CONSTITUTIONAL AMMENDMENT
As a strict constitutionalist I always ask the question "what is the federal governments standing" to regulate or exercise power when it passes a new law. I ask this regardless of my position on the particular law in question.
An example occured in the news today although the act of congress ocurred a long time ago. The Supreme Court ruled that states may not discriminate against out of state vintners in regulating mail order sale of wine. Although states may forbid the sales of wine by mail entirely, if they allow in-state vintners to sell by mail they must also allow out-of-state vintners to sell their wares by mail.
On first blush, this seems a no brainer. The constitution gives congress the sole authority to regulate interstate commerce. This was written into the constitution in order to preclude the states from implementing tariffs and import duties on out-of-state products. The founding fathers were wise enough to see how important a free and robust market would be to the growth of the nation.
Further investigation, however, muddies the water. In 1933, the 21st ammendment was ratified to repeal prohibition. It can be read that this ammendment, written by the congress, gave the states the power to regulate the importation of [wine]. By this act, congress has fullfilled its constitutional requirement to regulate interstate commerce. Or so it would seem except now the courts have said, no congress, while you may regulate interstate commerce, you may not do it this way. Hmmm. Now the courts are telling congress the methods it must use to perform its constitutional duties?
Of course, the courts have been strangely quiet (for the most part) on what interstate commerce is. The founding fathers, who were much smarter and wiser than any extant politico or judge, clearly thought of commerce as the exchange of goods and services in the market place. over the last 200 years the congress and the courts have decided that interstate commerce is whatever congress says it is. I suppose they could justify regulating how you make love to your spouse by saying that since bed sheets travel in interstate commerce, they have the power to regulate what happens on them. This is not a stretch or exageration. The nexus between laws and interstate commerce is far more strained than that in many instances and the courts have upheld many such absurdities. Virtually everything the federal government does today it does under its authority to regulate interstate commerce.
In order to rein in the federal government and return to our constitutional roots I therefore propose the following ammendment to the constitution:
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