Free Republic

CNSNews.com) – Virginia’s Governor-elect Bob McDonnell (R) said that his administration would not participate in a government-run health insurance plan, if one is passed by Congress and signed into law. He also urged other governors to “stand up” against federal proposals if they are not good for their states. McDonnell, who won election on Nov. 3 with 59 percent of the vote, said on the Nov. 8 edition of CNN’s “State of the Union” that a government-run public option would be bad for his recently red state. McDonnell also said that during the campaign he heard concerns from Virginia voters...

Health Care Reform: Failure to buy health insurance in the just-passed health care bill could get you five years in jail with a $250,000 fine. How can violating a law that's unconstitutional be a felony? The passage last Saturday night of the House health care measure by a fragile 220-215 margin may well prove to be a Pyrrhic victory. In polls, townhall meetings and tea parties, Americans have shown they don't want a "reform" that costs a staggering $1.2 trillion yet fails to meet the left's desire of insuring all the uninsured. And they certainly don't want a bill that...

Health Reform: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says it's constitutional to mandate insurance coverage. Congress, he insists, has "broad authority" to make us buy things to provide for the "general welfare." Democrats' Alice In Wonderland interpretation of what they consider to be a "living Constitution," where words mean what they say they mean based on political considerations, gets more bizarre by the minute. (snip) We've been down this road before. In 1994, Hillary Clinton's secretive health care task force was trying to nationalize health care. "A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of...

In an act of merciful sanity, the Obama administration has made good on its promise to stop interfering with states that allow the medical use of marijuana. Clink-clink, hear-hear, salud, cheers, et cetera, et cetera.... It's a good move, long overdue. But is it enough? Not quite. The debate over whether Americans ought to have the right to be stupid -- or to make other people seem more interesting -- continues apace after 40 years of the (failed) "war on drugs." Arguments for and against decriminalization of some or all drugs are familiar by now. Distilled to the basics, the...

It is no secret that Congress has been overstepping its congressional authority for the better part of the last century. The liberal philosophy has been such that Congress can essentially do anything according to the constitution. Indeed, when asked recently what authority Congress had to mandate individuals to have health insurance, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer opined: Well, in promoting the general welfare the Constitution obviously gives broad authority to Congress to effect that end. The end that we’re trying to effect is to make health care affordable, so I think clearly this is within our constitutional responsibility. Let’s face...

Introduction In this essay I will attempt to show that the powers granted to the Federal Judiciary were excessive, that the creation of an all-powerful, unaccountable Supreme Court was a grave error that made the expansion of Federal power inevitable, and virtually limitless. I will then provide a brief investigation into the original meaning of the Commerce Clause. Last, I will argue that the harm created through Commerce Clause jurisprudence appears irreversible, having been upheld and applied by Justice Scalia and the liberal wing of the Court as recently as 2005. If Justice Scalia not only unwilling to overturn past...

In a recent piece at the Huffington Post, columnist David Sirota attempted to advance a somewhat tortured political theory, one he called “Progressive Federalism,” that demonstrated two important things; neither of which were likely what he intended. First, despite the ignorant vitriol against “tenthers,” the state sovereignty movement is alive, well, and continuing to gain much-needed penetration into the national political discussion. And second, when it comes to advancing statism, some members of the so-called media elite either utterly lack knowledge of history or have no regard whatsoever for the meaning of words. Sirota’s article starts out innocently enough, quoting...

Federalist #10: Debated Point by Point: Madison’s Argument: The people won’t allow themselves to be oppressed. RESUMING the subject of the last paper, I proceed to inquire whether the federal government or the State governments will have the advantage with regard to the predilection and support of the people. Notwithstanding the different modes in which they are appointed, we must consider both of them as substantially dependent on the great body of the citizens of the United States. I assume this position here as it respects the first, reserving the proofs for another place. The federal and State governments are...

Antifederalist No. 32 FEDERAL TAXATION AND THE DOCTRINE OF IMPLIED POWERS (PART I) A powerful rebuttal of Hamilton, the logic of Brutus can be found in a supreme Court decision of 1819, McCulloch v. Maryland. Taken from "Brutus" fifth essay, The New-York Journal of December 13, 1787. This constitution considers the people of the several states as one body corporate, and is intended as an original compact; it will therefore dissolve all contracts which may be inconsistent with it. This not only results from its nature, but is expressly declared in the 6th article of it. The design of the...

