hawk@oliven.UUCP (06/23/84)
[does 55mph apply to bugs?] >If everyone would write to their state government stating opinions >against the 55mph limit it may well be more constructive than >wasting the verbage here on the "net". The state governments have their hands tied. Since Congress does not have the power to regulate speed on state roads, they decreed that any state failing to adopt a 55mph speed limit would receive no federal highway funds. The nicest name that I can produce for this usurpation of the powers of the individual states is legislative blackmail. More effective than writing to your state government would be writing to your state's attorney general or the ACLU, encouraging a constitutional challenge. Then again, it might be better to wait for the upcoming National Drinking Age to be thrown out on constitutional grounds, setting the precedent. The constitutional arguement against the NDA is somewhat stronger than that against the 55 limit, as the government can plead interstate commerce much more readily with regard to the speed limit. (then again, with a Supreme Court that has overruled the section of the Bill of Rights banning illegal search and seizure, we can't get our hopes too high.) hawk