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
THE CONSTITUTION’S ORIGINAL DESIGN . . . AND ITS EROSION
THE HISTORY AND NATURE OF GRANTS-IN-AID
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT OF FEDERAL GRANTS
COSTS TO THE STATES
THE COST TO CONGRESS
THE COST TO THE PEOPLE
IN SUM
A MODEST PROPOSAL
THE PROPOSAL
THE PROPOSAL’S PROSPECTS
ANCILLARY MEASURES
TERM LIMITS
CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM
A FEDERALISM FOR OUR TIMES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX B
INDEX
The United States faces two major problems today: runaway spending that threatens to bankrupt us and a Congress