Monday, November 22, 2010

Repeal Amendment

When the founding fathers formed our republic, it began as a compact among sovereign states, described in Articles of Confederation.  The original Articles did not work well, because any one state essentially veto any action.  The Constitution bound the states together more tightly, but it was still considered a compact among sovereign states that relinquished some, but only some, of their sovereignty.

The passage of the much hated Obamacare legislation vividly demonstrates how far state sovereignty has fallen from grace.  It has become the Federal Goverment uber alles.  It is time to restore some balance.

The so-called repeal amendment is a good start:
Any provision of law or regulation of the United States may be repealed by the several states, and such repeal shall be effective when the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states approve resolutions for this purpose that particularly describe the same provision or provisions of law or regulation to be repealed.
My only problem with it is that it does not go far enough. I see no reason why it should take 2/3 of the states voting to repeal legislation. I think 50% + 1 should be plenty. After all, if more than half of the states dislike some Congressional enactment enough to pass a resolution, why should it be imposed on us at all?

www.repealamendment.org is little more than a banner website with no real information as yet. I hope that changes soon.

We need to fundamentally transform America by restoring Constitutional principles and values.

2 comments:

Opinionator said...

I like the basic idea, but unlike you, I think 2/3 of the states is too small a number. It should be the same 3/4 that it takes to amend the Constitution. For that is basically what it would be doing: the States amending the Constitution.

Conservatarian said...

The 17th Amendment changed the original intent that Senators would be selected by state legislatures. Under that system, the states had a greater say in federal legislation, particularly that affected state interests.

Because we are supposed to have a federal system, the ability of the states to repeal a single federal law should be, it seems to me, much easier than amending the constitution.

Reasonable people can differ on the details. I am glad we agree on the principle.

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