The Power of the States

looking to the Right"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," says our constitution's 10th amendment.  What does it mean?  A 1931 court decision is perhaps the most telling clarification (United States v. Sprague, 282 U.S. 716, 733 (1931)), ''The amendment states but a truism that all is retained which has not been surrendered. There is nothing in the history of its adoption to suggest that it was more than declaratory of the relationship between the national and state governments as it had been established by the Constitution before the amendment or that its purpose was other than to allay fears that the new national government might seek to exercise powers not granted, and that the states might not be able to exercise fully their reserved powers.

It means to clarify that the Constitution gives certain powers to the federal government and it prohibits the states from exercising certain powers (such as interfering with the basic rights of the people - free speech, etc.), but all the other powers are those of the states.  The states may establish rules of law within those otherwise unclaimed powers and those may differ from state to state.  They are not the purview of the federal government.  Conservatives have rightfully been conservationists of states' rights in most of the areas of challenge.  There have also been those, mostly on the extreme right, who have abused this notion of the 10the Amendment in arguing for racial segregation as a state issue along with other repugnant positions.  True conservatives know the difference and stand their ground.  They respect the Constitution.

 

Don't We All Want States' Rights?

Ramón Sampedro If the power doesn't belong to the federal government as set forth in the Constitution and the rights of the people are preserved (think Bill of Rights), any state can pass laws to excessive the power according to its own will.  We (as conservatives) like to point fingers at liberals and Democrats as abusers of states' rights and supporters of an overly intrusive and powerful central government.  It's a badge they often deserve to wear.

Lately, the biggest threat to states' rights seems to come more from Republicans than from Democrats.  A couple of great examples come from Oregon and California (and several other states).  When states passed right to die laws or voters in those states voted in right to die amendments to their constitutions, the Bush Administration stepped in attempting to force the states to change the law.  The same was true of medical marijuana laws in many states.  The federal government uses the Justice Department and federal law enforcement to supercede state laws with federal authority.  It is authority not granted anywhere in the Constitution.  It belongs to the states.  Bush's actions violate very basic conservative principles and further separates the Republican Party from its conservative roots.

 

A Small Issue?

all those statesDemocrats have long held states' rights in some contempt, usually arguing for the power of the federal government.  President Clinton's assault rifle ban was supported nearly unanimously by Democrats based on the argument that the federal government had a right greater than that of the states.  Republicans cried, "Foul!"  The assault weapons ban was more than just a ban on assault rifles.  It encompassed a ban of many parts and pieces that, by themselves or with other parts and pieces, could pose no real threat to anyone.  They were simply political hay.  Like it or not, a fundamental right given to the people was tampered with by the federal government.  If you argue, as Democrats do, that the 2nd Amendment does not give the right to bear arms to the people, the right then clearly falls to the states.  So, it's a right of the people or it's a right that belongs to the states.  It surely does not belong to the federal government.

The assault weapons ban is an example of the Democrats' abuse of states' rights that Republicans (and conservatives) hated and criticized.  There are many other abuses since then, mostly by the Bush Administration.  Some are hidden in the Patriot Act.  Others are simply acts of excessive intrusion by the federal government, but they are acts against the spirit and word of the Constitution and they are serious departures from conservative ideals.  They are not the work of true conservatives.

 

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