Self-Government
Somewhat out of the blue, the Projo editorial page has come out in favor of term limits for Congressmen…Now, it’s time for Americans to look at limiting the terms of members of Congress….A good way to start the discussion would be proposing to limit the time in office to, say,10 or 12 years (five or…
I mentioned at the start of this series of postings that the Bill of Federalism is a stronger alternative to “Tenth Amendment resolutions” and the like. In the ninth proposed amendment of the Bill of Federalism, the subject of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments of the US Constitution — the rights retained by the people…
The eighth amendment proposed in the Bill of Federalism would increase the power that the President of the United States has for bringing Federal budgets into balance… Section 1. The budget of the United States shall be deemed unbalanced whenever the total amount of the public debt of the United States at the close of…
No need for any extended explanation on this one; the seventh proposed Amendment in the Bill of Federalism is term limits for Congress… No person who has served as a Senator for more than nine years, or as a Representative for more than eleven years, shall be eligible for election or appointment to the Senate…
In a very important sense, the sixth proposed amendment of the Bill of Federalism is compensation for the change brought about by the Seventeenth Amendment to the US Constitution, which provided for the direct election of Senators, when they had previously been chosen by state legislatures. Now, as a resident of the state of Rhode…
The fifth proposed Amendment in the Bill of Federalism seeks to reverse various encroachments on the freedom of expression… The freedom of speech and press includes any contribution to political campaigns or to candidates for public office; and shall be construed to extend equally to any medium of communication however scarce. The meaning of this…
If I could choose a single amendment from the proposed Bill of Federalism to place into the US Constitution, it would be this one…No treaty or other international agreement may enlarge the legislative power of Congress granted by this Constitution, nor govern except by legislation any activity that is confined within the United States.In other…
The third proposed amendment to the US Constitution contained in the Bill of Federalism places express limits on the Federal government’s ability to use the extensive machinery of modern government to compel state governments to act in certain ways…Congress shall not impose upon a State, or political subdivision thereof, any obligation or duty to make…
The second Amendment of the proposed Bill of Federalism is a limit on Congress’ powers under the Interstate Commerce Clause…The power of Congress to make all laws which are necessary and proper to regulate commerce among the several states, or with foreign nations, shall not be construed to include the power to regulate or prohibit…
Forget your wimpy resolutions reaffirming the Tenth Amendment; Professor Randy Barnett of Georgetown Law School has a much stronger suggestion for you. Professor Barnett has proposed recalibrating the relationship between the Federal Government and the states — and more importantly, between the Federal government and the people — that has drifted over time towards ever-increasing…
