Federalism Shmederalism

Got your attention? :-)

If you have been reading The Blog from the Core for a while — and, surely, Faithful Reader, you have been doing so :-) — that title will probably take you by surprise. I bring up federalism because politically conservative folks who support a Federal Marriage Amendment to make it clear that marriage exists between a man and a woman are being accused of abandoning one of their cherished principles, federalism: that the states are the fundamental source of political power and that, concomittantly, the federal government's power is delegated from the states, and that's the way it ought to be; or similar ideas, perhaps stronger, perhaps more diluted.

I do not say Federalism Shmederalism because I think federalism should be abandoned to prevent the judiciary from imposing its arbitrary will on the people, by inventing "gay" "marriage", but because I do not think that a Federal Marriage Amendment is an abandonment of federalism: I think it is an exercise in federalism.

For the federal government does not impose a federal constitutional amendment onto the states; the states impose it onto the federal government and, insofar as is specified, upon all the states.

Sure, the Congress proposes an amendment. But it proposes it to the "several states", each of which gets to vote it up or down. If — and only if — enough (3/4) of the states approve, it becomes part of the federal constititution. This has been quite clearly spelled out in the federal constitution from its inception — the amendment process is its own Article — and every state joined the United States of America knowing and understanding that a super majority of the states may thus impose their will upon all the states.

And that's why I say Federalism Shmederalism.

None of the Big Brains of the Blogsophere have said anything like this. Well, if any of St. Blog's resident attorney-types are paying attention, I'm sure I'll be set straight soon enough. ;-)

P.S. See also Dust in the Light.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 12/02/03 10:46:47 PM
Categorized as Political.