Posted on 09/24/2002 8:35:46 AM PDT by Dick Bachert
I suspect, given the current ignorance of the electorate on the principles of federalism, such a proposal would go down in flames. Even with concerted efforts by the States to educate their people, I still think it would end up being too abstract to gain any traction with the majority.
Ron Paul led a brief movement in Congress to get them to do a Constitutional Impact Study DETAILING precisely WHERE the Constitution authorized ALL new legislation.
Needless to say, it failed.
Like my old friend, Lester Maddo -- no states right slouch himself -- said when the crime in the Georgia prison system was brought to his attention, "What we need is a better class of criminal."
We'll get these things done when we get a better class of politician.
And we'll get THEM when we get a better class of citizen.
Hat's off to you, Jim, for aiding that vital process.
Yes. Absolutely.
Any agency that is not constitutionally federal in nature should either be dismantled, or divided into 50 parts and handed back to the states. That puts political control closer to the control of the citizen. And, it allows 50 ongoing experiments in governance, which is what our system is supposed to provide. There is nothing wrong with having 50 different policies on a given subject; if we are free people, it is a certainty that we will have 50 different policies that should converge over time, but never completely agree.
And I agree with your earlier post; to even think about doing this, it is going to take a clear Repub majority in Congress... not just Repubs, of course, but conservative small "L" libertarian Repubs, to get this job done.
The Senate was set up NOT to be directly answerable to the people. The Senators were given longer terms. The Senate was established as the upper chamber in the system. The Senators were intended to be senior statesmen and defenders of the Constitution and the Republic, even to defend it from the people. They were intended as a check on the hot heads of the people's house, not accomplices. They were intended to be representatives of the sovereign states and guardians of the Republic.
The 17th changed all that. Suddenly, we are no longer a republic, we are a "democracy" (as taught by politicians, and the liberal media, and the public schools since 1913). The Senate no longer defends our national sovereignty not to mention state sovereignty or the Constitution or the Republic. The Senators are now more interested in accumulating maximum federal power for their own selfish reasons. The states and the Republic be damned.
We must continue the battle in the Supreme Court. We must block the liberals and appoint only conservatives to the judiciary at every level of government.
Vote out the RATs.
Recruit and support and campaign mightily for the most conservative new blood we can find in the farm systems and the primaries, but regardless of who wins the primaries, we must support and campaign for and elect the Republican candidate in the general elections. It's the only way we will ever defeat the left and it's the only way we will ever restore our Liberty!
Vote the RATS OUT!
I'm in favor of all amendments after the 12th needing to go. Since the Constitution itself denies no one the right to vote, the 15th & 19th are politically motivated and therefore unnecessary. Likewise the 13th was a reiteration of the Emancipation Proclamation and also, IMHO, unnecessary. I agree with most here that the wording of the 14th is open to mischevious interpretation.
Of all the amendments that make my blood boil it is the 16th:
Article I, Section 9: "...No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken..."
Amendment XVI: "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."
This blatant turning of the Founders words directly against them, my fellow FReepers, is IMHO the worst crime in this nation's history. The kind of taxation authorized by the 16th is precisely that against which the Founders revolted .
Praise the Lord and pass the -- ballots!
These midterm elections are parmount to starting down the long road to re-building this country the way the Founders intended it.
Its fundamental, you don't need to be a genious to see it.. for example. If Senators were elected by state legislatures and sent to represent the states, and could be recalled by their governor at any time that you would have the insane party line chaos that happens in Washington? Where individual senators will vote a party line regardless of what it does for their state, like for instance the Clinton Tax Increase in the 90s, where party loyalty was more important than anything.
Its crazy to believe that the people and the state will have exactly the same desires. A state is going to be interested in the matters of the state and government, while the individual will be interested in self interested issues. If you think the state and the people will share completely the same interests, then there is no reason to even have states.
Right. Since the Constitution originally grants no one the right to vote, all 'voters rights' amendments are political and frivilous IMHO.
They did this because they had both the hindsight to avoid what the mess they came from and the foresight to see what America could be.
Unfortunately, where they were deliberate and wise, we in the 20th century have been politically hasty and foolish.
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