People, States to Washington: Respect the Constitution
U.S. Constitution
All across the country, from private citizens to the states themselves, the message is going forth over and over to Washington: don’t mess with our United States Constitution.
Tomorrow we will see Tax Day Tea Parties in hundreds of cities across the nation. These Tea Parties are a response to the fiscal irresponsibility of our federal government, and the disrespect shown to the United States Constitution by that federal government.
This disrespect is shown in the contempt for property rights, the disregard for the enumerated powers which limits government to a few specific areas of action, and also the disregard for the sovereignty of the states that make up the United States.
In the past few months, several states have begun passing “Tenth Amendment” laws and resolutions. Among them are Arizona, Hawaii, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming.
In a column a few weeks ago, economist Walter E. Williams said more states are also working on similar measures.
According to WorldNetDaily, John Birbari said it well why Wyoming did this and why it was so important:
“These rights come from God and are guaranteed by the lawful U.S. Constitution, they include our rights of free speech, the right to assemble, the right to practice the religion of our choice, the right to keep and bear arms and many others,” he said.
“Given the current climate in Washington, the people of Wyoming do not want these rights or any of the basic provisions of the Constitution threatened by a Constitutional Convention.”
Indeed. I wouldn’t trust most of the people in Washington D.C. right now with one of my old socks that’s getting a little frayed, much less my God-given rights!
Too many have already demonstrated abundantly that they don’t hold the Constitution in any higher regard than a Kleenex they might use to clean up their mess.
Texas is the latest state to pass a 10th Amendment resolution, and you can see Governor Rick Perry talk about House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 50 in the video below.
According to Governor Perry, HCR 50 “affirms that Texas claims sovereignty under the 10th Amendment over all powers not otherwise granted to the federal government.”
South Dakota passed HCR 1013 last month. It is entitled “Reasserting sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over certain powers and serving notice to the federal government to cease and desist certain mandates.”
The 10th Amendment says
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.
What part of “not delegated to the United States by the Constitution” don’t the socialists in Washington not understand? What part of “reserved to the States respectively, or to the people” don’t the Big Government peddlers get?
The General Welfare Clause is NOT a free pass for the federal government to hold sway over anything that enters its eyesight. The founders were very specific about this:
- Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated. – Thomas Jefferson
– The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined . . . to be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce.” – James Madison
– With respect to the two words ‘ general welfare,’ I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators. – James Madison
If our free country is to survive, the people must hold the power-mongers accountable! And between these Tenth Amendment bills and the Tea Parties, we may be well on the way to doing that.
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