State Sovereignty Movement

Senator Brogdon Responds to Governor Henry’s Veto of ‘10th Amendment’ Resolution

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Tulsa, OK, April 25, 2009 - In response to Governor Henry’s veto of HJR 1003, legislation that reaffirmed the 10th Amendment of the US Constitution, Senator Brogdon called on the Governor to refrain from any further erosion of the people’s Constitutional rights.

“At the end of the workweek, when everyone else had left the Capitol, Brad Henry used his veto power to reject the Constitution he swore to uphold,” said Brogdon. “With the stroke of the pen, the Governor decided to let President Obama and Congress continue to erode our Constitutional rights.”

“This is not an isolated case,” said Brogdon. He then referred to Governor Henry’s veto on legislation that would have banned embryonic stem cell research. “In less than one week’s time, Brad Henry has vetoed life and liberty.”

“This is not about left vs. right or liberal vs. conservative,” continued Brogdon. “This is about right and wrong. And according to the vast majority of Oklahomans, these Brad Henry vetoes are just plain wrong.”

Brogdon added, “Governor Henry must stop implementing Obama’s policies and start listening to the people who he is sworn to represent.”

Randy Brogdon is the State Senator for District 34 which covers Northeastern Tulsa County and portions of Rogers County. He and his wife of 37 years, Donna, currently reside in Owasso, OK. For more information about Randy Brogdon, please visit www.RandyBrogdon.com.

Articles about the 10th Amendment and are proliferating all over the Internet. Just two weeks ago it was difficult to find one or two per week. Lately I have been seeing more than that each day. Here is an excellent article by Pennsylvanie State Representative Samuel Rohrer, who is also scheduling a State Sovereignty Rally for March 16th. The article was found at the Tenth Amendment Center.   Discuss this article in the State Sovereignty Forums.

The Necessity for Action
by State Rep. Samuel E Rohrer, PA-128th District

The danger of being number 10 is that no one really knows who you are. George Washington was our first president; but how many can name number 10 off the top of their head? And Sir Edmund Hillary was the first person to climb Everest, but does anyone know who the tenth person was to reach the summit?

And then consider our amendments to the United States Constitution: most of us know the 1st Amendment verbatim, but do you know what the Tenth Amendment says?

“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.”

Sometimes thought of as an afterthought, to “sweep up” anything the Founders may have forgotten, the 10th Amendment today is taking on monumental importance as increasing federal intrusion into state affairs threatens to completely destroy the balance between state and federal power.

In the Federalist Papers, authors Jay, Madison, and Hamilton labored to convince a monarch-shy colonial population that they needed a strong government to preserve a free, cohesive nation. The authors took pains to outline how the Constitutional structure of the government would prohibit the federal government from becoming big enough to overwhelm the powers of both the states and the democratic process.

The 10th Amendment was foundational to this system of checks and balances, constitutionally restricting the federal government to covering issues related to commerce, national defense, the postal system, and the like.

“Power begets power,” though, as the saying goes, and the federal government slowly began expanding its powers. One of the most effective and insidious ways that the federal government has taken over control of state affairs is by first passing a mandate and then offering federal money to states with significant strings attached.

Whether the issue is welfare, Real ID, No Child Left Behind, or health insurance programs, tantalizing packages have been dangled in front of state governors and legislators, promising to stop the budget gap or expand a politically successful program. States have taken the money and over time, the requirements and restrictions on those state funds have slowly but surely changed the direction of state policy.

Instead of developing programs to fit the needs of state citizens and altering them to best use the state resources, programs are instead clumsily built around the federal funding requirements, so the state does not lose a single available dollar. This significant paradigm shift should be a wake-up call to every citizen not only in Pennsylvania, but also across the nation.

Therefore, because the Supreme Court allowed the federal government to offer funds on conditions, states have subjected themselves to Washington. This submission completely distorts the checks and balances inherent in our Constitution, and enshrined in the 10th Amendment.

