States Must Guard Against Federal Encroachment
A civil war is brewing across this country. It is not a war about people or land but a war about power.
The overriding question: Who is the ultimate authority - the federal government or the individuals and states that created it?
Recently, I had an opportunity to meet with nearly 500 state legislators from around the country. We spent five days listening to such notable speakers as Rep. Newt Gingrich, former education secretary Bill Bennett and former senator George McGovern. Several topics were discussed, but one issue dominated the meeting: states’ rights.
Any speaker who remarked that the federal government was out of control and needed to be reined in was guaranteed at least 30 seconds of enthusiastic applause.
The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says, “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.”
Realizing the need to maintain state sovereignty, the founders wrote the Bill of Rights as a way to put the federal government in a cage. Having experienced tyranny firsthand, they worked diligently to prevent a complete federal takeover.
Alexander Hamilton wrote in the Federalist Papers: “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 only powers given to the federal government by the Constitution are to provide for national defense, to regulate foreign and interstate commerce, a federal court system, coining of money, standards of weights and measures, create post offices and protect patents.
On Nov. 8, voters made it clear that they were tired of government getting bigger, regulating them to the hilt and taxing them to death.
Practically every aspect of our lives is covered by some type of federal regulation. Businesses are suffering from oppressive bureaucracies and reams of federal regulations that ultimately cost jobs. This was not what the founders envisioned when they forged our Constitution.
What can be done to solve the problem? So far, four states have passed specific legislation protecting their constitutional rights. Colorado’s states, “Colorado … has constitutional authority to enact laws protecting the environment of the state and safeguarding the public health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of Colorado. However, this authority has too often been ignored by the federal government, as the federal government has intruded more and more into areas that must be left to the states.”
Hawaii, Missouri and New Mexico have followed suit. Forty other states are working on similar legislation.
Idaho, too, should claim its sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment. We should instruct the federal government, as our agent, to immediately halt mandates that are beyond the scope of its constitutionally delegated powers.
That would send a strong message to Washington, D.C., that the people of Idaho want their power back.
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