At least it is something worth fighting for.

I'm not sure about your objection to #2. The unfunded mandate is a staple of Federal government crushing the states with requirements. It costs the Feds nothing to pass some insane law and leave the mess for the states to figure out. By stating the Feds would have to provide funding for every silly little law, it places the burden of funding back on them. And, thanks to the proposed repeal of the Income Tax, it leaves them with the need to pick priorities. I like it, again because it is very easy to explain to the average voter who might not be all that engaged in the nuances of politics. What is tough to understand about "the Feds need to pay for the laws they force the states to adopt"?

Look, I know that the enshrined political class of both sides won't accept this. They won't want it. They are all evil and corrupt. But at the end of the day, if this gathers momentum, they will have to take a stand. Either the politicians will bow to the idea that we are a nation of laws, or it will force them to declare themselves as outside of law and the law of themselves. Either way, that is a good thing (they bow, or we can stop pretending that our political class has any moral standing in our system). If they go the latter path, it's going to be hard for them to defend themselves as 'elected' royalty.

If none of the above is worth pursuing, then present an alternative that will restore what we've lost. I can't accept that 'blood in the street' revolution will gain us anything but a new set of demagogues and a new leash for our necks. Revolutions have a way of getting out of control.

Oklahoma came out today exerting their sovereignty, along with Texas a few weeks ago. The Tea Party protests were a few million voters, and for each of them, there were probably another four or five too busy working to demonstrate. The vapid middle aren't a bunch of pro-statist, they are simply going with the herd, rushing to where they think they are supposed to be.

If enough leaders rise up and offer alternatives, the mushy middle will go with the tide. Only your hardcore statists (ACORN) will really fight like hell, and I believe their very resistance will betray the things they are fighting to preserve. Right now, they can hide behind 'serving the poor' and 'helping the little guy'. That buys them a lot of sympathy. It is a little harder when you have to declare you are fighting to support a statist system for the sake of a statist system.

The tenth amendment is dead, and we've moved beyond being able to bring it back as itself. People look at it as old and dusty, and I don't believe you are going to be able to point back at it and effectively say 'this is what we should be doing'. The above proposal explicitly details the WHY behind the tenth amendment, and casts itself as a remedy to excess that any reasonable person acknowledges, even the mushy vapid middle.

Build a movement around this, and they can't ignore it. We don't need their permission to reform the system. We simply need enough people standing up and saying enough. If they want to cross that line and exert unlawful rule overtly, then at least we will have clear targets when the really bad things start happening.

Win-win.

Such an amendment will never pass in the current environment. More than half the people in the US have no clue what this is all about. State's rights? What do you mean? Americans have allowed themselves to become sheep led around by Media and fed by the Government. I believe they look at what Hussein is doing and say, "Well, he's IS spending a lot of money, but it's going to help us in the long run." They don't have any idea what else he is doing. They have no clue if what he is doing is legal. Anything the President does is legal, right? (I speak as a fool.) I've lost hope in most Americans. I feel like a member of a club that has grown too large and is going in a direction I'd rather not go. I'm curious about find a better club.

Finally, I disagree with a few points in the above proposed amendment.

Amendment 2 is stupid. Where does the Government get this money to fund its mandates? From the people. So, we want them to collect the money from us in their inefficient manner, skim off a few points to pad political pockets, and then give it back to us to spend according to their orders as if they are doing us a favor. Bullshit. (Yeah, I see the clause about no restrictions, but that will get stricken on the first pass through. Even if passed as is, though, it still proposes a circular waste of money that pads the Federal Government and makes them look like they are giving us something.)

Amendment 6 will never happen. There are too many voters whose livelihoods depend on the current system being in place.

Amendment 7 isn't strong enough. I'd like to see shorter terms. And, unless a person is running for president, I think they should be completely out of government service after, oh, say 10 years. One of my friends proposed that there be a gap between terms so the elected official is required to spend some time in the private sector before going back to government. I like the principle there.
However, this amendment would not be necessary if Americans weren't so stupid. If we would do our research and make sure that the people holding office are serving our best interest, then we would kick out people who are wielding big sticks and doing crap we don't want them to. But no, we just graze our way to the polls and re-elect whoever. That's the REAL problem that needs to be solved.

Amendment 8 should probably be revised to allow for wartime spending. Recall our discussion about borrowing during war and paying it back during peace.

Amendment 10 should be a little less oblique. Unfortunately, the more direct way of saying what it is saying is, "The Supreme Court of the United States should do the job it was intended to do and only that job." But then, why do we need an amendment for that? The sad state of affairs is that the Judicial system has broken down because we (the people) have forgotten its purpose. It will take something more than an act of congress to fix that.

Pessimist tonight. It's looking bad out there, and I don't have much hope that it will get fixed without getting messy.

Or I'm just reaching for a dream and we're all so hosed it isn't even funny.