A few weeks ago I read an opinion piece in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. I cannot recall who the author was, but his premise was that ever since the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution states' rights has been on a fast track to decline.
What is the Seventeenth Amendment? It allows for the popular election of U.S. senators. Previously senators were elected by state legislatures.
How is this a bad thing? The Framers' intentionally designed a bicameral Congress so that each house balanced the other and represented two vital interests in our union- state autonomy and the need for federal authority as demonstrated by the total failure of the Articles of Confederation which lacked hardly any centralized or federal powers.
Under the new Constitution the lower house was to be elected directly by the people every two years. Direct election allowed for the people's voice to be heard at the federal level. Election of representatives every two years allowed for rapid turnover and the introduction of current viewpoints into the policy making process.
To balance vox populi, James Madison and the other Framers designed an upper house, the Senate. The Senate was to be elected every six years by the various state legislatures to represent the power of the states. As such, senators played an extremely important role in ensuring that federal power did not usurp state authority and through longer terms, that their votes were not swayed by today's headlines.
Remember, the U.S. Constitution spells out specific powers assigned to the federal government and reserves for the people and the states all other powers. The role of the House and Senate is to guard against an all-powerful federal government from encroaching upon the rights of the people and the rights of states.
Once senators became answerable unto the people, states' rights began to decline faster than had already been the case (thanks to men like Presidents Jackson (D) and Lincoln (R)).
Our form of government was designed to balance conflicting interests. Executive vs. Legistlative vs. Judicial. People vs. Government. Federal vs. States. The Seventeenth Amendment has tipped that balance of power too much to the favor of the federal government.
Perhaps we need to consider whether this amendment born of the Progressive Era has caused more harm than good in terms of our nation's long term health and survival. Maybe it is the right thing to do, but then again maybe it destroys the foundations of our system of checks and balances.
Either way, we need to return to principles of liberty and freedom or we will surely suffer the same fate as Europe's failed socialist and communist systems (Greece, USSR, East Germany...) which placed it faith in the hands of an all-knowing, all-powerful federal government.
Showing posts with label state sovereignty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label state sovereignty. Show all posts
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Sunday, November 1, 2009
A New Paradigm
There have been pivotal moments in the history of the United States during which the political landscape is forever changed. Examples include the reign of Democrat-Republicans from Thomas Jefferson through John Q. Adams which lead to the emergence of our first populist president, Andrew Jackson and the Democratic Party. There was the rise of the Whig Party followed shortly by its fall and the rise of the Republicans with Abraham Lincoln at the head of the ticket.
In the 20th Century the names of the parties stayed the same but their platforms shifted dramatically. For instance Southern Democrats kept their party racist while Republicans led on civil rights. Then the parties seemingly switched positions in the 1960s and Southerners left the Democratic Party for the Republican while in the North we have witnessed the gradual decline of social moderates in the GOP.
Here in the early 21st Century I wonder if we are at another pivotal moment in the political life of our country. With big government Democrats seeking to nationalize health care (1/6 of our economy) and Republicans searching for a direction after President Bush's spending spree and multi-front wars, perhaps we no longer are a left vs. right nation. Perhaps the new question we should be asking ourselves is, "Do I favor a large federal government or do I favor a federalism in which power is shared at the local, state and federal levels?"
Our Founding Fathers clearly favored the latter. Our republican form of government only works when those we elect to represent us are closest to us and held accountable by us. The 10th Amendment to the Constitution clearly reinforces the restrictive main body of the Constitution in which the powers of the central government are enumerated. The 10th Amendment limits the scope of the federal government's authority to only those powers specifically listed within the Constitution.
The Founders knew that for our system of government to work most effectively the federal government must be balanced with the power of the states and the people who grant their consent to be government at the expense of their own freedom and liberty.
The question we should be asking ourselves is not whether we are liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, but rather do I believe in an all-powerful federal government or do I believe in liberty and freedom?
One of the most important underlying principles of our form of government is that we, the people, consent to surrender a portion of our God-given freedom and liberty over to a government with limited powers. Through the 10th Amendment we surrender only a portion of our liberty.
Reclaim your freedom! Reclaim your liberty! Unless we, the people, speak up our own government will slowly become the government of King George III of Great Britain.
In the 20th Century the names of the parties stayed the same but their platforms shifted dramatically. For instance Southern Democrats kept their party racist while Republicans led on civil rights. Then the parties seemingly switched positions in the 1960s and Southerners left the Democratic Party for the Republican while in the North we have witnessed the gradual decline of social moderates in the GOP.