In order to raise awareness of this improper delegation of power, I have joined with representatives, senators, Democrats, and Republicans from over 30 states and introduced a resolution into the Pennsylvania General Assembly that reaffirms Pennsylvania’s constitutional powers under the 10th Amendment.

This 10th Amendment Resolution (House Resolution 95) is little more than a restatement of the last amendment to the Bill of Rights, reminding state legislatures that the federal government must no longer be allowed to commandeer our rightful authority.

As difficult as it is to believe someone could oppose a resolution as plain as reaffirming a basic tenet of our Constitution, sadly, opposition is too often the case in our state legislatures. This issue, however, is gaining traction among American citizens who are unwilling to sit back while Washington blatantly ignores their voices.

Supporting the 10th Amendment Resolution is a grassroots effort if ever there was one. I encourage you to spread the word and contact your family, friends and relatives, in and out of Pennsylvania, and encourage them to speak up. This issue will not go away—and it gives a voice to those who have grown frustrated and disillusioned with our federal government.

The 10th Amendment Resolution simply yet powerfully affirms our belief in the constitutional structure of our government. Join me today in that affirmation.

Rep. Rohrer will be holding the “10th Amendment Rally for the State of Independence” on Monday, March 16 at noon in the Rotunda of the State Capitol. Please make plans to join him there. Visit http://www.samrohrer.com for more information.

Samuel E. Rohrer is a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (R-Berks). To contact him, visit his website at http://www.samrohrer.com.

The Campaign for Liberty is reporting on House Resolution 875, which ostensibly  establishes a new federal bureaucracy, the Food Safety Administration.  This new addition to the “alphabet soup” of regulatory agencies, would have jurisdiction over all food production, in the name of preventing food-borne illnesses and food contamination.  The legislation:

• Legally binds state agriculture departments to enforcing federal guidelines effectively taking away the states power to do anything other than being food police for the federal dept.
• Effectively criminalizes organic farming but doesn’t actually use the word organic.
• Effects anyone growing food even if they are not selling it but consuming it.
• Effects anyone producing meat of any kind including wild game. 
• Legislation is so broad based that every aspect of growing or producing food can be made illegal.  There are no specifics which is bizarre considering how long the legislation is.  
• Section 103 is almost entirely about the administrative aspect of the legislation.  It will allow the appointing of officials from the factory farming corporations and lobbyists and classify them as experts and allow them to determine and interpret the legislation.  Who do you think they are going to side with?  
• Section 206 defines what will be considered a food production facility and what will be enforced up all food production facilities.  The wording is so broad based that a backyard gardener could be fined and more.
• Section 207 requires that the state’s agriculture dept act as the food police and enforce the federal requirements.  This takes away the states power and is in violation of the 10th amendment.

Yes, you read right.  This would make organic farming illegal, and it would outlaw backyard gardening.  In addition, this would be yet another violation by the Federal Government of the 9th and10th Amendment guarrantees of self-government and state sovereignty.

Link to the story at the Campaign for Liberty site

The link to the bill in the article has expired, but you can read a copy of the bill by duplicating the search. Go to http://thomas.loc.gov/ and enter “HR 875” in the search box, and click the “Bill number” radio button, then perform the search.

Discuss this in the forums

CNN picks up a story on sovereignty. Link to article.

The article is a little more balanced than the initial sentence tends to suggest it wil be,

“Republican lawmakers from more than 20 states across the country are willing to take federal funding, but only on their terms.”

To begin, this is far from being a Republican effor, but is and should be supported by members of both major political parties. Second, the article fails to observe that the money belongs to the people in the first place. The government takes it from us, then offers to give us back a portion of it, but with strings attached. And in doing so, it pretends it it somehow their money, and that the offer is somehow magnanimous on their part.

Discuss this article

Today the New Hampshire House of Representatives defeated a resolution in defense of the 9th and 10th Amendments of the Bill of Rights.  And, the Arkansas resolution never even made it to the floor of either chamber for a vote, dying in committee. 

