Federalism

The Constitution is Not a Con Job: Lisa B. Nelson in the South Florida Sun Sentinel

The framers of our Constitution envisioned a time when Congress might reach its current state of dysfunction.

ALEC CEO Lisa B. Nelson recently authored an op-ed in the South Florida Sun Sentinel titled The Constitution is not a con job, rebuking an earlier Sentinel editorial that attacked ALEC and its work on Article V issues.

For half a century, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has shared trusted policy solutions grounded in principles of limited government, free markets and federalism. As the nation’s largest nonpartisan, voluntary membership organization of state legislators, our members represent more than 60 million Americans and focus on policies that reduce taxes, cut bureaucratic red tape, and restore fiscal sanity in state capitals and Washington, D.C.

As attendees at ALEC’s 50th Annual Meeting in Orlando last summer can attest, ALEC is a catalyst for positive change, fostering collaboration among lawmakers in the exchange of ideas and the adoption of best practices. Through our public/private partnership, legislators gain insight into the real-world implications of their bills, avoiding oversights commonly found in the haste of the legislative process.

Members of ALEC, including many Florida legislators, understand that the states created the federal government — not the other way around. Thanks to our Founding Fathers’ commitment to liberty and their belief that, without strong safeguards, power would inevitably migrate to the national government while eroding individual rights and state sovereignty, federalism was woven into the U.S. Constitution to prevent federal overreach.

One of the clearest examples of those safeguards is the inclusion of Article V in the U.S. Constitution, through which amendments can be proposed. To date, 27 of the 33 constitutional amendments passed by Congress have been ratified by the states — from the abolition of slavery to women’s suffrage.

Read the entire op-ed here.


In Depth: Federalism

Genuine accountability to hardworking taxpayers results when state and local legislators work with members of the community to determine a plan of action that is right for each individual state, city or town. Real solutions to America’s challenges can be found in the states – America’s fifty laboratories of democracy…

+ Federalism In Depth