Alaska Asserts Sovereignty

Mark Noonan

Joining the growing list of States which have – finally! – discovered the 10th Amendment:

Gov. Sarah Palin has signed a joint resolution declaring Alaska’s sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution – and now 36 other states have introduced similar resolutions as part of a growing resistance to the federal government.

Just weeks before she plans to step down from her position as Alaska governor, Palin signed House Joint Resolution 27, sponsored by state Rep. Mike Kelly on July 10, according to a Tenth Amendment Center report. The resolution “claims sovereignty for the state under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States.”

Alaska’s House passed HJR 27 by a vote of 37-0, and the Senate passed it by a vote of 40-0.

Here’s the meat of the resolution:

BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature hereby claims sovereignty for the state under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution serves as Notice and Demand to the federal government to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers.

Music to my “small r” republican ears, that is. Time to get Uncle Sam back in to his cage – we need to strike a better balance…we’re not a mere collection of States, but we’re also not a centralized nation, either. We’re a mix, with the maximum power to effect day-to-day living left at the lowest level possible.

This sort of assertion of human liberty is, of course, anathema to our liberal friends – if we’re not a centralized regime, then things like Obamacare can’t happen…next we’ll be wanting to regulate things like abortion and pornography by purely local action, and where would that lead us? Eventually, some things might be different – and we’re not talking “different” in the sense of having a nose ring, but in the sense that people might live their lives as they choose.