As Constitution Day approaches, states mull options to limit Washington
Monday, September 14, 2009 at 9:15AM By Kay B. Day
The Library of Congress said James Madison came to be known as the "Father of our Constitution...among the most influential delegates at the Constitutional Convention" in 1787.[Lithograph after a painting by Gilbert Stuart, circa 1828, from the digital collection at the LOC.] September 17 is Constitution Day, so it seems appropriate that states are rallying in an effort to combat a federal government expanding beyond its historically legal powers. Two bills, HR 2454 and healthcare legislation in progress, will affect the daily lives of every American. A columnist at The Tenth Amendment Center said the states have a ‘nuclear option’ on healthcare—nullification.
The Tenth Amendment Center is calling attention to September 17 because on that day in 1787, members of the Constitutional Convention signed the draft of the document that is the keystone for liberty. As Congress attempts to expand the powers of the federal government to historic levels, the Center’s founder Michael Boldin said in a news release, “This year seven states have passed sovereignty resolutions under the 10th amendment to the Constitution of the United States.”
Laws passed by states include nullification of some federal firearms regulations. Boldin added, “[T]hree states are considering constitutional amendments allowing residents to effectively opt out of any future national healthcare plan.”
More than 2 dozen states have passed or are in the process of trying to pass state sovereignty resolutions.
In a column at the Center website, Josh Eboch addresses the means some in Congress have threatened to use to ram healthcare legislation through with a simple majority, a process rather ridiculously called ‘reconciliation.’ If Dems ram historic legislation down the throats of American taxpayers, there will be nothing friendly about it. Eboch said this would be a “strategic error” and a “miscalculation.”
