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Show The Birch Log Carter Breaks ERA Promise by John F. McManus Belmont, Massachusetts One of the strong underpinnings of the U.S. Constitution is its requirement re-quirement that the federal government gov-ernment maintain its place. In keeping with their justifiable fear of big government, the Founding Fathers jealously guarded individual and state prerogatives. Nowhere is this attitude at-titude more evident than in Article Ar-ticle V, the amending procedure, in which the drafters recognized that, if the federal government were granted top-heavy authority author-ity to amend the Constitution, all limitations on federal power would soon disappear. The Constitution's amending procedure pointedly ignores two of the three branches of the federal government. Only the legislative branch has any say in the amending process (two-thirds (two-thirds of each House must approve), ap-prove), and this Congressional approval must then be matched by affirmative votes of three-fourths three-fourths of the state legislatures. A Constitutional amendment, for good reason, is no concern of either the executive or judicial branch of the federal government. gov-ernment. Equal Rights Amendment The current debate over the misnamed Equal Rights Amendment Amend-ment demonstrates the wisdom and foresight of the Founding Fathers. Article Two of the proposed pro-posed ERA reads: "The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article." Only recently have state legislators become aware that this' provision, provi-sion, over and above the other numerous objectionable features fea-tures of ERA, would establish federal jurisdiction over any matter having to do with men or women. Marriage and divorce laws, child support statutes, labor la-bor legislation you name it! all would become federal matters. mat-ters. The already gargantuan federal government would leapfrog leap-frog ahead toward total power. One state legislator who understands un-derstands both the U.S. Constitution Consti-tution and the havoc that ERA would bring is State Senator Mary Helm of Oklahoma. On January 29, 1976, after then-candidate then-candidate Jimmy Carter addressed ad-dressed the Oklahoma Legislature, Legisla-ture, Senator Helm asked Mr. Carter if he would use the power of the President's office to pressure state legislators on the matter of ERA ratification. His answer, verified by the official tape recording, was: "I favor the Equal Rights Amendment, but I don't think it would be appropriate appropri-ate for the President to try to involve himself directly in the deliberations of the Oklahoma State Legislature or any other." A President Gets Involved But now that candidate Carter Car-ter is President Carter, the inappropriate inap-propriate has become fixed policy. pol-icy. In recent weeks, legislators in Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, In-diana, Nevada, and Georgia have been badgered by telephone tele-phone calls from Washington, many from Jimmy and Rosa-lynn Rosa-lynn Carter in person. Cabinet members Cecil Andrus and Juanita Kreps have also been on the telephone, while White House counsel Robert Lipschutz and presidential aide Mark Sie-gal Sie-gal are using taxpayers' dollars in a coordinated round-the-clock effort to increase the power of the federal government and wreak havoc on the Constitution. Happily, the Carter effort is not succeeding. In spite of the immense pressure, or possibly because of it, numerous state legislatures have again rejected ERA. But Jimmy Carter's team plans to continue its highly improper im-proper interference in the affairs af-fairs of the states. Pressure has already begun on legislators in Florida, South Carolina, Illinois, and Missouri. Carter aides have even zeroed in on Oklahoma, where solid proof exists, in the form of that tape recording, that a Carter commitment isn't worth a tinker's dam. The American people had better realize that their President's Presi-dent's goal is vastly increased federal power, and that his word should not be taken seriously. i ;77 The John Birch Society Features |
