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Health & Fitness

Levin's Liberty Amendments - Adopt, Modify or Discard?

In a previous blog post, I proposed 17 items to move Michigan forward toward population and economic growth for the 2020 census. Government Reform: 8, Economic Reform: 6 and Moral Issues: 3.

Not surprisingly, the moral issues proposals drew the most criticism.

Here are two of the Government Reform topics no one objected to:

#1. Respect for our written U.S. Constitution with amendments. (The Michigan Constitution is secondary, and local charters like Troy's are under it.)

#5. Term Limits for Congress & County Government: Congress enjoys approval ratings below 30% regardless of which party is in charge. Many voters see little difference between Big spending Democrats vs. Big Spending Republicans except for whom they tend to favor with their spending. Term limits have helped the cream to rise to the top in state government; it’s time we had them in Congress and county government.

With the Troy City Council election coming up November 5, here are some questions that probably will not be asked of the candidates at the October 9 candidate forum:

1. Have you read the arguably most important political book of the year: The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Republic, by former Reagan Justice Department attorney and conservative talk show host Mark Levin?

2. Do you intend to? If so, when do you expect to finish it?

3. What do you think of the eleven specific amendments? You can read a summary of them in this National Review article. Should each of them be adopted, modified or discarded? Please explain.

What does this have to do with Troy?

Glad you asked. What is the most controversial local topic in the last several years? The Troy Transit Center, of course. Where after much debate and drama, a divided City Council voted 4-3 to spend American kids’ and grandkids’ inheritance (borrowed money on our national debt; America is overspending at at 40% rate) on an unnecessary project for about 60 passengers a day.

Amtrak ridership from this 2400 square foot, $6,400,000 station will hopefully increase and may even double someday soon due to the increased number of dedicated parking spaces. It does provide local jobs for the moment. Any way you slice it, however, it's still very expensive infrastructure. Construction will likely be complete before the lawsuit between the city and the shopping center owner is settled.

Water under the 1.6 Million Dollar Footbridge

This is not to criticize anyone's decision; council members gave it full deliberation and could not know what a can of worms they were opening. I mention it only because some of the most maddening arguments were "this won't cost Troy taxpayers a dime." and "if we don't spend the money, some other city will get the (Federal) money."

So it is relevant to the Troy Council elections because occasionally council members are asked to approve spending that "won't cost Troy anything." That in fact has cost Troy a lot, and will cost more over the years to come, if nothing else in city employees' time to fight the legitimate lawsuit from the developer.

Hopefully the city's interests have been protected by the council as the proponents have moved on the next spending project. But either way, American taxpayers lose since there were solutions for getting people where they want to go at a much lower cost.

How to get a Runaway Federal Government to Limit its Power

Levin uses a little known provision in article V, which allows a 2/3 majority of state legislatures to call a constitutional convention, bypassing a Congress which would never vote for it.

The amendments proposed by the convention still need to be ratified by 3/4 of the state legislatures, just as if the amendments had been proposed by Congress. So, he argues, there is no danger of a runaway convention.

A Recipe for American Fiscal Survival

America currently has two growth industries: natural gas (e.g., North Dakota) and government, especially the federal government (D.C. and environs). This is OK, but we can't all work for the government. Some has to pay the bills for all the hardworking employees (no sarcasm - they do mostly work diligently for us).

That is why I think Mark Levin's Liberty Amendments are what the nation needs - I read through the amendments themselves in the appendix of his book.

Reading them took less than 15 minutes, unlike most laws Congress passes, which need a major decoder ring.

The 2000 page Obamacare law comes to mind, with thousands of pages of regulations and more than 10,000 IRS agents hired to enforce its provisions. Some members probably still have not read it and hardly anyone understands it, years after its passage with only one Republican vote (Chief Justice John Roberts, as he gave his opinion that it was constitutional but bad public policy).

I've read the first few chapters of Levin's book and plan to finish it before the November council elections.

Term Limits for Congress, Supreme Court and More Control for State Governments

The first limits members to a total of 12 years in Congress! Supreme Court justices would also be limited to 12 year terms. Other provisions would return more decisions to the states and promote economic growth through the "laboratories of democracy." (the states)

Since Troy Council members often run for state representative after serving on the council, they should approve of many of Levin's ideas for state and therefore grass roots local control. The closer government is to the people it represents, the more responsive and less wasteful it will be.

Fiscal Tipping Point

President Franklin Roosevelt said, "Any Government, like any family, can for a year spend a little more than it earns. But you and I know that a continuation of that habit means the poorhouse."

America has reached the tipping point, where its debts will soon be unmanageable if it doesn't act soon. The growth of the Federal Government must restrained. Levin's Liberty Amendments may need some modification. But they are a good start, in my opinion.

Offer to Council Candidates

I hope the council candidates also choose to read this important book. Since my blog is the most popular on the Troy Patch, I'll offer all candidates the exposure to answer the above three questions and give them free publicity for their campaigns.

As with the mayoral special election, I'll print their responses in the order received.








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