Many of us would agree that the majority, if not all, of the bills passed by congress are unconstitutional. Although the constitution isn’t perfect, its lays the foundation for a government much smaller than the Leviathan currently residing within Washington. The enumerated powers act is a bill which, if passed, would require congress to give a constitutional justification for the bill. The interest group largely responsible for this bill, DownsizeDC.org, has stated that congress would mostly turn to the vague welfare and commerce clauses to justify their actions. If people began to notice that congress went to the welfare and commerce clauses too often, they may begin to doubt the legitimacy of legislation which used these clauses as justification. I would, in fact, support increasing the scope of this bill by allowing people who voted con on a bill to attach a list of ways it violated the constitution to the constitutional justification. If these justifications are put in a single, central place, it will reduce the cost of being a well informed citizen who follows politics. Standard microeconomic reasoning assumes that if you lower the costs of an action without lowering the benefits, you will get more of said action. Therefore, more people will pay attention to what the government does. Most likely, more people will question what is done, especially in times of crisis such as the economic depression we are suffering. All of a sudden, people may realize that these unconstitutional bills are causing problems. Will all this happen in such a widespread manor that the nature of the state within America changes? No. But it will happen on a smaller scale. Although it is a small step, this is a step in the right direction for liberty.
Find out more about or support the effort by going to DownsizeDC.org