Smith Faculty Opinion Article
The 30 Seconds Outlook
April 1, 2010
“The U.S. Congress is in a state of serious disrepair and cannot fix
itself.”
- James M. Lemunyon, Wall Street Journal, March 31, 2010
With passage of ObamaCare, conservatives appear to believe that “enough is
enough,” and the time is right to “push back” against the perpetual increase in
size of government that began in the Progressive Era. Democrats appear to
believe their version of what government should be is now too big to change.
We may now be at a “tipping point,” where voter concern is more than the
constitutionality of ObamaCare, but more so the feeling that government is too
large and too intrusive to be consistent with the American tradition of limited
government and freedom of choice. The problem has been exacerbated greatly by a
Congress that cares not about the current and future sizes of budget deficits
and the costs of entitlements, but rather on building an even larger and more
costly European style government. Given the poor performance of Socialist
governments, the real motive for larger government must lie in the desire for
greater command and control of the private sector.
That being the case, the potential for a solution lies with a Constitutional
Convention as provided for in Article V of the Constitution. A Convention may be
called upon approval of both houses of 34 state legislatures. Convention
amendments to the Constitution require approval of both houses of 38 state
legislatures.
The Florida Attorney General proposes to challenge the constitutionality of
ObamaCare, with ten states joining: Alabama, Texas, South Carolina, Utah,
Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Washington, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
The State of Florida, with approval of its Senate, also proposes joining 20
other states in calling for a Constitutional Convention to curtail deficit
spending and the size of Government.
If called, a Constitutional Convention appears likely to consider amendments
requiring balanced Federal budgets, limits on size of government, strengthening
of states rights under the Constitution, approval of presidential line-item veto
to control earmarks, and prohibition of Federal unfunded mandates imposed on the
states.
The budget woes faced by most state governments have given impetus to the
call for a Constitutional Convention. State budget problems are related to
politically motivated management, huge bureaucratic government, excessive and
generally less than fully funded state pensions, conflicted government union
contracts, and Federally unfunded mandates. The financial crisis brought these
budget problems to the forefront of state concerns. The bright side of these
issues is that they have awakened states to the need for a Constitutional
Convention.
John A. Haslem
