Calvert Hall College High School
Baltimore, Maryland
By Zach Blake
11th Grade
As Thomas Jefferson writes in his letter, “The earth belongs always to the living generation.” With the introduction of Sunset Legislation, laws are given expiration dates. Some laws may last a few years, some may last a [lot longer]. Expiration dates are given so that each generation can govern...[itself].... Some laws that are passed are only needed for a short time, as they become irrelevant after a period of time. Things like taxes need to be refreshed constantly. Certain laws like the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, cause controversy as some think the law is needed, and some don’t. Overall, [however,] these expirations dates prove effective.
Thomas Jefferson was aware that some laws only stay relevant and effective for a certain amount of time, and that as the [society] changes, the laws need to change as well. Although he [claimed] that each law should last nineteen years, it seems like laws should have shorter life spans. Since things can change in an instant, laws should be very flexible and re-considered more often. In order to sustain an effective government, expiration dates should be put on every law, so that each generation governs itself, and [is not controlled by] the past.
Sunset legislation seems to have had positive and negative results in the United States. One of the more negative results was seen in the repeal of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994. The ban was put into effect to limit the use of assault weapons, which fired multiple rounds of bullets in a short period of time. The bill was intended to limit crime through use of these types of weapons. When the ban expired in 2004, there was much controversy.... President Bush was under fire from critics who thought that he should renew the ban, and some who thought that the band did nothing. It seemed like even though such weapons were banned, gun manufacturers still made models that were almost identical with [only] slight changes. Some people thought it helped, where some people did not think the ban was doing anything. It created controversy in the Senate as well as with the President. As seen in this case, there are some laws that will never be agreed upon and Sunset Legislation just seems to incite controversy.
In general though, it seems obvious that the Sunset laws are key to sustaining order and sense in the government. Some laws become nonsensical after a certain number of years. As change is inevitable, [it is inevitable] the laws that govern us should also change. ... Things like taxes need to be reevaluated more often than every nineteen years [to ensure] they are fair and people are not paying too much or too little. Many nations also pass anti-terrorism laws from time to time that may or may not be relevant to the time period. ...
Personally I believe that every bill should expire in five years. ... Nineteen years seems too long, and if the law is really that important, then it can be re-evaluated every 5 years or so to see if it is still useful. If enough people see the law as still relevant and important, it can always be passed again. ...
Thomas Jefferson understood that Sunset Legislature was key to establishing a strong and relevant government. ...People need to be governed by the present and not the past. ... Overall sunset legislature has a positive effect as it helps with tax cuts and deductions and [retires] laws that prove meaningless after a few years.
Answers To Questions Prompted By The Required Reading
Q1- What was the average life span in Jefferson’s age according to his letter?
55 years.
Q2- Do some research and find out the size of the national debt you are about to inherit as taxpayers. Don’t forget the benefits promised in your name to the older generations under the guise of Social Security and Medicare.
As of right now, national debt is over 8 trillion dollars. A lot of the money put aside for Social Security is being used for other things rather than what it was originally intended.
Q3-What do you think of Jefferson’s assertion that “…no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of it's own existence.”
Although it seems like the assertion is full proof, it seems like this would prevent the possibility of going to war. Although war is not a good thing, sometimes its necessary to acquire a debt to keep our country alive.
Is
it feasible to undue the social contracts in your children or grandchildren’s
life times? Would you want to even if you could? Why or why not.
I would not necessarily want to undue anything that would endanger my
family. If it would help both of us out in the long run, then yes. But I don’t
see how changing the social contracts of my children would help affect them
positively.
Q4- Do you agree, as Jefferson maintained, that “[debt] between society and society, or generation and generation, there is no municipal obligation, no umpire but the law of nature. We seem not to have perceived that, by the law of nature, one generation is to another as one independent nation to another.”
In terms of debt, I agree. We should see the next
generation as a new nation. This would try to limit national debt so that we
wouldn’t pass it on to another “nation” or the next generation.
Q5- In view of Jefferson’s
words that follow, why do you think a sunset provision on generational debt
wasn’t included in the U.S. Constitution?
“But
with respect to future debts, would it not be wise and just for that nation to
declare, in the constitution they are forming, that neither the legislature, nor
the nation itself, can validly contract more debt than they may pay within their
own age, or within the term of 19. years? And that
all future contracts will be deemed void as to what shall remain unpaid at the
end of 19. years from their date? This would put the
lenders, and the borrowers also, on their guard.”
Around the time of the Revolutionary War, USA had a lot of debts that were unpayable inside one generation. It was almost inevitable that they pass it on to the next.
Q6- What do you say to Jefferson’s assertion that “a law of limited duration is much more manageable than one which needs a repeal.” ?
If a law has an expiration date, then it is easier to get rid of if it has no use anymore.
Q7- “We have already given in example one effectual check to the Dog of war by transferring the power of letting him loose from the Executive to the Legislative body, from those who are to spend to those who are to pay.”
This is putting war in the hands of the Congress and Senate. They represent the people more than the Executive branch. Since the people are the ones paying, they should be represented in decisions.
Q8- In light of the excerpt from his letter above, what do you think Thomas Jefferson would make of our nation’s recent history of fighting undeclared wars?
It seems like recent history shows the President getting most of the say in terms of war. Jefferson would probably say that we should get out of the war in Iraq because so many people are against it.
Q9- Name ten of the twenty-six states that have enacted sunset legislation.
Texas, Arizona, Maine, Alaska, Ohio, California, Maryland, Louisiana, Indiana, Delaware
Q10- What state abolished all state government? What do you think the voters got for their trouble?
West Virginia. They probably got some attention on the local news program.
Q11- What good do attempts at enacting Sunset legislation achieve even when the laws are not enacted?
It may make certain government programs start acting at 110% because they are in danger of being shut down.