by Steve Palmer, Pennsylvania Tenth Amendment Center

“All power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”, Lord Acton

We can rephrase Acton’s observation and apply it to today’s world by saying that the more power we grant to our elected officials, the more corrupt they will be.

In 1994, the republican candidates for the House of Representatives used their “Contract With America” as a campaign tool. In this “contract”, along with other things, prospective representatives promised to implement these reforms on their first day in office.

• FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
• SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
• THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
• FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;
• FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
• SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;
• SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
• EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.

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Throughout the brief history of the United States we have encountered periods of conflict between federalism and nationalism. Each period contains struggles pitting political powers attempting to concentrate governing authority in our national government and those striving toward the maintenance of clear separations of power among the several governing authorities. Today we are in the midst of the most recent conflict.

News is filled with accounts of federal maneuvering apparently bent on ending this conflict once and for all in favor of nationalized democracy. With out of control spending and enormous legislative bills being rammed through Congress, despite loud opposition from many people, today’s struggle may well break our supreme law of the land, ending this grand experiment. Not since the days of Franklin Roosevelt has the national government seemed so determined to press for total centralization of power. The few who believe they are smarter and more able to provide for fundamental, daily needs and wants are emboldened like never before.

Lincoln plays trump card

Most colleges in the United States teach students about the Supremacy Clause. This references the second clause of Article VI of the United States Constitution. Article VI is composed of 3 clauses which read;

All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.

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.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

If there is a term that I wish would become a household word to be used again by every American in their daily political discussions, it would be the word “usurpation”. Yes, I would love it even more if average Americans would add to that list the words: “Nullification“, “interposition” and the phrase, “the principles of ‘98“. However, in order to understand the meaning of those words in their political context, you have to understand usurpation. Before you can discover an effective solution, you have to correctly identify and understand the problem.

Usurpation is the unauthorized, unlawful exercise of power. Whenever a person, department or branch of the government (federal, state, or local) usurps, they assume undelegated powers and are therefore acting outside the law.

Our Constitution (the supreme law of the land), created a federal government of strictly limited, enumerated powers when it was ratified by the people’s delegates in their respective state conventions. These states were not created by the Constitution, beacuse they already existed.

“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
–James Madison

James Madison warned often of the encroachments of a central government, and warned that a central or federal government needed to be kept in check by a balance of power. The cornerstone of this balance of power was the will of the people being governed expressed not only in Congress but ultimately through the sovereignty of the individual states.

The federal government has over-reached and encroached on state sovereignty for decades – and under the leadership of both Republicans and Democrats. Each time the federal government has gone unchecked it has become bigger and bolder – and continues to do so with each usurping of power belonging to the states. The passing of Obamacare, just might be the coup de grace, or at least a giant step toward bringing down the republic.

What do I mean by such harsh rhetoric? Consider the Weimar Republic. This is the name of the parliamentary republic established in Germany in 1919. Although it was governed by a constitution, much the same as we are, the republic fell to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in the 1930’s through a usurpation of power. Simply put, it was done by passing legislation that enabled Hitler to circumvent their constitution.

A few days ago I wrote an article entitled “The EPA can go to Hell, and I will go to Texas“. The article pointed out that Texas could (and does) favorably manage it’s own environmental policy while maintaining a superior economy. Both of which the federal government has failed to do. The EPA’s goal is simple: accrual of more power into the hands of the gluttonous feds.

For the last week, Governor Perry and the Texas legislature have been rattling the 10th amendment sabers and highlighting the success of the Texas policies. However, this week, the EPA officially took over control of the permitting process for one of these Texas refineries. EPA Region 6 Administrator Al Armendariz stated that the EPA is prepared to take over Texas’ entire permitting process. Now that the EPA has made it’s move, it is time for Texas leaders to quit talking and take significant action.

