Tom Watson's Magazine, Vol. I, No. 3, May 1905Various
History
Tom Watson's Magazine, Vol. I, No. 3, May 1905
Various
United States -- Politics and government -- Periodicals
Unless the Constitution be entirely repealed, there is no way by
amendment to deprive any state of its equal representation in the Senate.
It is too much to expect that all of the corrupt boroughs which now hold
the undeserved dignity of statehood will relinquish the selfish advantage
bequeathed them by the unwisdom of the forefathers, but it is possible
to make amendments to the Constitution which will reduce the Senate of
the United States to a state of harmless inefficiency. It is possible to
preserve its form and extract its substance, and the people should set
about the task with no qualms of conscience. Great Britain showed the
way when she boldly reduced her House of Lords to a condition of docile
vassalage to the popular branch of her Parliament, and she was aroused
to this righteous act of retaliation by abuses which were of small
consequence compared to those from which we have tamely suffered. It is
possible, under the Constitution, to strip the Senate of its legislative
power, permitting it to retain its feature of unequal representation, and
reserving for it a chamber in which those who wish for the honor can keep
up the pretense of governmental power and prestige.
Fourth, the specific enumeration and limitation of the powers and
functions of the Federal Judiciary, including the Supreme Court of the
United States and all other courts authorized by Congress. This is the
paramount subject for constitutional amendment or revision. The founders
of our Government did not contemplate any such grant of power as now is
wielded by the courts. There is nothing in the document itself which
warrants the prerogatives which have been assumed by the courts, and
the records of the speeches and the proceedings in the constitutional
convention when the judiciary was under consideration contain no hint
that they were to be granted the power to annul a law passed by Congress
and signed by the President of the United States. Years passed before
the Supreme Court dared attempt such a step, and when it did Jefferson
scornfully ignored its mandate. Presidents as late as Lincoln have
declined to acquiesce in the interference of the Federal Courts, but
slowly and insidiously this branch of the Government has reached out and
grasped power, until today it is supreme in fact as well as in name.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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