This really brings to light the importance of an Article V convention. The government did not become this abomination overnight. It took over a hundred years, perhaps over 200 years, to evolve into this untenable thing.
While the convention itself can prune an enormous amount of this unconstitutional growth, it must include a mechanism that will permanently cut off excess growth, in an orderly manner.
The federal government itself is incapable of performing this function, so it must be carried out by the individual states in a collective body. While something of this sort was conceived in the constitution, with the US senate, it was destroyed by the 17th amendment.
But the basic fault was that even senators more responsible to their states are still not inclined to do this function. Instead, it should be a judicial function.
Not of a federal court, but of a body of state courts, with judges appointed by the states, whose purpose it is to protect the power of the states, not of the federal government.
So think of recreating the senate, but with state judges instead of senators. In fact, with judges having six year appointed terms in parallel with each states senators. And very clear that legislatures cannot abrogate (or “democratize”) the responsibility for these appointments.
Typically, when we think of federal courts, their function is to determine constitutionality of the laws. But this would not be the case with this assembly, as it would be redundant.
Instead, they would determine jurisdiction of cases already heard by the federal courts of appeal. After the constitutional arguments have been made, they could say that this issue is not a federal or constitutional issue and should be returned to the state of origin for a verdict.
The other function of this body would be to have original jurisdiction over lawsuits between the states and the federal government. This means that if a state sued the feds, for example, the other states would decide who should prevail. Thus placing state interests over federal ones.
In any event, with these two things, this body would carry out a perpetual pruning mechanism to limit federal growth.
“...the importance of an Article V convention...”
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Good Post.