If the Tea Party has its way, Tallahassee, Dover, Salt Lake City and company will reign supreme over Washington, D.C.
Introducing the “repeal amendment” Tuesday, Rep. Rob Bishop hopes to make a 28th Amendment to the Constitution.
Bishop, a Republican from Utah, said the so-called repeal amendment would reinforce the 10th Amendment’s power to give states superiority over the federal government so things like the health care bill, auto bailout and stimulus package would never happen again.
Also Tuesday, a federal judge in Virginia threw out a challenge to the federal health care bill, citing the Commerce Clause in the Constitution.
The Editorial Board is a big fan of speaking its mind and objecting to ill-devised plans or policies, so in that sense, we applaud the Tea Party and Rep. Bishop for trying to right what they feel is wrong.
But as several prominent legal scholars agree, this proposed 28th Amendment would reduce the collective government of the U.S. to the ineffectiveness and inefficient days of the Articles of Confederation, which was rejected because ultimately states did whatever they felt was best.
The federal government already works at a slow pace with the bipartisan bickering. This proposed amendment would do little to help that fact, as it doesn’t stipulate a time limit for states to repeal anything.
Most importantly, the proposed amendment would send the country into legislative chaos, opening up questions that plague every bit of the Constitution, including appropriation powers to powers to declare war.
Sorry, Tea Party. But this just isn’t going to happen.
