Katherine Revello
Opinion Editor
The recent emergence of the Tea Party brought populism screaming back onto the stage of national politics. Now, while dishonest brokers in and out of elected office refuse to acknowledge even the possibility that their followers have a legitimate viewpoint, conservatives are turning their methods, much like their beliefs, back to the Founding.
Comprised of state delegations, conventions are a hugely important aspect of American political architecture. They are the cornerstones upon which every significant governing document — the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the Declaration and even the Articles of Confederation — has been built.
The principle is simple — states choose individuals who are authorized to argue and vote on behalf of their interests. If enough states approve a measure, it becomes a Constitutional amendment.
Senators were once elected by state-appointment, giving this same sort of state power a dominant presence. But the passage of the 17th Amendment, which opened senatorial races to the popular vote, destroyed this balance of power and has led to a concentration of power amongst various federal institutions, many of them not answerable to the people. It’s surely no coincidence that this deviancy has accompanied a long period of legislation that has ballooned national spending and deficits, expanded the federal regulatory leviathan and generally failed to resolve any significant political issue.
Take, for instance, the recent zenith in the federal budget nightmare, which, over the holiday season, culminated in Congress quietly passing a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill. The United States is already $17 trillion in debt and spending is unsustainable, as every quasi-rational economist in the world acknowledges. A bevy of polls continues to show that the American people rank the economy as among the most important national issues. Yet, the best solution members of Congress can agree on is, well, nothing of significant change. Federal programs that are bloated, corrupt and unnecessary continue to be funded despite general consensus that there is a spending problem.
The 535 members of Congress, who are supposedly highly qualified on policy issues, cannot find a satisfactory resolution. Why, then, not allow a state-run convention the opportunity to come up with a solution? Perversions of the power balance aside, the onus of functional governing capacity rests with the states, and for good reason. Yes, the federal government is large; it does represent an entire nation. But, in practice, its duties are more managerial than practical.
State governments have to actually function at nearly the same level as private enterprise. They deal with more issues that affect the day-to-day lives of their residents and, when they run awry, have a much greater affect on those same residents.
The majority of federal agencies are overseers. They look out for non-compliance with federal law, which, really, is meant to be limited purely to the powers granted to it by the Constitution. All other functions are in the purview of the states.
And that’s why states are meant to have a role in national politics. Those interests that the federal government, simply because of its breadth, cannot account for when taking action, are supposed to be injected by the states into the national discussion. But, the passage of the 17th Amendment muzzled this incredibly powerful voice. And the national infrastructure has deteriorated dangerously since then. Therefore, its time to strip the edifice down to its bare boards and build anew. Conventions remain the best and soundest method through which to do this.