From: "Douglas L. Peterson" <fnorky@chisp.net>
Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 06:28:22 +0800
To: Jim Choate <cypherpunks@Algebra.COM>
Subject: Re: How to reign the federal government in...
In-Reply-To: <199811252030.OAA30458@einstein.ssz.com>
Message-ID: <365C8A52.CF56EC1C@chisp.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Jim Choate wrote:
> 
> Start a political party, but the likes of which has never walked the face of
> the Earth.

Ok, what kind?

 
> The individual states when acting in a clear majority (>=75%) may pass
> Constitutional amendments without the involvement or interference of federal
> processes.

Ok, lets look at Article V. of the US Constitution.

Article. V.

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it
necessary,
shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of
the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a
Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be
valid
to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified
by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by
Conventions
in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification
may
be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be
made
prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any
Manner
affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first
Article;
and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal
Suffrage in the Senate [Possibly abrogated by Amendment XVII].


As per Article V, two thirds of the States can call a Convention to
propose
Amendments.  I believe this would be 33 of our current 50 states. 
Territories
and other holding would have no say in this.  At this point, if three
fourths of
the states agree to any proposed Amendments, it becomes the law of the
land.

We only need two thirds of the States to start the process, but this
must be
done by their Legislatures.


> The IRS, for example, could be shut down tomorrow or significantly modified
> via this mechanism without involvement at the federal level.

I assume this would be either by nullifying Amendment 15 or modifying it
to a great degree.  Nothing else would work.


> What is needed is a political party that has a representative site in each
> state capital. Their job is to get proposed amendments to the Constitution
> on the floor of each body for vote.

Actually, it would not be to get the proposed amendments on the floor. 
You
would be putting the proposal for a Convention to amend the Constitution
on
the floor.  In addition, depending on the State, the party would likely
need
to have a member elected to that States Legislature.

Another possibility, again depending on the State is to have a State
Constitutional amendment directing that States Legislature to vote for a 
Convention by a specific date.


> Think nationaly, act by state.
> 
> There could be no appeal to the Supreme Court for constitutionality because
> it IS the Constitution.
> 
> There are no requirements in the Constitution to notify or otherwise
> register such acts with the federal authorities. In short, it's none of
> their business if the people acting at the state level change the laws at
> the federal level. They must either comply or quit their jobs.

That is why Article V was written as it was.  It provides a backdoor to
keep
the federal government from getting out of control.

-Doug
www.TheServerFarm.net