The Tenth Ammendment, What's That?

There is something very interesting going on at the state level of government that could be very significant in protecting our rights and freedoms. It has to do with the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution. In the early days of our country there was a lot of debate about how much control and authority the new national government should have over the States. In fact, it was one of the major topics of concern during the three and half months that state representatives spent debating and designing the Constitution. Three years after the Constitution was completed, the Tenth Amendment was added as part of the “Bill of Rights” to make sure there could be no misunderstanding as to limits of Federal Government power. Nevertheless, more than 200 years later, this debate is still going on. Once you have read the amendment, there can be no misunderstanding as to its meaning. It reads,

“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.”

In other words, the federal government can do nothing except what is specifically granted them by the Constitution. All other issues fall to the State. The federal government has, many times in the past, exceeded this limit, but never more so than now. Even the States themselves are beginning to worry, as evidenced by the actions of the State of Alaska. On July 10th of this year the Governor and legislature of Alaska signed a joint resolution officially declaring their sovereignty and reaffirming their rights as expressed in the Tenth Amendment. The resolution “claims sovereignty for the state under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States.” The resolution passed the House and Senate with a total of 77 in favor and 0 opposed.
Common sense would question whether this resolution was even necessary. After all, The States already have these rights, with or without the resolution. Yet, for obvious reasons, they felt it was necessary to remind the federal government that the States have not forgotten the Constitution, and that they intend to uphold it.

It is important to note that at least 36 other states have already passed, or have in the works, similar resolutions.