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Give States a Tool to Check Federal Power
George Mason and James Madison were two Virginians who, while initially differing on the wisdom of adding a Bill of Rights to the Constitution, ended up working together to craft the first 10 amendments.

The movement to amend the Constitution to better protect rights prevailed because they compromised and worked across the aisle. They didn't blame Republicans or Democrats -- then Federalists and Anti-Federalists -- or issue nasty press releases and hold political rallies. They overcame the Federalist resistance in Congress to a Bill of Rights by joining together to send a message to the federal government that there are limits to expanding its power.

Virginia needs to do the same today by leading the charge to amend the U.S. Constitution to give two-thirds of states the power to repeal an act of Congress.

These same men who created our Constitution and Bill of Rights crafted the documents to give much more power to the states than the states currently have. Today, states are shackled with unfunded mandates and weighed down with high levels of federal debt -- that the states will be required to repay.

Yet rather than blame the other party, these Virginia revolutionaries would tell us that the problem that needs to be addressed is power -- no matter which party may happen to wield it. More accurately, the problem is an imbalance of power, with power held by and concentrated in a distant and unaccountable federal bureaucracy....