REPEAL THE 17TH AMENDMENT
By
John MacMullin
After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the federal government announced that it would preempt all state jurisdiction over airport security. The federal government preempted state powers without regard to balancing federal and state responsibilities so that these responsibilities, and related costs, could be distributed across federal, state, and local governments. To carry out this preemption, the federal government recently reported that it will employ more than 47,000 federal recruits in the fight against terrorism as newly trained security screeners. They are to begin working at 424 airports nationwide.
These developments, and numerous others in the past, remind us that there are no checks and balances available to the states over federal power or over Congress itself in any area. However, in the history of our country, it was not always this way. In the original design by the Framers of the U.S. Constitution, there was an effective check on Congress through the state legislatures’ power to appoint (and remove) United States Senators.
Michigan’s Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Cox is interviewed after the Michigan Republican Party's debate at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich., on Tuesday, July 13, 2010. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Cox, one of five Republicans running for Michigan governor, said Michigan is the lead state backing Arizona in federal court and is joined by Alabama, Florida, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Virginia, as well as the Northern Mariana Islands.
The Arizona law, set to take effect July 29, directs officers to question people about their immigration status during the enforcement of other laws such as traffic stops and if there’s a reasonable suspicion they’re in the U.S. illegally.
Read the rest.
Throughout the brief history of the United States we have encountered periods of conflict between federalism and nationalism. Each period contains struggles pitting political powers attempting to concentrate governing authority in our national government and those striving toward the maintenance of clear separations of power among the several governing authorities. Today we are in the midst of the most recent conflict.
News is filled with accounts of federal maneuvering apparently bent on ending this conflict once and for all in favor of nationalized democracy. With out of control spending and enormous legislative bills being rammed through Congress, despite loud opposition from many people, today’s struggle may well break our supreme law of the land, ending this grand experiment. Not since the days of Franklin Roosevelt has the national government seemed so determined to press for total centralization of power. The few who believe they are smarter and more able to provide for fundamental, daily needs and wants are emboldened like never before.
Lincoln plays trump card
Most colleges in the United States teach students about the Supremacy Clause. This references the second clause of Article VI of the United States Constitution. Article VI is composed of 3 clauses which read;
All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
Eight days ago, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal ordered barges to begin vacuuming crude oil out of his state’s oil-soaked waters. Today, against the governor’s wishes, those barges sat idle, even as more oil flowed toward the Louisiana shore.
“It’s the most frustrating thing,” the Republican governor said today in Buras, La. “Literally, yesterday morning we found out that they were halting all of these barges.”
Sixteen barges sat stationary today, although they were sucking up thousands of gallons of BP’s oil as recently as Tuesday. Workers in hazmat suits and gas masks pumped the oil out of the Louisiana waters and into steel tanks. It was a homegrown idea that seemed to be effective at collecting the thick gunk.
“These barges work. You’ve seen them work. You’ve seen them suck oil out of the water,” said Jindal.
The 17th Amendment is stupid:
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years….
But let me start at the beginning. Article I § 3 cl. 1 of the Constitution originally established the election of Senators through the state legislatures. The Federalist #62 laid out numerous arguments for the Constitutional framework of the Senate and its method of selection.
The senatorial trust, which, requiring greater extent of information and stability of character, requires at the same time that the senator should have reached a period of life most likely to supply these advantages….
Years later, Alexis de Tocqueville made some observations about the Senate in “Democracy in America.”
The Senate is composed of eloquent advocates, distinguished generals, wise magistrates, and statesmen of note, whose arguments would do honor to the most remarkable parliamentary debates of Europe.
We went from great statesmen like Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and John Calhoun prior to the 17th Amendment, to that of Al Franken.
Friday: Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks to the first general session of the Republican Party of Texas convention in Dallas. (AP Photo)
Some delegates at the Republican state convention also called for a nonbinding resolution calling on House Republicans to oust their own speaker, Rep. Joe Straus of San Antonio, considered too moderate for many of the bedrock conservatives meeting in Dallas this weekend. Convention organizers ruled the Straus resolution out of order.
While the convention began Friday with scripted unity and Democrat-bashing speeches, its final hours were marked by division and heated debates over GOP policy priorities.
In a sometimes chaotic and raucous roll-call vote, delegates overwhelmingly decided to ditch their firebrand leader, conservative activist Cathie Adams, in favor of Houston businessman Steve Munisteri. Munisteri had focused his campaign on the party’s $500,000 debt, saying Republicans should be in better financial shape since they control both houses of the Legislature and all statewide offices.
The immigration proposal, a hard-line approach that Perry has said isn’t right for Texas, was one of several initiatives debated as delegates wrapped up the two-day convention. The Republican Party platform is a blueprint of the policies that GOP activists want elected officials to pursue.
