Saving Congress from Itself. James L Buckley

      

      

      © 2014 by James L. Buckley

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      FIRST AMERICAN EDITION

      LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

      Buckley, James Lane, 1923–

      Saving Congress from itself : emancipating the states and empowering their people / by James L. Buckley.

      pages cm

      Includes bibliographical references and index.

      ISBN 978-1-59403-775-7 (ebook)

      1. Federal government—United States. 2. United States. Constitution. 3. United States. Congress. 4. Intergovernmental fiscal relations. 5. Sovereignty. I. Title.

      JK325.B84 2014

      320.473'049—dc23

      2014019242

      PRODUCED BY WILSTED & TAYLOR PUBLISHING SERVICES

      Copy editor Jennifer Brown

      Designer and compositor Nancy Koerner

       For my brother

      FERGUS REID BUCKLEY

       IF MEN WERE ANGELS,

       no government would be necessary.

       If angels were to govern men, neither external nor

       internal controls on government would be necessary.

       In framing a government that is to be administered

       by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this:

       you must first enable the government to control the governed;

       and in the next place oblige it to control itself.

      —JAMES MADISON

      Federalist No. 51

      Contents

INTRODUCTION

1

       THE CONSTITUTION’S ORIGINAL DESIGN . . . AND ITS EROSION

THE ORIGINAL UNDERSTANDING

FEDERALISM’S EMASCULATION

2

       THE GRANTS-IN-AID CORNUCOPIA

THE HISTORY AND NATURE OF GRANTS-IN-AID

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT OF FEDERAL GRANTS

3

       THE PROGRAMS’ COSTS

COSTS TO THE FEDERAL TREASURY

       COSTS TO THE STATES

       THE COST TO CONGRESS

       THE COST TO THE PEOPLE

       IN SUM

       4

       A MODEST PROPOSAL

       THE PROPOSAL

       THE PROPOSAL’S PROSPECTS

       5

       ANCILLARY MEASURES

       TERM LIMITS

       CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

       A FEDERALISM FOR OUR TIMES

       ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

       APPENDIX A

       APPENDIX B

       INDEX

Introduction

      The United States faces two major problems today: runaway spending that threatens to bankrupt us and a Congress