He does not respect our Constitution -- on that the conservative St. Augustine Record and I agree. In sharp contrast, he's what I wrote about the late U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers, one of my heroes, earlier this year: "He strongly opposed demagogic efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution over school prayer, abortion, school busing, flag-desecration and other hot button issues -- Dale Bumpers never supported any constitutional amendment. Senator Bumpers said his legacy included "fighting like a saber-tooth tiger" against such 'trivial' constitutional amendments, which he helped defeat 38 times. There was no stronger defender of the Constitution."
Editorial: The Constitution isn't for show
Posted: April 22, 2016 - 12:07am | Updated: April 22, 2016 - 5:55am
We should be used to this in an election year, but sometimes political grandstanding just gets on your nerves. So perhaps we should apologize preemptively to Rep. Ron DeSantis for the following comments on the press release that broke the camel’s back.
His piece was titled, “DeSantis Introduces 28th Amendment Requiring Members of Congress to Abide by the Laws they Pass.”
How can you argue with that one? DeSantis explains that “passing laws that apply to the American people but that exempt Congress is inconsistent with the ideals of a republican form of government.” Well, at least he spelled republican without a capital “R.”
“Americans know full well that Congress refuses to hold itself accountable ...” added cosponsor, Rep. Matt Salmon, an Arizona Republican.
We think that Americans also know full well that all this sounds indignant and righteous, but that it’s a bunch of political hooey.
In the first place, amending the Constitution of the United States isn’t something one does on a whim or during an election year. The Founding Fathers pretty much got the big stuff right the first time around. The first 10 of our country’s 27 constitutional amendments are what’s known as the Bill of Rights. We’d probably be better off in general if we stayed closer to them.
It’s been over two decades since we passed such an amendment. That one, the 27th, prevented lawmakers from raising their salaries before an election. It didn’t make the short list in 1787, probably because Ben Franklin and crew figured it was a no-brainer, not cause for a constitutional crisis.
The process for passing a constitutional amendment is a tedious one. And that, in and of itself, may best demonstrate the wisdom of the designers of the document. The idea behind the amendment process is not to pass legislation — that’s for Congress to juggle. Rather, passing an amendment alters the basic framework of our way of governing.
Here’s how it’s done: “The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand, eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.”
Of 11,372 proposed amendments in our history, 27 have run the gauntlet of rules for passage. So we don’t think we’re being overcritical when we say that the chance of getting Congress to agree on anything, let alone by a two-thirds majority, is more than a stretch.
And that’s doubly true in the case of an amendment such as this, that no lawmaker in Washington, D.C., other than DeSantis himself, actually wants to see happen.
But he seems as determined as disingenuous. His press release ends by reporting that he has previously introduced the “No Exemption for Washington from the Obamacare Act,” the “End Pensions in Congress Act” and another constitutional amendment to force term limits on his colleagues. If you believe he’s sincere, that’s your prerogative. But he’s a very smart guy. Some might call him a constitutional scholar.
His heart may be in the right place in the amendment effort.
But his head knows a lot better.
COMMENTS
johnfbrinson 04/22/16 - 08:04 am 12Congressman DeSantis is right to seek reforms
True, proposed Constitutional Amendments have little chance of passage, but there's a benefit (sic) to making them public. Also, Congress should be subject to the laws just as everyone else. And term limits would prevent politicians from making a lifetime career of service in Congress. We have many good people serving in the House and the Senate, but the institution itself has myriads of arcane rules and procedures put in place over the past 200 years, making it resistant to any reform. It's like a big club whose members' primary purpose is to protect their memberships, and the privileges and benefits they bestow on themselves. I believe that Congressman DeSantis is trying to bring about reforms by publicizing the issues of Congressional health insurance, pensions, and term limits. He is running for the US Senate now, and if elected will be able to do much more.
Dr.MacMantazas (St. Johns County Democratic Committeeman William McCormick)
04/22/16 - 07:45 pm 00The Record Editorial Staff is right to opine that the .........
reforms proposed by Congressman DeSantis are just a good example of political grandstanding and not a sincere attempt to bring about change to benefit the public. His proposal to pass his 28th amendment is indeed a disingenuous effort to convince voters he is their man when it comes challenging the Washington establishment. If he wants to put some effort into the passage of a meaningful Amendment that a majority of the American public would applaud, he should put his political weight behind getting the Equal Rights Act passed by Constitutional Amendment. I believe the ERA only needs to be ratified by 2 or 3 more states and Florida is one of the states that has not ratified it.
1 comment:
there are alot of veterans who wears hats proudly proclaiming "Vietnam War Veteran", "Korea War Veteran". Perhaps Ron DeSantis can wear a hat proclaiming "Iraq War Veteran", the biggest blunder in military history done by his role model; Dubya
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