?

How are they working? I live in IL and they gimmick it up to “balance” the budget breaking the laws legally.

What’s the experience base in the other 50 American laboratories called states?

How about the states with line item vetoes (43 per the article)? Are they in good shape? IL has the line item veto and it’s made little difference.

How does the single-subject requirement work in the 41 states that have it? IL judges use it to overturn legislation, some of it good. It locks out the minority party from attaching bills that would change things in IL for the better.

I do appreciate the ideas and FR seems to have an overabundance of ideas for fixing America.

But, to me our best move is to walk the people, the executives, the legislatures and the judges back to our existing Constitution as written.

I don’t see anything past the 15th Amendment that improved on the original.