[traderrob6]

It’s just a matter of semantics. The “people” retain the power to cede power but the people in and of themselves have no tangible power.

But don’t confuse rights with power as obviously people have many rights that they have conferred upon themselves though constitutions both federal and state.

[Durus]

Neither federal or state constitutions grant rights to the people; they simply recognize them. Government only posses those powers that "the people" have delegated via enumeration in constitutional form. This is a positive grant of power meaning any powers not explicitly enumerated are retained and withheld. This is true of both federal and state governments. This is simply the way our governments were formed to make sure the government was, and stayed, "of the people, for the people, and by the people".

I'm concerned that the very foundation of our government can be so easily forgotten.