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Dec 20, 2003 In a previous article I wrote about how our constitutional rights were under attack from the left,I mainly confined my arguments to the first and second amendments. Here I will take the argument even further. The tenth amendment, last on the bill of rights, first to be shredded by the government. I think it was last because the men who wrote the constitution considered it self obvious. "The powers not delegated to the United State by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." In plain english this means that if the Constitution doesn't explicitly give the federal government a specific right then the states have it. The founders thought of the states as the building blocks for the country. Once again implied powers comes into play. That means "well the constitution doesn't say we can do it but it doesn't say we CAN'T either" kind of like a kid being told not to invite friends over to the house for a party while the parents are away so they hold the party in the backyard instead. After all they didn't invite them to the house. Both parties are responsible for the assault on the tenth amendment. There are too many examples for me to go through.But to me violating the tenth amendment is forcing the states to do something when the government does not have the power to do so. The department of education: I know I sound like a paranoid right wing militia type for attacking the department. But if you read the constitution there is no provision for the feds to take over education. It was a state by state thing. Massachuttes was the first state to have publicly funded schools. Even with the lack of tax funded schools 97% of children still went to school. Now we have Washington running things and the system is an absolute wreck, no matter how many children we vow not to leave behind. Columnist Walter Williams makes an excellent point when he says we should ask "Were we able to get along without it?" anytime a new program is offered. There was not federal education for a long time yet we were better educated without it. Then there was abortion. Each state decided its own rules about it until the federal government stepped in, and forced all 50 states to legalize it. (we probably will face a similar fate about gay marriage)To rush quickly through other points we have the national park system. This is unconstitutional. Nowhere does the constitution say that the government has the right to take land and put it into their hands. One out of every three acres in this country is owned by the federal government, that is one out of three too many. If the states want to set aside land for those purposes, fine, I could care less. Environmental regulations, each state should make up its own mind on these issues instead of having the federal government force it on them the the naziesque EPA. Onto other points. We have the "general welfare" clause in the constitution. This vague line has been used for over a century by politicians to take power that isn't theirs, in the name of general welfare. This is mostly when it comes to pork. It is the justification for building mile upon mile of highways, that should be funded by the state government. A person in Nebraska shouldn't have to pay for I-95, and a person in Montana shouldn't have to pay for I-70. This debate has largely been settled, as most people not only accept the feds doing this, they expect it. The problem is that general welfare was never defined. A socialist can take it to mean that the government has the duty to take over the means of production to provide for the people. I haven't taken this as far as I would like, I can't without making this a book. Keep in mind I make no claim of being a constitutional scholar. Just a person who has happened to read it and thinks that we wouldn't have so many problems if our government would simply obey the highest law in the land. ------------ Email Craig Chamberlain: craig_chamberlain@hotmail.com Comment on this column in the forum. Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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