Today's must-read

Comes courtesy of Al Fin. For a while I've been saying that the states are the logical source for checks on Federal overreach. He brings another play on this idea, and it's a doozy:

The author then suggests going the route of state legislatures to create a constitutional amendment which would hold the US Congress' feet to the fire, and enforce fiscal discipline and fairness. That is where a truly monumental battle of ideas could play out, if the anti-statist forces are disciplined and ingenious enough.

For it is abundantly clear that the US Congress, the US Executive, and probably the US Supreme Court along with the Federal Judiciary, are all corrupted beyond redemption -- without radical triage. Without an iron-clad constitutional guarantee of Congressional discipline, transparency, and fairness in budgeting, the truly grisly job of radical triage passes beyond the government into the nation at large.

Tax code too complex because Congress loves handing out favors to cronies deserving parties? Pass a constitutional amendment stripping congress of that power ("Congress shall make no law ..."). Entrenched politicians abuse their power, becoming a ruling class rather than public servants? Enact a constitutional amendment for term limits.

Devolution of power - we've seen it in the economy for 40 years. The only reason to think that government will always continue to centralize is because the thinker is locked in his own intellectual box.

The beauty of this is that that the incentives plausibly work: both political parties are despised by the voters. This effort would be done by state politicians who have a lot to gain from a massive culling of the current members of congress. There are political careers to be built on giving the People what they want.