The Tenth Amendment
Seems So Simple
Gary Gerard,
dumbhoosier.com
"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." - The Tenth Amendment.
How in the world can anybody have trouble understanding that? It is so
succinct and so obvious. Yet it has been repeatedly misinterpreted to
the point of shredding our liberties.
Seriously.
The Founding Fathers - outdated and irrelevant as many would like to
accuse them of being - were crystal clear on the issue of the power of
the federal government.
They wanted it to be limited.
And there's no way they would have allowed the myriad laws and programs
passed by Congress that have flown in the face of that simple, logical
Tenth Amendment.
So what did the founders intend? Well, to me, that's pretty clear, too,
because they pretty much spelled it out:
n To lay and collect taxes, duties, imports and excises, to pay the
debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the
United States; but all duties, imports and excises shall be uniform
throughout the United States.
n To borrow money on the credit of the United States.
n To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several
states, and with the Indian tribes.
n To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on
the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States.
n To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and
fix the standard of weights and measures.
n To establish post offices and post roads.
n To constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme court.
n To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules
concerning captures on land and water.
n To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that
use shall be for a longer term than two years.
n To provide and maintain a navy.
n To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying
into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by
this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any
department or officer thereof.
I believe the Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power.
The scope of that power is only what has been has been delegated to the
federal government by the people, and what is absolutely necessary to
advancing the powers specifically enumerated in the Constitution. The
rest is to be handled by the state governments by the people themselves.
See, the founders were smart guys. Their idea was to severely limit the
federal government's power.
To be sure, there are things the federal government must be involved in
- civil rights, defense, transportation, environment.
But this crazy notion that the federal government should regulate
everything from the heat of a clothes dryer to shutting off a lawnmower
would have the founders spinning in their graves.
So how did we get to this point? After all, the US Constitution
specifically spells out the limited powers granted to the federal
government. How did it get all that other power?
Well, largely by a brash misinterpretation of the word "commerce."
The Constitution states the federal government has the power to
"regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states
and with the Indian tribes."
Clearly, the founders wanted the federal government to be a mediator in
trade issues between the states, foreign governments and Indians.
Commerce was trade.
But people who want the federal government to run everything simply
interpret the word "commerce" to mean far more than trade. Never mind
that Constitutional scholars have scoured every document ever published
during the period the Constitution was written. Never mind that in all
the thousands of appearances of the word "commerce," there is
absolutely no evidence that it means anything more than trade.
There are those who twist up the meaning of the word commerce to an
ever more bizarre level, reasoning that it means any human interaction.
Under that interpretation, the federal government can pretty much do
whatever it pleases as long as it doesn't violate any of the specific
rights guaranteed in the Constitution, like freedom of speech,
religion, assembly, etc.
Another way around the Commerce Clause is the way the Supreme Court
looks at it. Goofy, small-government types like me have said all along
the Tenth Amendment has been shredded. People always argue about the
First Amendment or Second Amendment, but the Tenth is the one we need
to enforce if we ever have any hope of reigning in the behemoth that is
the federal government.
Face it people, we've created a monster. Democrats and Republicans are
equally complicit.
But the current administration's expansion of government has spawned a
bit of a Tenth Amendment movement in this country.
Web sites like tenthamendmentcenter.com, thelibertyvoice.com,
freerepublic.com and politics4all.com have tons of info on this issue.
State sovereignty resolutions have been introduced in at least one
house of the legislatures of 39 states since the beginning of the year.
Resolutions have been passed in seven states - Alaska, Idaho,
Louisiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Tennessee. Even
blue states like Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania are
considering resolutions, so it's not like it's some wacky right-wing
thing.
States in general are fed up with all the federal government intrusion,
unfunded mandates and the like.
I hope it catches on.
I hope all the states pass sovereignty resolutions. Then, I hope a
state refuses some federal mandate and it goes to the Supreme Court. I
hope the Supreme Court strictly interprets the Tenth Amendment and the
Commerce Clause.
But you know what they say, "Hope in one hand ..."
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