It is up to the people to communicate with their lawmakers  in defense of their sovereignty rights.  Please contact your the congresspeople, senators, and governors in your states to make your wishes known.

See the articles at:

New Hampshire

Arkansas

From WVZ Radio in Boston

Concord, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire Republican lawmaker is telling the federal government to stay out of state affairs.

The New Hampshire House is scheduled to vote Wednesday on Rep. Daniel Itse’s resolution asserting state sovereignty, or the right to ignore any federal law or policy that violates the Constitution. Itse groups the federal stimulus bill, the No Child Left Behind Act and any new assault rifle ban in that category.

Lawmakers in at least 15 states are sponsoring similar resolutions. Some sponsors have filed them in prior years but say opposition to the stimulus may be spurring a larger movement this year.

Critics say the sponsors are misreading the Constitution. Itse’s supporters are planning a rally on Wednesday before the vote.

Discuss this story here.

The Spartanburg GoUstate.com reports on the sovereignty efforts in South Carolina. See the link to their story here.

Associated Press, reprinted at Vermont’s WCAX site, reports that the New Hampshire House is scheduled to vote this Wednesday on the sovereignty resolution introduced by Representative Daniel Itse.

Link to story  

Discuss this news item at the Forums

On Sunday, March 1, 2009, the State Sovereignty Movement web site was initiated.  The goals of this site are:

• To find and report news in all 50 state capitals and in Washington, DC relating to the movement to declare and enforce the sovereignty of  the people and their state & local governments. 
• To act as a channel of communications through which all Americans may exchange information relating to sovereignty efforts.
• To inform citizens in all 50 states about their rights to self-government as guaranteed in Amendments 9 and 10 of the Bill of Rights and to inspire their local and state legislators and governors to defend that right on their behalf.

In addition to news here at the main site blog, the site provides a forum for engaging in discussions of these and other topics.

We in the United States protect our freedoms listed in the Bill of Rights with dogged determination. Freedoms of speech and assembly (1st Amendment), religion (the establishment clause of the 1st Amendment), freedom against unreasonable searches (4th), due process and against self-incrimination (5th), the right to keep and bear arms (2nd), against cruel and unusual punishment (8th), and others carry such impassioned support among the people that we will defend them with our last breath. But there are two basic human freedoms at the end of the list of ten that we have sadly neglected for over 100 years.

The 9th Amendment makes it clear that the powers given to the Federal Government by the constitution are not removed from the people, but rather granted by them. The people retain ultimate sovereignty and the government serves at the pleasure of those it purports to govern. The 10th outlines that the Federal Government is authorized only the very few powers given to the by the Constitution. All other powers not specifically listed as belonging to Washington are reserved to the several state governments.

These two Amendments have been sadly neglected, and the Federal Government has crept into supreme power as a result. In fact, by this year of 2009, the Federal Government has grown into a separate entity with its own self-interests that are unrelated to the interests of the people and the local and state governments they create. Its prime constituency today is its own quest for power and not a desire to serve the needs and desires of the people for reasonable self-government.

The encroachment of the Federal Government permeates all three branches and both major political parties. The solution cannot be a partisan remedy. It is not a red/state issue, a Republican/Democrat struggle; it is not conservative, nor is it liberal. Rather, it predates all those labels, and it became apparent during the First Presidential Administration of George Washington. It is the difference in governmental philosophy that caused Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton to argue bitterly and constantly, while competing for President Washington’s agreement. Most of the original thirteen states would never have ratified the Constitution had it not been for the inclusion in the Bill of Rights of these two liberties.

Washington the capital can no longer be looked to for enforcement of these two freedoms. It is now necessary for the state governments in the 50 capitals to take up the cause of fighting for their own sovereignty. State legislators and governors must be made aware that it is up to them to defend the people’s right to self-government.

This web site is devoted to news and communication related to the movement in all 50 states to declare and enforce state sovereignty.