Did you ever notice?...

[Jim Choate]

Realy only the Supreme Court, they'd look pretty silly ruling against the
line; No people, the Supreme Court is more authoritative than the
Constitution. My suggestion, not being a lawyer, would be that when one
were arraigned you demand a lawyer and a 'whatever the legal term is for a
time-out' so that you could submit procedural issues to the Supreme Court
related to the fundamental legal process and its Constitutionality (the
court appointed attorney, however crappy, should know this process). Be
sure to send all the bills to the prosecutors office for payment as well.

You reallly don't have to worry in the long run about them confiscating
your property, the Constitution says private property taken for public use
must be compensated for. Determining if the legal system is constitutional
is clearly a 'public use' with respect to confiscated property.

But the reality is we don't really have to worry at all about what
they think/want.

It's supposed to be openly confrontational. Fuck the bastards. It ain't
like you're a federaly owned nigger or something. And you sure as hell
don't owe them an accounting until after you've been found guilty by a
jury of commiting some crime. And even then they must respect ALL your
civil liberties since they don't come from the government in the first
place (eg see 1st).

Here's my plan...;)

It is clear that since the Civil War the influence of the states has
wained. As a result we've seen an immense, and now clearly unwanted,
growth in fascist/socialist and now free-market/libertarian views at the
federal level. Views in fact fed  by the statistical mechanics of spin
doctor journalism based on 'surveys' (as if might makes right). Look at
the hue and cry over the New Deal being 'socialist' and this was roughly
60 years ago? And we de-cry the press manipulation of the Chinese over the
recent aircraft fiasco? Pot, Kettle...

So we need to come up with a way such that the States can re-take their
role as 'relief' driver/brakeman on the wagon train we call America. The
people are the horses, by the way (just because we're in charge doesn't
mean we get to sit on our asses - damned puritan work ethic :)

In each state a group of citizens forms with the express intent of
developing potential constitutional amendments and assisting in the
election of poly-partisan state representatives who will accept such
amendments for review. The point is to get people elected who are
favorable to receiving these sorts of public input, not to elect persons
of a certain view.

Each individual state group works in concert with the n-1 state groups
through some 'national caucus' where the actual submitted amendments would
be filtered and 'homogenized'.

Then they would be submitted to each of the states for review and
disposition. Note that the actual text would in all cases be exactly the
same, there is a real issue over verbage with respect to amendments. Best
to avoid the litmus test since it isn't covered in the DoI or the C.

The states, through a 3/4 majority can amend the Constiution without
federal involvement of any kind. The bastards just get up one morning and
have a new hoop to jump through.

Through this mechanism any activity of the federals could be countered in
short order. In a critical and widely held case possibly as little as 30
days. Hell, the fed's can't wipe their ass that fast from a precedural
point of view.

The fact is that all amendments to date have come through Congress. Every
time the states have started a movement Congress has taken it up.

I've spent several hundred dollars having different lawyers review this
suggestion and each has said it is legal. Not one of them liked it
however. You are of course welcome to your own opinion.

On Wed, 4 Apr 2001, J.A. Terranson wrote:

> Hrmmm...  You think you could convince the USG?

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       Beware gentle knight, there is no greater monster than reason.

                                             Miguel de Cervantes

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