The federal (centralized, primary national leadership) system in most countries has a lot of power \u2014 such as a national sales tax, national education system, national health care, national law enforcement, national regulations (versus national \u201cminimums\u201d in the United States), and so on.<\/p>\n
For example, the GST or VAT is a national sales tax used for national programs. The United States could not have such a tax without a change to our Constitution, which requires the approval of three-fourths of the states. (Switzerland has an “easier” two-thirds requirement for national referendums on Constitutional matters.) It was a long battle just to have a federal income tax in the United States. Even today,\u00a0people debate if the Sixteenth Amendment (1913) allowing income taxes was ratified properly.<\/p>\n
I also believe a teaching certificate is good nation-wide in most countries. In the United States, my California credential was accepted by two states, as long as I took some additional courses. California accepts no other states’ (at this time) without additional training because we had a bilingual or language acquisition requirement. (There is a move to have national credentials, but states would be\u00a0free to \u201cadd” to the minimums, meaning the “national” would still not be good enough for all states!)<\/p>\n
The EPA is our Environmental Protection Agency at the federal level. California has another EPA (Cal-EPA) which has even stricter standards for air and water pollution, mainly to cope with our geography, which includes two highly-contained valleys, L.A. and the San Joaquin, where air pollution collects. The “national” standard would not help us enough \u2014 so our standard is different.<\/p>\n
(Cars sold in California are different from in other states: emission controls are like the Canadian models on steroids, as Susan can attest. Her Canadian-built car doesn\u2019t meet California standards, but surpasses U.S. minimums.)<\/p>\n
California’s laws are often more strict than the minimums of the United States. Our labor laws, for example, have an eight-hour workday and a 40-hour week. National law only protects the 40-hour week. (The eight-hour day is a problem in California, where some people wanted to work four ten-hour days a week and it turned out to be a violation of the law.)<\/p>\n
The amendment to the U.S. Constitution must be approved by three-fourths of states. The amendment as passed may specify whether the bill must be passed by the state legislatures or by a state convention. Amendments are sent to the legislatures of the states by default.<\/p>\n
It is interesting to note that at no point does the President have a role in the formal amendment process (though he would be free to make his opinion known). He cannot veto an amendment proposal, nor a ratification.<\/p>\n
Any state may propose an Amendment, but it must be approved by both houses of Congress before being submitted to the States.<\/p>\n
Amendments set minimum standards for all states, or establish the protected rights of the people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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