A strange way to honor the founding fathers

[babylonsister]

A strange way to honor the founding fathers

By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, December 1, 2010; 6:15 PM


Republicans gained control of the House last month on a promise to "restore the Constitution." So it is no small irony that one of their first orders of business is an attempt to rewrite the Constitution.

On Tuesday, Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), a member of the House GOP's majority transition committee, introduced a constitutional amendment that would allow a group of states to nullify federal laws with which they disagree.

"This repeal amendment gives states a weapon, a tool, an arrow in their quiver," he told a group of state legislators assembled at the Hyatt in downtown Washington. Of course, states have fired similar arrows before, and it led to a Civil War and Jim Crow - but Bishop wasn't going to get into that.

"I actually hope to have a series of statutes and amendments -- several amendments and several statutes -- that we can introduce this year," Bishop continued, "with the sole goal of not just cutting down the power of Washington to do things to people, but more importantly, is to empower states."

Several amendments? Would it be easier if they just got some red pens and walked over to the National Archives to do the job?

snip//

Cantor, Bishop and the other supporters of the amendment believe they are rebalancing the Constitution in a way the Framers would like. But it's strange that the lawmakers would show their reverence for the Founding Fathers by redrafting their work.

The mechanics of the amendment are also a bit odd. It would allow the repeal of any federal law - from civil rights to health care - if two-thirds of the states say so. But that could mean that the 33 smallest states, which have 33 percent of the population, have the power to overrule the 17 largest states, which have 67 percent of the population.

Then there's the unfortunate echo of nullification -- the right asserted by states to ignore federal laws they found objectionable - and the "states' rights" argument that was used to justify slavery and segregation.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/01/AR2010120105576.html?nav=hcmoduletmv

[tavalon]

1. We will have no end to the irony, the painful irony