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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Will there eventually be a second Civil War over state's rights?

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=88218

        
Lawmakers in 20 states move to reclaim sovereignty
Obama's $1 trillion deficit-spending 'stimulus plan' seen as last straw

NEW YORK
– As the Obama administration attempts to push through Congress a nearly
$1 trillion deficit spending plan that is weighted heavily toward
advancing typically Democratic-supported social welfare programs, a
rebellion against the growing dominance of federal control is beginning
to spread at the state level.

So far, eight states have introduced resolutions declaring state
sovereignty under the Ninth and Tenth Amendment to the Constitution,
including Arizona, Hawaii, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire,
Oklahoma and Washington.

Analysts expect that in addition, another 20 states may see similar
measures introduced this year, including Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas,
California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Nevada, Maine and
Pennsylvania.

"What we are trying to do is to get the U.S. Congress out of the state's
business," Oklahoma Republican state Sen. Randy Brogdon told WND.

"Congress is completely out of line spending trillions of dollars over
the last 10 years putting the nation into a debt crisis like we've never
seen before," Brogdon said, arguing that the Obama stimulus plan is the
last straw taxing state patience in the brewing sovereignty dispute.

"This particular 111th Congress is the biggest bunch of over-reachers
and underachievers we've ever had in Congress," he said.

"A sixth-grader should realize you can't borrow money to pay off your
debt, and that is the Obama administration's answer for a stimulus
package," he added.

The Ninth Amendment reads, "The enumeration in the Constitution, of
certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others
retained by the people."

The Tenth Amendment specifically provides, "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."

Brogdon, the lead sponsor of the Oklahoma state senate version of the
sovereignty bill, has been a strong opponent of extending the plan to
build a four-football-fields-wide Trans-Texas Corridor parallel to
Interstate-35 to Oklahoma, as WND reported.

Rollback federal authority

The various sovereignty measures moving through state legislatures are
designed to reassert state authority through a rollback of federal
authority under the powers enumerated in the Constitution, with the
states assuming the governance of the non-enumerated powers, as required
by the Tenth Amendment.

The state sovereignty measures, aimed largely at the perceived fiscal
irresponsibility of Congress in the administrations of Bill Clinton and
George W. Bush, have gained momentum with the $1 trillion
deficit-spending economic stimulus package the Obama administration is
currently pushing through Congress.

Particularly disturbing to many state legislators are the increasing
number of "unfunded mandates" that have proliferated in social welfare
programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, in which bills passed by
Congress dictate policy to the states without providing funding.

In addition, the various state resolutions include discussion of a wide
range of policy areas, including the regulation of firearms sales
(Montana) and the demand to issue drivers licenses with technology to
embed personal information under the Western Hemisphere Travel
Initiative and the Real ID Act (Michigan).

Hawaii's measure calls for a new state constitutional convention
to return self-governance, a complaint that traces back to the days it
was a U.S. territory, prior to achieving statehood in 1959.

"We are trying to send a message to the federal government that the
states are trying to reclaim their sovereignty," Republican Rep. Matt
Shea, the lead sponsor of Washington's sovereignty resolution told WND.

"State sovereignty has been eroded in so many areas, it's hard to know
where to start," he said. "There are a ton of federal mandates imposed
on states, for instance, on education spending and welfare spending."

Shea said the Obama administration's economic stimulus package moving
through Congress is a "perfect example."

"In the state of Washington, we have increased state spending 33 percent
in the last three years and hired 6,000 new state employees, often using
federal mandates as an excuse to grow state government," he said. "We
need to return government back down to the people, to keep government as
close to the local people as possible."

Shea is a private attorney who serves with the Alliance Defense Fund, a
nationwide network of about 1,000 attorneys who work pro-bono. As a
counter to the ACLU, the alliance seeks to protect and defend religious
liberty, the sanctity of life and traditional family values.

Republican state Rep. Judy Burges, the primary sponsor of the
sovereignty resolution in the Arizona House, told WND the federal
government "has been trouncing on our constitutional rights."

"The real turning point for me was the Real ID act, which involved both
a violation of the Fourth Amendments rights against the illegal searches
and seizures and the Tenth Amendment," she said.

Burges told WND she is concerned that the overreaching of federal powers
could lead to new legislation aimed at confiscating weapons from
citizens or encoding ammunition.

"The Real ID Act was so broadly written that we are afraid that it
involves the potential for "mission-creep," that could easily involve
confiscation of firearms and violations of the Second Amendment," she said.

Burges said she has been surprised at the number of e-mails she has
received in support of the sovereignty measure.

"We are a sovereign state in Arizona, not a branch of the federal
government, and we need to be treated as such, she insisted.


--
"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will
not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius
will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the
world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone
are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve
the problems of the human race"

~ Calvin Coolidge