{"id":10953,"date":"2011-08-07T09:15:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-07T16:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=10953"},"modified":"2011-08-07T08:24:29","modified_gmt":"2011-08-07T15:24:29","slug":"its-not-enough-for-the-tea-party-movement-to-throw-the-bums-out-to-contain-the-federal-government-we-have-to-cut-its-powers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/10953\/its-not-enough-for-the-tea-party-movement-to-throw-the-bums-out-to-contain-the-federal-government-we-have-to-cut-its-powers\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s not enough for the tea party movement to throw the bums out. To contain the federal government, we have to cut its powers."},"content":{"rendered":"

[Back to the top from January 21, 2010. –GSS]<\/em>
 <\/p>\n

What a delight it is that the citizens of Massachusetts have risen up against the federal leviathan. All across the country, the tea party movement is furiously aboil, angry Americans anxiously awaiting the opportunity to pull some levers in a voting booth.<\/p>\n

But if the current populist uprising is nothing more than yet another throw-the-bums-out movement, it will come to nothing. We threw the bums out good and hard in 1994, and yet the federal leviathan has done nothing but grow since then. By now the national government is so huge that it threatens to crush the nation and its people and productive plant beneath its enormous weight.<\/p>\n

It is not enough to throw the bums out. To contain the federal government, we have to cut its powers. Nothing else will stop its long-term growth.<\/p>\n

The United States was originally conceived of as a confederation of sovereign states. The states joined together for those common purposes that seemed to make sense to them, with each state retaining is sovereignty in all other matters.<\/p>\n

That was the theory — the federal government was to be the hand-servant of the states. In practice, the federal government has usurped the power of the states from the very beginning, with the abuses becoming more bold and more comprehensive with each passing decade.<\/p>\n

This turns out to have been a mistake — as we are discovering. Where each state is independent of all the others, each one can try different policies. The states can become the laboratories of democracy that the founding fathers envisioned.<\/p>\n

But to achieve this, we will have to rein in the federal leviathan. The states and the people need to reassert their ownership of and control over the national government.<\/p>\n

How? By constitutional amendment. Probably by constitutional convention, since it seems unlikely that sitting members of Congress will vote to circumscribe their awesome and terrifying powers.<\/p>\n

But here, in a very short summary, is what needs to be done, if the head of steam built up by the tea party movement is not to be wasted. The text within the quotation marks Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Back to the top from January 21, 2010. –GSS]  What a delight it is that the citizens of Massachusetts have risen up against the federal leviathan. All across the country, the tea party movement is furiously aboil, angry Americans anxiously awaiting the opportunity to pull some levers in a voting booth. But if the current […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[251,24,212,29],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-big-mother","7":"category-egoism-in-action","8":"category-flourishing","9":"category-group-therapy","11":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8332,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/8332\/the-goal-of-the-bloodhoundblog-unchained-training-conference-is-to-push-the-bums-out-of-the-real-estate-business\/","url_meta":{"origin":10953,"position":0},"title":"The goal of the BloodhoundBlog Unchained training conference is to push the bums out of the real estate business","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This from my Arizona Republic real estate column (permanent link): We publish a national real estate industry weblog called BloodhoundBlog.com. There are 42 contributors from all over the country, each one an expert in his or her own right. Together we talk about real estate marketing and technology, lending and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flourishing"","block_context":{"text":"Flourishing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/flourishing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/17\/can-we-get-some-fake-bums-too\/","url_meta":{"origin":10953,"position":1},"title":"Can we get some fake bums, too?","author":"Odysseus","date":"December 2, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Today comes the news that the City of Phoenix, in its desperate need to pretend to be a city of the East instead of a city of the West, is paying street performers, who are normally mendicants, to infest downtown:A stretch of Adams Street in the center city is now\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11284,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/11284\/rtb-raising-the-bar-is-rot-restraint-of-trade-if-you-want-to-do-something-that-will-actually-benefit-consumers-and-will-run-the-bums-out-of-the-real-estate-business-stfu-stop-being-a-tweetar\/","url_meta":{"origin":10953,"position":2},"title":"#RTB (raising the bar) is #ROT (restraint of trade). If you want to do something that will actually benefit consumers and will run the bums out of the real estate business, #STFU (stop being a tweetard) and #DTFG (deliver the frolicking goods) already!","author":"Greg Swann","date":"February 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I'd have more to say about this, but everything I have to say is encapsulated in a single URL: BloodhoundBlog.com. I was mildly interested in this #RTB (raising the bar) nonsense until I figured out that it's just more Rotarian Socialism: Make it harder for punters to get a real\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Abusing Twitter"","block_context":{"text":"Abusing Twitter","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/abusing-twitter\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":724,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/724\/ask-the-broker-giving-the-bum-the-bums-rush\/","url_meta":{"origin":10953,"position":3},"title":"Ask the Broker: Giving the bum the bum’s rush . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"December 1, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"What do you do when the dual owner of a house refuses to leave or cooperate after signing the purchase and sale and a document to agree to sell the house? This is a nasty divorce situation. The divorce court's finding was to sell the house and split the proceeds.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ask the Broker"","block_context":{"text":"Ask the Broker","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/ask-the-broker\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2086,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2086\/when-all-you-have-is-a-hammer-disintermediate-the-bums\/","url_meta":{"origin":10953,"position":4},"title":"When all you have is a hammer — disintermediate the bums!","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I live in an amazing world, which is to say a world by which I am continuously amazed, without boundary or graduation. Here's an example: I cannot for the life of me understand why National Association of Realtors President Pat Combs has not called me personally to ask me to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16011,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/16011\/you-say-you-want-a-revolution-here-is-how-to-restore-freedom-in-america\/","url_meta":{"origin":10953,"position":5},"title":"You say you want a revolution? Here is how to restore freedom in America.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"June 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Will Republicans repeal Obamacare next January -- or ever? Don't hold your breath. Mainstream politicians of both parties are addicted to corporate campaign contributions -- and who knows what other kinds of bribes? -- so what we will get will be a pathetic, cosmetic \"reform\" of Rotarian Socialist medicine. Meet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egoism in Action"","block_context":{"text":"Egoism in Action","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/egoism-in-action\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10953"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14894,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10953\/revisions\/14894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}