Posted by
Defend America on Tuesday, December 22, 2009 3:08:14 PM
The States Can Check Washington's Power
States should be able to directly propose constitutional amendments.
For
nearly a hundred years, federal power has expanded at the expense of
the states—to a point where the even the wages and hours of state
employees are subject to federal control. Basic health and safety
regulations that were long exercised by states under their "police
power" are now dominated by Washington.
The courts have similarly distorted the Constitution by inventing
new constitutional rights and failing to limit governmental power as
provided for in the document. The aggrandizement of judicial power has
been a particularly vexing challenge, since it is inherently incapable
of correction through the normal political channels.
There is a way to deter further
constitutional mischief from Congress and the federal courts, and
restore some semblance of the proper federal-state balance. That is to
give to states—and through them the people—a greater role in the
constitutional amendment process.
The idea is simple, and is already
being mooted in conservative legal circles. Today, only Congress can
propose constitutional amendments—and Congress of course has little
interest in proposing limits on its own power. Since the mid-19th
century, no amendment has actually limited federal authority.
But what if a number of states, acting
together, also could propose amendments? That has the potential to
reinvigorate the states as a check on federal power. It could also
return states to a more central policy-making role.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704304504574610120356499810.html