When Sarah Palin announced her resignation as governor of Alaska, she caused quite a stir. Both Palin haters and Palin lovers united in their inability to talk about much of anything else.
Then, a week later, she had an op-ed on environmental policy published in the Washington Post.
And then, not long after that, she signed a resolution declaring the state of Alaska sovereign under the Tenth Amendment, and telling the federal government to back off from engaging in activities not delegated to it in the United States Constitution.
This sounds weird to lovers of big government, to Palin haters in general. But even some Palin lovers misconstrued the event.
It was not about Sarah Palin. She was not the only governor to sign such a resolution. Tennessee’s Democratic governor, Phil Bredesen, had done the same thing, earlier.
In fact, it’s not about governors at all. Other states, like Oklahoma and New Hampshire, have passed similar resolutions. As I wrote recently at Townhall.com, “[a]ll these resolutions have passed state legislatures. It’s not just lone ‘whacko’ governors doing the deed. Deliberative bodies have decided these measures.”
What’s happening is the re-emergence of the original idea of our federation: A central power limited in scope, and states with different sets of powers and responsibilities.
And people’s rights and powers limiting both.
Yes, folks, there are signs of hope.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
5 replies on “The Tenth Amendment Movement”
States that want to be left alone need to leave the federal taxpayer alone. How much money does Alaska get? Tennessee has TVA. If you want the government out of your business then don’t take federal money. See if states will do that. My guess is even the great state of Alaska wants it both ways.
Dear Jeff:
I admire your efforts in trying to turn people back to the US Constitution. I certainly would be overjoyed to see a return to even some of the principles of the Constitution. With BHO trying to create the Obamanation I will gladly welcome any slackening or reversal of the trend.[A little play on words there— Obamanation/abomination ]
As they say in Japan: “Rots of Ruck.”
When the Scumocrats, with the help of the RINOs, can pass landmark and overwhelming legislation without even reading the bills, we are doomed for a long siege. TANSTAALG.
I have been studying the Constitution for about 60 years and have concluded that its flaws are too great to overcome. We may never be able to turn-back the totalitarians without an actual, physical revolution. And even Glen Beck says we actually should not take up arms against the government even though we want to preserve the 2d Amendment so we can have arms, up with which to take. What are we to do?
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I shall tell you how I think the US Constitution is flawed (along with all of the state constitutions.)
I see the greatest failing of the Constitution in the vague, murky way in which it deals with sovereignty.
Sovereignty
The entire question of sovereignty is a scam foisted upon our predecessors by the “Founders.”
First, the “Founders” were mostly a bunch of lawyers —- and who can trust a lawyer?
Second, they knew how to write vague but emotional, flowery language that could persuade people without really getting into the “nitty-gritty.”
1. Sovereign, and sovereignty have very specific and definite meanings. I have studied the words carefully from every angle. Basically, sovereign and sovereignty have to do with the following dictionary definitions:
SOVEREIGN: 1. above, or superior to all others; chief; greatest; supreme. 2. supreme in power, rank, or authority. 3. of, or holding the position of ruler; royal; reigning. 4. independent of all others; as, a sovereign state.
The history books tell us that the USA (United States of America), when founded, was made up of a confederation of 13 independent, sovereign states that ceded only certain “enumerated” powers to the USA and that the 13 independent, sovereign states retained all other powers (see 9th and 10th amendments.)
The Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution placed no limitations (other than those spelled out in the “enumerated powers” section) upon the 13 independent, sovereign states. These states can do as they darn well please to an immeasurable extent.
The states can tell us when and where to go to school, build our houses, drive our cars, walk our dogs, buy our groceries, how fast we can drive, where we can smoke and where we can’t, where we can buy “adult beverages,” where and when we can consume those “adult beverages.
The states can also tax us for “services” that we don’t need or want, make us pay for business licenses in order to pursue a living, make us pay to “educate” those who don’t even want to be educated, make us pay for food clothing, shelter, and medical care for malingerers; illegal aliens; you name it.
The states have almost total unlimited power. Some busybody, do-gooder legislator or county commissioner is always dreaming up new ways to get our money or control of our property.
An individual has to fight in court to retain his “unalienable rights” that were given to him by our Creator. Remember, the states are sovereign.
