Godspeed Oklahoma!

Oklahoma to feds: Don't tread on me
State House defends its sovereignty from D.C. intrusion

© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Steamed over a perceived increase in federal usurping of states' rights, Oklahoma's House of Representatives told Washington, D.C., to back off.

Joint House Resolution 1089, passed by an overwhelming 92-3 margin, reasserts Oklahoma's sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and, according to the resolution's own language, is "serving notice to the federal government to cease and desist certain mandates."

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Oklahoma has chosen to remind the federal government of exactly who granted them their powers. The Founding Fathers knew that too much government was a curse, and that only The People could keep that unruly beast in check. Every state should take the time for such a measure. It would carry with it a warning that has echoed from the hearts and minds of constitutionalists: “Your days are numbered.”

The beast has been usurping power for far too long, ripping it away from law-abiding citizens and abusing the sacred trust by which the states abdicated powers to the federal government. Our states must take action to keep chained the abusive potential of a gorged federal government. Oklahoma made their stand because the federal government sought to undermine their power to pass legislation to hinder the negative impacts that illegal immigration has brought to their state.

Oklahoma was not represented at the Constitutional Convention, but it is still entitled to the same powers that the original states sought to preserve for themselves. The Constitution clearly stated that all powers that it did not expressly transfer from the states to the federal government, still resided with the states or The People themselves. After reviewing what the actual powers transferred included, one might begin to realize how far the federal government has strayed from the intent of the Founding Fathers.

"Each State, in ratifying the Constitution, is considered as a sovereign body, independent of all others, and only to be bound by its own voluntary act. In this relation, then, the new Constitution will, if established, be a FEDERAL, and not a NATIONAL constitution.”
--James Madison, Federalist No. 39, 1788

“But as the plan of the convention aims only at a partial union or consolidation, the State governments would clearly retain all the rights of sovereignty which they before had, and which were not, by that act, EXCLUSIVELY delegated to the United States.”
--Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 32, 1788

The issue of states’ rights has not been a popular subject of political debate in nearly a century and a half. In fact, the federal government has assumed more power since the beginning of the twentieth century than it ever had before. Unlike the era of the Civil War, these times are wrought with a more complex and dire issue than even slavery or unfair tariffs. We are now faced with the philosophic debate of what a state can actually determine for itself, with a federal government so out of control. This debate deserved to be revisited.

Our states not only have a right to determine their own way of life—they have an inescapable responsibility to keep the federal government from wielding too much power. Initiatives must be started in every state to remind the federal government of who holds what powers. There must be a concerted effort in every state to carefully choose who is sent to Washington, making sure that those individuals love and respect the Constitution. They must also hold the interests of their states in high regard, second only to the guidance of the Constitution. These United States can no longer prop up weak-willed politicians that will pander to special interest groups and turn a receptive ear toward lobbyists. There must be no politicians, but only statesmen of integrity walking through the halls of Washington.

Anyone can make a difference in this effort to reassert the Constitution and render natural powers back to the states. Already, a grand movement is under way to restore the republic that our Founding Fathers worked so hard to establish. It is called the Campaign for Liberty. From the local level to the federal, it aims to bring integrity and constitutional thinking back to public office. Please join the ranks if you are driven by a love for the Constitution and want to contribute in a worthwhile effort to restore order and prosperity to our nation.