I do have to thank Obama and his leftist friends for doing one thing right for the American people. Their extremist leftist-socialist approach is renewing a long forgotten debate on the role of the Federal Government. Citizens of this country have for too long forgotten what our Founding Fathers intended.
We've allowed those in Washington to slowly erode the rights of states and now we wake up and find Obama owning car companies; being the largest home lender through Fannie and Freddie; deciding winners and loser in our economy; spending billions of dollars we don't have on useless pork projects and now Obama wants to be the CEO of Nationalized Health Insurance and the decider of Life by tell our older Americans whether their lives hold enough value to receive medical treatment.
I believe 2010 is beginning to shape up as an election referendum on two very fundamental parts of our Constitution: The Federal Government's role vs. the role of the individual States and the people.
The role of the Federal government was a hotly debated subject by our founders. The British government's dictates from a far made a lasting impression and as a result, our Founding Fathers didn't want a central government becoming too powerful. On a human level, they didn't want a government that was located far away from their homes dictating to them how they should live their daily lives.
The results of those debates are found in two sections of the Constitution: Article 1, Section 8 and the 10th Amendment. In Article 1, you will find how the Founding Fathers wanted to limit the Federal Government's role by listing its powers and thereby limiting its role to only those areas specifically given to it by the Constitution. The 10th Amendment then takes up where Article 1 leaves off in addressing all other powers that are reserved for the states:
Article 1 – The Legislative Branch, Section 8 – Powers of Congress
The Congress shall have Power:
To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
Here’s the 10th Amendment
Powers of the States and PeopleThe 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.
