This will become a long series, I’m certain:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
— U.S. Constitution, Tenth Amendment
Fed up with Washington’s involvement in everything from land use to gun control to education spending, states across the country are fighting back against what they say is the federal government’s growing intrusion on their rights.
At least 35 states have introduced legislation this year asserting their power under the Tenth Amendment to regulate all matters not specifically delegated to the federal government by the Constitution.
“This has been boiling for years, and it’s finally come to a head,” said Utah State Rep. Carl Wimmer. “With TARP and No Child Left Behind, these things that continue to give the federal government more authority, our rights as states and individuals are being turned on their head.”
The power struggle between the states and Washington has cropped up periodically ever since the country was founded. But now some states are sending a simple, forceful message:
The government has gone too far. Enough is enough.
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer recently signed into law a bill authorizing the state’s gun manufacturers to produce “Made in Montana” firearms, without seeking licensing from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Similar laws are being considered in Utah, Alaska, Texas and Tennessee.
Are we slaves? Are we the mere milch cows for a socialist super-State? No: we are Americans – and just as our ancestors pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to defend American liberty, so will we. It is, perhaps, providential that such as Barack Obama was elected President – a man so far to the left and with such a hodge-podge of kook leftists surrounding him, has crystalized what had been a disparate sense of frustration. We now know what we are fighting against and what we are fighting for.
We are fighting against all of those powerful people and groups who presume to know better than we do how to run our lives. They tell us we can’t keep filth away from our children; they tell us we can’t enforce decency on our streets; they tell us we can’t pray in the public square we pay for; they tell us, in one way or another, that they know better and we’d better be good, little serfs.
We are fighting for our right to govern ourselves – our national government is here to protect the nation from foreign aggression and protect the individual from domestic oppression…it isn’t here to nurse maid us through life. We’ll take care of our own, and far better than government can, thanks very much.
A new spirit of liberty is running hot and strong through American life, and I’m mighty pleased to see it.
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