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07.31.2009 0

When in the course of human events

  • On: 08/11/2009 09:18:43
  • In: Federalism
  • By Justin Williams

    Many historians agree, the United States of American was founded with federalism at its core. This meant that each state would have it’s own jurisdiction to govern its citizens on all accounts that were not granted to the federal government or banned to the states.

    A “state” is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a politically organized body of people usually occupying a definite territory; especially: one that is sovereign” [emphasis theirs]. But it is clear that the states that were once near-independent bodies are now nowhere near sovereign.

    And increasingly, as the Obama Administration turns the screws on states rights, the sovereign citizens are fighting back.

    They understand, as did the founders, that the centralization of power was a bad idea. As Thomas Jefferson put it “The way to have good and safe government, is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among the many, distributing to every one exactly the functions he is competent to.”

    Federalism, through the competition between states for taxpayers, gave citizens of the United States another mechanism to check their governments — and that was with their feet. But, like other well-intended programs, it didn’t take long for the federal government to encroach upon this vital principle.

    One example of this is the legislation called the No Child Left Behind Act, which brought blankets of red tape into a sector of the government that had historically been reserved for the states. And the usurpacious Interstate Commerce Act has imposed myriad restriction upon the individual states tying funding to meeting dictates.

    But, millions of Americans now decided that enough is enough, and Obama’s health care and economic “reforms” have finally triggered a states right revolt. Thirty-seven states have proposed a resolution to exert their state as sovereign. And more are expected to follow.

    The Governor of Texas, Rick Perry (R), has been one of the staunchest supporters of reinstitutionalizing state rights ever since legislation was proposed by the federal government to socialize health care. He stated, “that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state…” and suggested the possibility of secession.

    In short, the current growth of government under the past two administrations has put the states in a situation where they must threaten to leave the union — all because the federalism ideal has been forgotten.

    While the founders argued that the states needed a central authority to defend themselves against a common enemy, they did not make the argument that the states should give up their sovereignty to achieve that. And, they never even remotely imagined that the “common enemy” would become the federal government itself.

    But that is exactly what has happened.

    Of course, the Obama Administration and Congress are showing no signs of stopping the fleecing of the American people. So, the states and the people have decided to stand up and take back their state sovereignty before their state citizenship, like private health insurance becomes, a thing of the past.

    Soon, the “feds” may be faced with a dire choice: either return to the tenets of federalism or be prepared for today’s “ragtag army” of rebels to echo the actions of the founders and “dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another.”

    Mr. Obama, meet Mr. Jefferson.

    Justin Williams is the Senior Commentary Editor of ALG News Bureau.


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