Mark R. Levin
By Joanna Daneman #1 HALL OF FAME TOP 10 REVIEWER VINE VOICE on August 13, 2013
Phi Beta Iota: 34 States have asked for a Constitutional Convention. Congress — the two-party tyranny — is ignoring that demand and manipulating the data to conceal from the public the fact that a legitmate constitutional demand has been made.
Currrently, states' powers have been almost completely overruled by Federal laws and mandates, debt is out of control, stretching past two generations of American's ability to pay it off. Government spending is a significant proportion of GDP and the GDP itself is stagnating; is this caused by the heavy burden of non-productive government spending? Government regulation has even gone so far as to dictate what kind of light bulb can be manufactured and sold and choices in healthcare may soon be dictated by unelected bureaucrats. For those who think that this kind of centralized power is dangerous and even tyrannical, Levin's amendments seek to address the power that the Federal government has arrogated unto itself, a power that never was the original intent of the Founding Fathers and which reduces individual liberty significantly.
Levin's amendments include:
1. Term limits, including for justices.
2. Repealing Amendment 17 and returning the election of senators to state legislatures
3. A congressional supermajority to override Supreme Court decisions (overruling what could be a stacked court)
4. Spending limit based on GDP
5. Taxation capped at 15%
6. Limiting the commerce clause, and strengthening private property rights
7. Power of states to override a federal statute by a three-fifths vote.
These ideas will be opposed by those who favor central planning and a very powerful federal government, who believe that a few should decide the fate of many, who like the current system and the way it's headed. It will also be ignored by those who think that there is too much inertia to oppose the direction we're headed. It's true there are powerful forces at work fundamentally transforming the nation, but it's also true that there is a plurality of opinion throughout the US. For those who wonder how we've gotten to where we are presently, and how we might restore personal liberty and more localized government, where we have MORE of a say, not less, this is a very important book and worth reading and discussing.
