States Rights, Not Federal Power, Saw US through Revolutionary War
GOP control of both the Senate and House of Representatives hasn’t achieved the hoped-for leverage or balance of power. The US Congress seems weaker than ever in its ability to impact American culture. And the Northeast is a hotbed of radical social engineering.
Meanwhile, President Obama gets stronger and stronger in his ability to champion liberal causes, from gay marriage to granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. In our Online Age, he who controls the Media controls public opinion. Of course, he also get to choose Supreme Court justices, thus amplifying his own preferences. Has US Supreme Court Outlived Its Purpose? we continue to ask.
Though none of the look-alike GOP presidential candidates have come forward with “fight” in their visions, one US senator indicates that political times are desperate enough to up the ante: Ted Cruz Is Right to Call for Retention Elections for the Supreme Court. Should a handful of unelected officials have the right to arbitrarily reinterpret centuries of moral and legislative heritage?
The US Constitution is apparently flexible enough these days to support just about any trend in pop culture. Once the country is unmoored from this enabling document, will even the Far Right find a door into its own version of a Brave New World?
The unparalleled growth of federal power has nearly relegated state governments to redundancy. Now the states have no power, with the votes of their populations easily swept aside.
So we must continue to ask Should USA Have Stuck with the Articles of Confederation? The Articles were our only Constitution during the first years of revolution and war. Great Britain was the “federal” tyrant that the Colonialists wanted desperately to overthrow.
The Articles didn’t have two political institutions that have turned sour today: the presidency and the supreme court. Yet our 50 states already have both courts and bicameral legislatures, including governors and departments. So why the duplication on the federal level?
Shouldn’t we pledge our support to any 2016 presidential candidate who seeks a return to states rights and America’s revolutionary principles found in the Articles of Confederation? After all, the intervening years have taught us how a new Articles of Confederation might be strengthened.
