Thanks to our pals at The Daley Gator for the pingback on our Saturday Ebbamageddon, and (as always!) to The Other McCain for the Rule Five links!
Is our Imperial Federal government far enough gone for the Gordian Knot approach? Texas Governor Greg Abbott thinks so, and he has marshaled some impressive arguments to that end. Excerpt:
Gov. Greg Abbott, aiming to spark a national conversation about states’ rights, said Friday that he wants Texas to lead the call for a convention to amend the U.S. Constitution and wrest power from a federal government “run amok.”
“If we are going to fight for, protect and hand on to the next generation, the freedom that [President] Reagan spoke of … then we have to take the lead to restore the rule of law in America,” Abbott said during a speech at the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Policy Orientation that drew raucous applause from the conservative audience. He said he will ask lawmakers to pass a bill authorizing Texas to join other states calling for a Convention of States.
Along with the speech, Abbott released a nearly 70-page plan – part American civics lesson, part anti-Obama diatribe – detailing nine proposed constitutional amendments that he said would unravel the federal government’s decades-long power grab and restore authority over economic regulation and other matters to the states.
More on this from our blogger pal at The Daley Gator here.
Honestly, while this could be a good idea if properly managed, I don’t see it as a fix-all for everything currently wrong with our Republic. First, this convention would have to be carefully managed as a convention of the States. One state, one vote, on all issues – no proportional representation.
“Now wait just a cotton-pickin’ minute, Animal,” some might ask. “The House of Representatives uses proportional representation. It’s a founding feature of the Republic. Why not use it here?”
Two reasons: First, this is to be a convention of the states, not the people. Second, were we to assign some kind of proportional representation, the reforms championed by Governor Abbott (and which I wholeheartedly agree with) would be overwhelmed by the delegates from places like California and Illinois who would be clamoring to have their taxpayer-funded Free Shit enshrined in the new Constitution.
Properly handled, this might just save us. (See the official Convention of the States web site here.) But I’m afraid I have little faith in the American people to properly handle this; I’m afraid too many have been overcome by the bread, circuses and Free Shit culture that we have drifted into.
The end-game that Ayn Rand described may be what it takes.
