Re: The Power of the SCOTUS II: "Release the Kagan!"
Where the "originalists" go wrong is by fixating on specific language they missed the whole underlying point that Adams and Jefferson were on about. The mechanism of change has to be through appeal to the popular sovereign...[because] change is healthy and [to be] expected. The focus should be on getting the votes and getting the amendments. Just pass a flipping amendment that leaves no doubt ...
It's interesting how often we agree.
I've been trying to articulate the same point for awhile. We have an amendment process: if your plan is so great for everyone, then everyone will sign on, and we can pass an amendment to spell out how far we can go to implement it. Imagine how much less trouble FDR would have had with the SCOTUS if he merely had tried to implement a few new amendments; he had the majorities to pass them and send them on to the states, and the times were such that well-crafted amendments likely would have attracted the 3/4 majority needed for implementation. His problems were impatience and hubris (hmm...sound familiar to anyone else we know?)
The EPA seems to be exceeding its statutory role in certain areas, for example (based on a recent theory they advanced about CO[SUB]2[/SUB] emissions, they easily could claim the authority to regulate breathing!). It would be nicer to have a clear succinct understandable description of what it can or cannot do.
These days, rarely is it a question of "whether" we do something, far more often it is a question of degree: "how much of it" is a "good thing" and when does it become "excessive"?
I was in our break room the other day and there is a big 2' x 3' poster that is mandated to be there (and in every place of employment throughout the country). On it are a detailed list of regulations in 7 boxes: two from DOL, one from EEOC, one from OSHA, a few more I can't recall right now but if I remember I'll update this list on Monday. There was a similar poster of equal size from the state government as well.
We recently wanted to expand a parking lot next to our existing one on land we already owned. Turns out we'd need to file 37 forms with 18 agencies, one of them certifying that there was no lead paint present. No one in this day and age wants to regress, on the other hand no one wants to be strangled either. We need to find some balance.
While I am an ardent liberal, I find that these days, I generally have more sympathy with conservatives than with progressives because so many of the latter have the fiery passion of zealots, they are so sure they are right that they brook no dissent. One of the fundamental tenets of philosophical conservatism (not transient political "conservatism") is that people are fallible. It is a bit amusing yet true, yesterday's radical is today's conservative. At the time of the passage of the 14th amendment, conservatives opposed it, yet now conservatives call upon it as a fundamental right. Once enough time passes, conservatives generally do get on board if an idea makes sense to enough people.