BUT, the history books also tell us in numerous writings in numerous places that: “All power resides in the people. The people are ‘sovereign.’ ” Sounds real good, doesn’t it? It takes “the consent of the governed” to put those laws in place — or does it?
Now to bring this “sovereignty” thing to a conclusion, there is one section of the US Constitution that I have just recently been made highly aware of and I quote it below:
US Constitution, Article IV , Paragraph 2:
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every state shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
This clause in known in scholarly circles as “The Federal Preemption Clause.”
There is even a book entitled “Federal Preemption: States’ Powers, National Interests” edited by Richard A Epstein and Michael S Greve. (There may still be a “discarded” copy left in the Martinsburg Public Library if you hurry.)
What is your interpretation of the meaning of this proclamation? Are the states really sovereign? And if the states are not really sovereign, how about the individual citizens; is each individual citizen really sovereign like it is said above?
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Now, the questions in my mind are:
A. How can there be three sovereigns in each person’s life: 1. The USA, 2. Each Individual State, and 3. The individual citizen himself ? This is a triple oxymoron (contradiction in terms.)
This “constitutional government” is a big scam.
I vote for each individual’s being sovereign over his own liberty, life, limb, and property. I submit to NO ONE unless he has a bigger gun. Each person has to watch out for himself and form beneficial alliances with like minded “sovereign individuals.”
B. As the Declaration says: “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed … to secure those unalienable Rights … with which we were endowed by our Creator … Life, Liberty, and … Property.”
[ This is meant to sound like the “sovereign individuals” have delegated or ceded some of their “unalienable rights” to the (sovereign) government solely for the purpose of protecting all those unalienable rights. Is that not so? ]
This phraseology is meant to lull individuals into believing that they, as individuals, are sovereign and government is nothing more than a common enterprise to which everyone willingly subscribes in order to protect the liberty, life, limb, and property of all individuals. How can government do that? TANSTAALG — There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Limited Government !
C. The biggest failing that I find in ALL the constitutions is the failure to attempt to limit government to the sole task of protecting liberty, life, limb, and property.
This means that government has no legitimate authority (“by consent of the governed”) to involve itself in religion (or lack of religion); in business or any other social interactions or transactions whatsoever between individuals or groups of associated individuals.
Government’s SOLE legitimate function is to provide means of restitution or punishment for proven acts of fraud, misrepresentation, theft, and unprovoked initiation of physical violence against another.
The constitutions do not provide for this. How can we make them do so?
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I think the US Constitution (and all the state constitutions) are too badly flawed to ever result in a truly free society. We seem to be spinning our wheels. Not one political party really seems to believe in a truly free society. Each wants to control by its set of rules.
I think the only possible solution is for each person to strive to acquire enough wealth to bribe, buy, pay-off, etc. the necessary government officials to leave him alone so he can live his own life as he pleases so long as he does not aggress against others. In other words, each person should strive to be a “sovereign individual.”
Here is the sovereign individual’s philosophy set to music:
URL: http://jonathangullible.com/mmedia/PhilosophyOfLiberty-english_music.swf
Do you wish to be a sovereign individual?
If so, can we help everyone to achieve “individual sovereignty?”
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Dave Myers
Sovereign Individual
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CPWV Communications wrote:
> http://www.cpwv.org is back up and running, though still out of date. Our domain name had temporarily expired. Unfortunately, we had gone with a low budget provider who does not send us email reminders, so we had forgotten about renewing it.
>
> Anyway, our platform and principles are there. We just hired a professional web designer out of Charleston, so look for our revised website soon. We also have the domain name of cpwv.info, so you may be seeing that soon as well.
>
> WE NEED YOUR IDEAS for this website. Please direct your suggestions here and they will be forwarded to our designer. We really want to make this new website as functional and informative/useful as possible. Looking forward to hearing from you.
>
> — Jeff Becker
> Cheirman, CPWV
> PS: The CPWV will have a display table at the “America: Restoring a Heritage” conference this weekend in Summersville. Please stop by if you are in the area. More info at:
> http://ncfreedom.us/index.php?view=details&id=37%3Aamerica-restoring-a-heritage&option=com_eventlist&Itemid=60
I’ve got to look up something first so I will accurate. I’ll come back to this site later.
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