Here in the early 21st Century I wonder if we are at another pivotal moment in the political life of our country. With big government Democrats seeking to nationalize health care (1/6 of our economy) and Republicans searching for a direction after President Bush's spending spree and multi-front wars, perhaps we no longer are a left vs. right nation. Perhaps the new question we should be asking ourselves is, "Do I favor a large federal government or do I favor a federalism in which power is shared at the local, state and federal levels?"
Our Founding Fathers clearly favored the latter. Our republican form of government only works when those we elect to represent us are closest to us and held accountable by us. The 10th Amendment to the Constitution clearly reinforces the restrictive main body of the Constitution in which the powers of the central government are enumerated. The 10th Amendment limits the scope of the federal government's authority to only those powers specifically listed within the Constitution.
The Founders knew that for our system of government to work most effectively the federal government must be balanced with the power of the states and the people who grant their consent to be government at the expense of their own freedom and liberty.
The question we should be asking ourselves is not whether we are liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, but rather do I believe in an all-powerful federal government or do I believe in liberty and freedom?
One of the most important underlying principles of our form of government is that we, the people, consent to surrender a portion of our God-given freedom and liberty over to a government with limited powers. Through the 10th Amendment we surrender only a portion of our liberty.
Reclaim your freedom! Reclaim your liberty! Unless we, the people, speak up our own government will slowly become the government of King George III of Great Britain.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
A General Alarm! You gotta fight for your right to...
Without a doubt our Founding Fathers wrote our Constitution to specifically limit the powers granted to federal government and reserve them to the people and the states. Unfortunately the slow march of time has weakened the resolve of both the people and the states in defense of their liberty, thereby allowing our federal government to slowly but surely steal our freedoms.
James Madison wrote in The Federalist No. 46, “The ultimate authority, wherever the derivative may be found, resides in the people alone.” He goes on to say, “But ambitious encroachments of the federal government on the authority of the State governments would not excite the opposition of a single State, or of a few States only. They would be signals of a general alarm. Every government would espouse the common cause. A correspondence would be opened. Plans of resistance would be concerted.”
A general alarm!
Yes, a general alarm should be sounded. Correspondence should be written and spread to all the people.
“The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite….The powers reserved to the several states will extend to all the objects which…concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement and prosperity of the State,” wrote Madison in The Federalist No. 45.
Quite the opposite seems true today. The federal government’s scope of power has been allowed to expand well beyond the explicit restrictions of the Constitution. We must demand a return of our sovereignty, of our freedom, of our liberty.
How can you do this? Most immediately, contact your Representatives and Senators and tell them to reject a government health care option. Tell them to focus on tort reform as one effective way to reign in the cost of health care. Let’s start by trying to fix the current system before replacing it with a government “solution.”
Longer term I strongly encourage you to support liberty by voting Libertarian. Republicans are for big government and Democrats are for bigger government. We lose in both cases. The lesser of two evils is still evil. But there can be a third way. That is through a grassroots movement of the people to reclaim their liberty from an economically and personally intrusive federal government.
James Madison wrote in The Federalist No. 46, “The ultimate authority, wherever the derivative may be found, resides in the people alone.” He goes on to say, “But ambitious encroachments of the federal government on the authority of the State governments would not excite the opposition of a single State, or of a few States only. They would be signals of a general alarm. Every government would espouse the common cause. A correspondence would be opened. Plans of resistance would be concerted.”
A general alarm!
Yes, a general alarm should be sounded. Correspondence should be written and spread to all the people.
“The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite….The powers reserved to the several states will extend to all the objects which…concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement and prosperity of the State,” wrote Madison in The Federalist No. 45.
Quite the opposite seems true today. The federal government’s scope of power has been allowed to expand well beyond the explicit restrictions of the Constitution. We must demand a return of our sovereignty, of our freedom, of our liberty.
How can you do this? Most immediately, contact your Representatives and Senators and tell them to reject a government health care option. Tell them to focus on tort reform as one effective way to reign in the cost of health care. Let’s start by trying to fix the current system before replacing it with a government “solution.”
Longer term I strongly encourage you to support liberty by voting Libertarian. Republicans are for big government and Democrats are for bigger government. We lose in both cases. The lesser of two evils is still evil. But there can be a third way. That is through a grassroots movement of the people to reclaim their liberty from an economically and personally intrusive federal government.
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