One night I had a dream. It was a dream about a powerful nation that had been conceived in Liberty and built on the ideal that, if a person worked hard enough, you could succeed. Then I woke up.
I found the dream was broken. It had been broken by Big Politics, Big Unions, and Big Businesses, but mainly by the greed of governments, at all levels.
While the Constitution itself and each Amendment is being violated on a daily basis by Congress in general and this Administration in particular, it is the 10th Amendment that is the subject of this discussion.
The question of Nullification has once again been raising its head with regards to States Rights and the Right of the People to refuse to surrender their Constitutional Rights to a central government that has gone out of control. The People are beginning to honestly understand that the present government, the Congress, the Presidency, and the Judiciary do not have the best interests of the Nation at heart and that the people sent to represent them, at all levels, in the Nation's Capital are for sale to the highest bidder as opposed to working for theTaxpayers and Voters. And, that the only time these erstwhile representatives listen to the voice of the people is when they want to be reelected to office.
The Constitution was created by The Founders as the Operating Manual for the United States of America. This document outlines and directs the behavior of the Federal Government and numerous State Constitutions mimic the rules and regulations within. When the framers of The Constitution completed the document. they realized that while they had included a set of levers that controlled the powers of Government, they had not really spelled the powers that belonged to the States and the People. They almost immediately amended The Constitution with the First 10 Amendments - The Bill of Rights - that spelled out the Rights that are given to the States and the Citizens. The Bill of Rights is at the bottom of this article.
Before you look at the impact of the Bill of Rights, you must look at the time in which the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution were written. This historical information is readily available on the Internet if you wish to read it for yourself.
When the Thirteen Colonies declared Independence from England, they became thirteen individual countries. Each one of these new countries had its own government with no more legal ties to the other except for the cooperative arrangements made in the War for Independence. If the war was decided in the favor of the colonies, they would be thirteen separate little countries living on one part of the North American continent. That's how things stood when the Declaration of Independence was announced after July 4th, 1776.
One of the Founding Fathers, a Virginian named Richard Henry Lee, proposed a plan to bring these thirteen independent entities together in a confederation. Lee suggested that a plan be put together and transmitted to the respective Colonies for the consideration and acceptance/rejection. The Continental Congress immediately set up a committee to consider this plan and the Articles of Confederation was passed on November 15, 1777; was ratified by the individual colonies and became law on March 1, 1781.
I have provided a link to the Articles of Confederation here: www.usconstitution.net/articles.html.
The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution allows the States nd the Citizens of those States to hold the reins of the Federal Government and prevent a "royalty" from establishing itself through usurpation of the Constitution by elected officials in Washington, DC. The Tenth Amendment is a simple, yet powerful statement telling the Federal Government that it has no powers other than those outlined in the Constitution and that the Citizens and the States are the "ruling class".
Amendment X
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.
Nullification:
Definition - The action of a State impeding or attempting to prevent the operation and enforcement within its territory of a law of the United States.
Example - The Sedition Act by Congress to abridge the Freedom of the Press was ignored by the States and became an illustration of nullification.
Because of the Tenth Amendment, some people believe that the States have the Right to declare laws passed by Congress null and void within the boundaries of the various States. For instance, you can look at The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (Obamacare). This act signed by the President has been challenged in court by 26 States as unconstitutional and, while the challenges have been working their way theough the courts, numerous companies have asked for, and received exemptions from the various aspects of the Law. Several States have also passed laws that exempt their citizens from this confiscatory Act that will take over about 1/3 of the Nation's economy with no appreciable improvement to the availability of healthcare.
The government website http://www.healthcare.gov/ paints a very rosy picture about how the Act will make healthcare more accessible for the general population by not allowing insurance companies to refuse coverage for preexisting illnenss which is akin to a country putting together an army after it has been attacked.
The Impact of Nullification
Nullification is a Constitutional theory that gives an individual State the Right to declare null and void an law passed by the United States Congress which the State deems to have an inverse impact on its citizens and is unacceptable and unconstitutional. The Nullification Concept had its first major test in the slavery/anti-slavery problems that faced this young Nation in the 40 years prior to the Civil War. The question was whether or not the Federal Government had the right to tell a State what was or was not acceptable. The result was over 600,000 dead Americans in a bloody war that lasted four years.
Nullification! The very word sends shivers down the spines of the "ruling class" because it means that the People, working through their Local and State governments, are beginning to want their Country back and are demanding that the people sent to Washington remember who funds the Country and pays the bills.
As you looke at the damage done to this Nation since the time of Theodore Roosevelt by the three Branches of Government and review that damage in the context of The Constitution and the first Ten Amendments (The Bill of Rights), you too should make the decision that it is time to join with your friends and neighbors to tell the politicians in Washington that you are tired of a bunch of "ordinary citizens" setting themselves up as potentates and that they no longer represent you. IT IS TIME TO TAKE YOUR COUNTRY BACK! It is time to take it away from the politicians, unions, environmentalists, and other special interest groups who don't care about you daily life. All they want power over you. Each State has the Right, no, the Duty, to put an end to the power grab by the Federal Government and to tell the politicians that the free ride has come to an end, that they are no different than each of us, Citizens of the United States of America. The Constitution is the Law of the Land, and is not to be usurped. This war of ideas has been underway since the beginning of the 20th Century. Today, we have a chance to regain our Country. IT DEPENDS ON YOU!
"Congress of the United States begun and held at the City of New York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.
The Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution expressed a desire in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government will best ensure the beneficient ends of its institution.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Represenatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring that the following articles be proposed to the Legislatures of th eseveral states as Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all or any of which articles, when ratified by three fourths of said Legislatures to be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the said Constitution.
Articles in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress and Ratified by the Legislature of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution."
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peacably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment II
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment III
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the plac eto be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment of indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be witness against himself, no be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for the defence.
Amendment VII
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any Court of the UNited States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shalll not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, o certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X
The powere 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.
