COURSE CORRECTING OUR NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
State Legislators must save “We the People” from the Federal government
by Colorado State Senator Kevin Lundberg (ret.) and Iowa State Senator Neal Schuerer (ret.)
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.
–Tenth Amendment
Just about every part of the constitutional jurisdiction of state legislation, and for that matter the lives of every U.S. citizen, is unduly influenced by Congress, the President, and the Supreme
Court.
Under the shadow of Article VI, the Federal government has usurped the authority of The States and their citizens by egregiously determining that every act of the Federal government “shall be the supreme Law of the Land.”
The time has come to return to an equally distributed balance of government power and authority between the central government and The States—which is the nature of Federalism.
James Madison instructs us that the powers delegated to the central government “are few and defined and those that remain in the States are numerous and indefinite.”
As State Legislators, we have a solemn obligation to defend the rights of the people and protect the sovereign authority of our States. The Federal government has all but destroyed the constitutional federalism that our founding fathers established and it must be rebuilt in order to protect the future of our Union of States.
HISTORICAL GUIDE
Article I, Section 8 enumerates the specific powers assigned to the Federal government by express consent of The States.
Article IV establishes the equivalency of State and Federal authority in its requirement that “The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.”
Article V establishes the equivalency of State and Federal authority in that the collective legislative bodies of both
the national government and the state governments have the authority to amend the U.S. Constitution: “The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States…”
The Tenth Amendment clarifies that “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.”
“I sir have always conceived—
I believe those who proposed the
Constitution conceived… that this
[is] not an indefinite government…
but a limited government tied down
to the specific powers.”
~ James Madison
THREATS TO THE UNION
HR1 will put Congress in control of our elections, forcing states to adopt wholesale mail ballots, accept ballots ten days after the election, set up a commission to replace the legislature’s responsibility to redistrict congressional districts.
HR5, the “Equality Act,” will demand the states implement a wide range of moral values that violate the consciences of many of our citizens. And this dangerous bill usurps the authority of our state legislature.
HR842, the “PRO Act,” will outlaw millions of independent contractors in all 50 states. Congress has no business dictating such restrictions on individual freedom, but it passed the U.S. House on March 10.
For many years the Federal government has set the education policies of every state with a small token of funding promises and for Medicaid (again, our tax-debt dollars at work) federal mandates drive much of our medical industry policies.
Highway construction dollars don’t go very far after the Federal government’s expensive and time-consuming regulations are applied. This is all done to get back a portion of the gas tax dollars that our citizens pay at the pump, and then send to Washington…
Land use has become the domain of the Federal government’s power. Federal clean air programs dictate how state laws interact with the auto industry and industrial air quality issues. State water policy is too often set by federal policies, US laws on endangered species dictates where and how we can use our own property and state drivers licenses are now issued according to federal standards.
Call to Action
1) States using their power to propose amendments—Article V.
2) National Federalism Taskforce—for states to speak in one voice in an environment that all ideas can be discussed, even the minority position.
3) States uniting to push back on federal government overreach.
Path To Reform is part of Act 2 Inc, a Colorado 501(c)3 organization supporting The States’ legislative initiative to organize an Article V convention of states to consider constitutional amendments.
