{"id":503,"date":"2015-01-21T15:08:09","date_gmt":"2015-01-21T21:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/?p=503"},"modified":"2015-01-21T17:27:00","modified_gmt":"2015-01-21T23:27:00","slug":"10-states-line-up-to-limit-federal-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/?p=503","title":{"rendered":"10 states line up to limit federal power"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

10 states line up to limit federal power<\/a>\u00a0– WND.<\/p>\n

I have been very slow in coming onto the idea of an Article V convention. \u00a0However, as time has gone by, I’ve swung from vehemently opposed to moderately enthusiastic. <\/p>\n

For me, as a conservative, small government Constitutionalist, is probably the final hope of the People and the States to take back the country without the horror of a Second Amendment solution. \u00a0I know that many are afraid of Progressives running amok, but the reality is that there is\u00a0very<\/em> little danger of that happening. \u00a0Indeed, if one looks at the makeup of the individual States, progressive States will have very little power to subvert a Convention. \u00a0Indeed, if such a Convention is called with a narrow, well defined scope there really isn’t any danger at all. \u00a0At least that is my belief.<\/p>\n

First, though, let us look at the scope that is defined in the proposal suggested. \u00a0Mr. Meckler, in the linked article, identifies three amendment proposals: term limits, balanced budget and a single subject for laws (what I’ll call the “specificity amendment”). \u00a0I’d support the last two, but am not in favor of the first.<\/p>\n

At one time, I did support term limits for Congress. \u00a0As I have looked deeper into the issue, however, I have come to realize that term limits only treats one symptom. \u00a0It does not address the\u00a0underlying cause<\/em> of the real problem. \u00a0If you will bear with me, I will get back to this in a bit.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0balanced budget amendment has been a long sought for victory by budget hawks. \u00a0Opponents claim that we can’t eliminate the ability to borrow and some note that the government wouldn’t pay attention to it regardless. \u00a0I would agree that we probably should \u00a0not eliminate the ability to borrow, but we can – and should – severely restrict it. \u00a0We should not be borrowing simply for day-to-day operations. \u00a0It should be reserved for crises that present a clear and present danger to the Union.<\/p>\n

The final proposed amendment, a specificity amendment, is a brilliant idea in my opinion. \u00a0One of the ongoing problems with the legislature has been the dishonest – yes, dishonest – habit of taking in amendments to a bill that have nothing to do with the subject of the legislation. \u00a0This amendment process is also how earmarks and pork are typically hidden in the process. \u00a0More rarely, this is also how poison pills get put into a bill to kill what on the surface may appear to be a good law. \u00a0While a specificity amendment cannot eliminate\u00a0all<\/em><\/strong> abuses, by forcing topicality it will certainly severely curtail the practice.<\/p>\n

Ok, getting back to the term limit issue… \u00a0Rather than enshrining a bandage into the Constitution, I’d suggest fixing the root cause. \u00a0In fact, my suggestion would fix many of the problems in the federal government.<\/p>\n

Repeal the 17th Amendment!<\/p>\n

\n

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.<\/p>\n

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.<\/p>\n

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Not necessarily the whole thing, but the first portion\u00a0has to go<\/em>. \u00a0That is the part that takes the responsibility for the election of Senators away from the state legislatures and makes it a popular election. \u00a0Or to put it another way, it is the part that disenfranchised the States<\/strong><\/em>. \u00a0In the context of the Meckler op-ed, repeal of this part of the amendment would restore a long lost level of accountability of the Senators to their States. \u00a0With accountability, the need for Senate limits it mitigated. \u00a0In the House, with the two year terms, we have seen in the 2014 elections that incumbency is much less a guarantee of re-election than many Congressmen had assumed. \u00a0When combined with the balanced budget and specificity amendments, a repeal of the 17th Amendment will remove the need for term limits. \u00a0There are a who list of troubles\u00a0that repealing the the 17th Amendment will fix. \u00a0Those will be addressed in a future article.<\/p>\n

These changes are simple. \u00a0I suspect they would be popular with most of America, given honest discussion. \u00a0However, the only way they will\u00a0ever<\/strong> occur is through an Article V convention. \u00a0The changes here will break the backs of the establishment leaders in both parties and the federal bureaucracy. \u00a0It would hamstring special interests and lobbyists. \u00a0In other words, the changes would undermine the people to whom our elected officials\u00a0really<\/em> owe their loyalty. \u00a0An Article V convention takes the federal government out of the process. \u00a0It is the safety valve that the Founders built into the Constitution for just this occasion.<\/p>\n

As far as the risks? \u00a0I’ve already addressed the issue of the D.C. establishment being cut out. \u00a0Next, the one thing you can count on is that the changes will reflect conservative values. \u00a0We have an overwhelming majority in the state legislatures. \u00a0Progressives will not be able to run roughshod over the texts of the amendments; especially if the scope is narrowly defined. \u00a0Finally, the results of any convention would still have to be ratified by the States. \u00a0Again, conservative States overwhelmingly outnumber progressive ones. \u00a0Not only would we be able to prevent ratification of radical progressivism in the wild chance that it made it into an amendment, passage of the\u00a0desired<\/em> reforms\/clarifications are almost certain. \u00a0This argument also applies to the risk of the the convention rewriting the principles of the Founders or going outside the scope of their commission. \u00a0Either would guarantee a failure in ratification.<\/p>\n

Conservatives, States and the American people really do have the power to accomplish this. \u00a0At the present,<\/em><\/span> there is nothing that the federal government or Progressives can do to stop it other than keeping people in ignorance. \u00a0However, that can change. \u00a0I<\/strong> believe the progressive movement is\u00a0very much<\/em> aware of this danger. \u00a0By dumbing down our children in school and spreading government dependency as widely as possible they are reducing the chance of a successful convention ever occurring. \u00a0In that sense, we are engaged in a race. \u00a0A race that we must win for the future\u00a0of liberty and our children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

10 states line up to limit federal power\u00a0– WND. I have been very slow in coming onto the idea of an Article V convention. \u00a0However, as time has gone by, I’ve swung from vehemently opposed to moderately enthusiastic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[22,132,131,133,46,49,51,56,68,95,100,106,115],"class_list":["post-503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-news","category-politics","tag-tcot","tag-17th-amendment","tag-article-v","tag-balanced-budget","tag-constitution","tag-culture-2","tag-current-events","tag-election","tag-government","tag-overreach","tag-politics-2","tag-progressives","tag-tea-party"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5yCHs-87","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=503"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":512,"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503\/revisions\/512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}