The Other Way to Repeal Obamacare

This Weekly Standard Blog post gives an alternative method to attack ObamaCare. It also is a way to restore our Federalist system and regain the freedom that our founders envisioned.

Excerpt: The New York Times reports that incoming House majority leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) and legislative leaders in 12 states are backing a repeal amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The proposed amendment, launched by Georgetown law professor Randy Barnett, would empower two-thirds of the states, acting through their legislatures, to repeal any federal law or regulation.

It’s hard to see any downside to such a proposal. The federal government has clearly acquired far too much power, many members of this Congress and this administration are at a loss to name any limits to the scope of federal power, and the erosion of federalism has severely compromised Americans’ rights.

In The Federalist, No. 51, James Madison wrote of the “double security” that the Constitution provides “to the rights of the people” – the separation of powers, and federalism. Madison explained, “In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments. Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.”

Read full Weekly Standard Blog article here.

Read NYT article here.