For those of you who haven't followed the Utah State Legislature much, there are a whole bunch of bills this session addressing our states' rights that have been taken over by the federal government.
The 10th Amendment to the US Constitution states:
"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."
Unfortunately, over the last several decades or more, Congress has used both the "commerce clause" and "necessary and proper clause" in the Constitution to justify micromanaging everything from transportation and agriculture to the water flow in our shower spigots. It's hard to find a part of our lives that hasn't had the hand of the federal government in it. No wonder our country is in such debt - the government is trying to do too much and then give us the bill for it!
Thanks to the efforts of a fairly new movement called "The Patrick Henry Caucus", some of our state legislators (including mine, Representative Ken Sumsion - Go Ken!!!!) have joined with legislators from other states to write bills that directly challenge this usurpation by the federal government. Yes, these bills are designed to get challenged by the US Supreme Court. But what else is going to stop the federal government from consistently overstepping its bounds?
So, here's a few of the state's rights bills/resolutions in this legislative session with links to find more about them on the state legislative website:
SB 11 Utah State-made Firearms Protection Act
HCR 2 Concurrent Resolution on States' Rights
HCR 17 Concurrent Resolution Opposing the Use of Presidential Power to Create New National Monuments in Utah
HJR 11 Joint Resolution Regarding Federal Health Insurance Reform
Since I don't have time to write about all of these, please post a comment if you have a question and I'll try to answer it in a fairly timely matter.
A place to compile and review my political thoughts on current events, personal experiences, scriptures, etc. I encourage respectful and thoughtful discussions of these topics.
1 comment:
It is good to see you posting about these important efforts. The education of Utah citizens is improved with your coverage and passion. I hope you visit us at the http://utah.tenthamendmentcenter.com which is our state site for the national organization. We also have many other activities going on for those that wish to learn and stay active in our communities. For federal government to be restored to their enumerated powers local government must return to our duties and citizens must return to an enlightened, active involvement. We appreciate your service and your blog!
Gary Wood
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