State's Sovereignty Bills Explode Across America

Special thanks to RP at Way Up North, and the Tenth Amendment Center, for bringing this information to my attention. States across the nation have, en masse, passed legislation or bills of some manner declaring their continued sovereignty from the Federal Government. As of today, 35 states have proposed or passed such bills - sending an overwhelming message (even from blue states) that the Federal Government is subject to checks and balances within the bounds of the Constitution.

Colorado State killed the bill in Committee - as did six other states... The remaining states have the bill in committee, passed in one or both houses, and in the case of Alaska, on the way to the Governors Desk... Do you think Gov. Palin will sign a sovereignty bill?

The text of the bill, similar across the multitude of states, speaks a resounding "Heck No" to subjugation of the states to federal authority outside of their Constitutional bounds. This example is pulled from the Alaskan version -

SENATE CS FOR CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 27 (2d RES)

Relating to the Sovereign Powers of the State

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF
ALASKA:

WHEREAS the Tenth Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States 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”; and

WHEREAS
the Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that
specifically granted by the Constitution of the United States and no more; and

WHEREAS some federal actions weaken states’ rights
protected by the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and

WHEREAS the Tenth Amendment assures that we, the people
of the United States of America and each sovereign state in the Union of States,
now have, and have always had, rights the federal government may not usurp; and

WHEREAS art. IV, sec. 4, Constitution of the United
States, reads, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a
Republican Form of Government,” and the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution of
the United States reads, “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain
rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the
people”; and

WHEREAS the United States Supreme Court
has ruled in New York v. United States, 112 S.Ct. 2408 (1992), that the
United States Congress may not simply commandeer the legislative and regulatory
processes of the states; and

WHEREAS all states,
including Alaska, find themselves regularly facing proposals from the United
States Congress that weaken states’ rights protected by the Tenth Amendment;

BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature hereby
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; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution serves as Notice
and Demand to the federal government to cease and desist, effective immediately,
mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers.

COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the
Honorable Barack Obama, President of the United States; the Honorable Joseph R.
Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President of the U.S.
Senate; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of
Representatives; the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich,
U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the
Alaska delegation in Congress; all other members of the 111th United States
Congress; the presiding officers of the legislatures of each of the other 49
states; and the governors of each of the other 49 states.

These remaining 28 bills - and even the 7 which have been killed - represent a strong stand against the federal authoritarian expansion of powers in violation of the Constitution of the United States. These state legislatures are making the stand necessary to ensure that These United States remain a collection of free and independent states, not a single nation state under Federal Rule.

I strongly urge every reader to write/call their local state legislator and explain to them the importance of declaring sovereignty at the state level - and ensure that the Federal Government gets the message that the People of the United States will not be ruled.

My previous post raised the question about the future of the Republican Party. If we use strong-arm Grassroots tactics such as this, and not rely on them merely as parlor tricks, then we become leaders within the Libertarian movement needed to return the GOP to the right - and ultimately to electoral victory. Though this is not a partisan issue, rather a state's rights issue, it MUST BE the GOP who drives the movement to regain standing.

As new potential candidates come forward - ask them how they would vote on a state sovereignty bill... and then continue to press the issue of state's rights and limited government... Let's vet the 2010 candidates fully and ensure that the next generation of GOP candidates breathes the necessary life into the party.