Are you in your first year of law school or something? Jason is correct, the United States is a collection of separate nations which ceded a level of sovereignty to a central government; that central government having been created by those separate nations. While the ratified federal constitution is the supreme law of the land, it is only supreme as to those areas specified in the constitution. It seems most federal laws are somehow tied to the commerce clause or the 14th amendment's enforcement provisions. But the federal government does not have many traditional state powers. For example, there is no federal marriage license, no divorce proceedings in federal court, no federal probate. That the states retain a level of sovereignty is evident by the requirement that they - not Congress - are they final decider on any changes to the federal constitution. And I'd be remiss not to add that the federal rules of civil procedure have nothing to do with this discussion whatsoever.
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Is the US Constitution too hard to amend?
- Thread starter lpetrich
- Start date
Jason Harvestdancer
Contributor
Many people do not want to admit that the central government is a creation of the several states, preferring compete dominance by that central government instead. Which also ties in to objecting to my saying that the federal government should not have a hand in amending the constitution.
lpetrich
Contributor
JH, you seem to want a very wimpy national government. That was tried in the form of the Continental Congress, but the nation almost fell apart in the Revolutionary War and afterwards. If it had, then the British would have been back, as they were in 1812. King George III would have had the last laugh. Also, does any American patriot relish the thought of singing "God Save the King/Queen"???
JH, I notice what address you give for yourself. It is in territory conquered from Mexico by the US. A wimpy national government would not have been able to conquer very much, so under your preferred scenario, it would likely still have been ruled by Mexico.
I will concede that I myself currently live in territory that would likely have been either British or Russian under that scenario.
Having a strong central government helped the US avoid going the way of Poland, which was conquered by its three neighbors after being one of the biggest nations in Europe.
Jason Harvestdancer
Contributor
Although there are arguable points in what you wrote, you are completely ignoring the most important point.
Adjusting the amendment process has absolutely positively no effect whatsoever on the first three articles of the constitution. Your response implies that it does.
Adjusting the amendment process has absolutely positively no effect whatsoever on the first three articles of the constitution. Your response implies that it does.
arkirk
Veteran Member
It is technically almost impossible for the Constitution to be modified by the public will. On the other hand, it is easy for any part of the constitution that gets in the way of corporate interest or interests of the very wealth to merely be legislated out of existence piecemeal in a congress owned completely by them.