Here are concrete steps that the state of Texas needs to take to reassert it’s Constitutional right to govern without federal intrusion. Nullification, based on the 10th amendment and our founding principles of federalism, is the legal answer to a federal government that seeks to centralize power without restraint.

by Gary Wood

Utah Senator Bob Bennett did not receive the delegate votes necessary to appear on the ballot. Instead delegates supported two new senatorial candidates, Mike Lee and Tim Bridgewater, who are now campaigning to win the upcoming Republican primary. Since the Republican State Convention, May 8^th, there have been numerous reports stating Sen. Bennett was a victim or a casualty of the anti-incumbent fever sweeping the nation.

Sometimes the reports blame Bennett’s loss on anti-government tea partiers. Still other reports have linked delegates voting Bennett out to anti-establishment groups who simply want change. No matter what the reason given the claims are focused on Bennett being the victim.

With the new Arizona immigration law dominating discussions on the blogosphere, the Tenth Amendment Center has been tracking other states that have introduced 10th Amendment legislation. We checked in with Michigan to talk with State Representative Paul Opsommer (R-DeWitt), where we got his take in the interview below on Arizona’s SB-1070 as it relates to the Tenth Amendment and related legislation like REAL ID.

Let’s shed some light on why Arizona’s Governor just vetoed a great piece of Tenth Amendment legislation.

Popularly known as the “Light Bulb Bill”, HB2337 was recently submitted to Governor Brewer. This bill seemed to be exactly the kind of Tenth Amendment legislation she would enthusiastically support. Surprisingly, however, she announced that she had vetoed the bill for practical and strategic reasons. In her veto letter, she explained:

Despite any federal restrictions to the contrary, the bill would have allowed the possession, use, manufacture, purchase, installation, sale or exportation internationally of incandescent light bulbs manufactured in Arizona from Arizona raw materials and components.

While I have vetoed HB 2337, I share the bill’s underlying sentiment. The federal government continually infringes on the rights of States guaranteed in the United States Constitution and by over-regulating the lives of everyday Americans. As Governor, there has not been a more ardent defender of the State of Arizona’s 10TH Amendment rights — from suing the federal government for overreaching its constitutional authority in the recently passed federal health care legislation to signing the Firearms Freedom Act (HB 2307) into law last month.

In fact, HB 2337 was modeled in large part after HB 2307. Both bills invite lawsuits that would restore our Founding Fathers’ vision of a limited federal government based on the 10TH Amendment. I believe that the Firearms Freedom Act is the more immediate and practical vehicle for achieving this objective. The federal phase-out of the incandescent light bulb starts next year and is completed in 2014. HB 2337 would take many more years to achieve its goal because there are no active tungsten mining or mineral processing facilities in Arizona. Tungsten is necessary to manufacture the filament in incandescent light bulbs.

Sadly, what Governor Brewer and many of the bill’s sponsors are either unaware of, or fail to understand properly, are the concepts of nullification and interposition, which were expressed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798. The ideas articulated in these very important, but mostly unknown documents, later became known as The Principles of ‘98, and were invoked in almost every decade before the Civil War by states from every part of the Union in response to acts of federal usurpation.

As the Tenth Amendment movement to restore constitutional principles in government gathers momentum, a group of Republican Representatives in Congress announced the formation of a new task force to defend state sovereignty from increasingly overbearing federal encroachment.

“The Task Force will develop and promote proposals that aim to disperse power, decision-making, and money from Washington back to states, local governments, and individuals,” the Task Force, part of the conservative Republican Study Committee, noted in a statement released late last week. “More than ever, Americans are expressing frustration at having important facets of their lives controlled by a government that is out of reach and out of touch.”  

The effort was launched by 10 GOP members of the House of Representatives “in response to the public outcry over the concentration of power and the one-size-fits-all solutions from Washington.” According to the press release, the Task Force will focus on monitoring threats to Tenth Amendment principles, making federalism a core focus of the Republican Party, and educating Congress and the public.

Read the rest.