Hard to believe, but Obama has devalued the Nobel Prizes at a more rapid rate than he has debased the US Dollar.

WASHINGTON (Sept. 27) -- Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way.

The FBI is investigating the hanging of 51 year old census worker, Robert Sparkman. Sparkman was found hanging in a remote wooded area of west Kentucky in Clay County with the word “FED” scrawled on his chest. I was reading about this case this morning and of course, the thought came to mind that “right winged” extremists would be blamed for this event. I mean, geez, there is so much hatred for those who oppose the take over of America and “fundamentally transforming” America into a European style Socialist country that, of course, when a dead fed is found that,...

Federal Powers: Where in the U.S. Constitution does it say the government can force people to buy health insurance? And by what authority does it prohibit the purchasing of insurance across state lines?A key part of the administration's plan to reform health care is what is called the "individual mandate" — a requirement that everyone must have health insurance either through his or her employer or purchased individually. A good chunk of the uninsured are that way of their own volition. They are young and healthy and feel they have better things to do with their money at this point...

MEDIA FAIL: MSNBC says the 10th amendment is "a bunch of baloney" YouTube Video

In the 20th century, particularly since the end of World War II, there has been a shift away from the earlier synthesis between marketplace and commonwealth in two ways. On one hand, increasingly the states have been denied their historic constitutional powers to support any particular moral order other than that of the marketplace within their boundaries, by decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court has consistantly interpreted the federal constitution in such a way as to extend the marketplace into the commonwealths. Thus the powers of government, particularly the state governments, have been denied in matters connected with...

In the past, I have written about poor governance at the city and national levels ( “Detroit: A Glimpse into America’s Future?,” “We’re Broke,” “Into the Fiscal Abyss,” “The End Game,” et al. ). But, of course, the “government disease” afflicts states also, as shown in a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, titled, “The Albany-Trenton-Sacramento Disease.” The article focused on New York, New Jersey, and California, which are all cases of erstwhile prosperous states that have fallen on hard times. The common denominator has been liberal/“progressive” (i.e., big) government. All three employ heavy “soak-the-rich” state and local tax...

Do We the People really establish our government or is the government 'self-establishing'? Let me explain the basis for the question. The 10th Amendment is an interesting article because of more than just the fact that it advances the idea of delegated powers. Certainly it reserves any powers not so delegated to the several States — excepting those few expressly forbidden to the States in the federal Constitution. Most of the time when people talk about the 10th Amendment this is as far as it goes where their presented logics are concerned and they essentially fail to address the full...

A bill introduced Wednesday in the Senate would require states to write laws to prohibit text messaging by drivers or risk losing 25 percent of their annual federal highway money. The proposal, sponsored by a group of Democrats including Sen. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), came a day after the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute released a study on commercial truck drivers that found texting drivers to be 23 times more likely to be involved in a crash or a near miss. The legislation would set deadlines for Transportation Department regulators to devise minimum penalties for states to implement. States would have...

THE28THAMENDMENTPROPOSAL.ORG LAUNCHES NATIONAL GRASSROOTS CAMPAIGN EL PASO, TX, JULY 24, 2009: A new grassroots campaign launched a public website and their proposal for passage of an amendment to the US Constitution today in El Paso, TX. THE28THAMENDMENTPROPOSAL.ORG National Committee announced the activation of the website explaining the proposal, and a national search for a number of positions to be filled in support of the effort. Interim National Chairperson D. Brian Carter briefly outlined the aims of the amendment proposal intiative: • “The proposal is a mechanism for the American People and the States to reclaim much of the liberty and...

Last week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearings (video at the link) on the proposed federal hate crimes bill showed the dark underbelly of the Senate. The road to undermining the rule of law is being paved with the best of intentions and casual disregard (if not outright hostility) for the principles of limited government and equality under the law. I raise some objections to the bill in this podcast: The bill federalizes violent acts against victims by reason of their actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. Never mind that these acts are...

Despite strong opposition from agricultural groups and private property rights advocates, a bill that would expand the federal reach of the Clean Water Act, and that could have sweeping effects on everyday farming activities, passed out of a key U.S. Senate committee last week. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted 12-7 to advance S. 787, also known as the Clean Water Restoration Act, which now faces consideration by the full Senate. If adopted, the legislation would give the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers authority over nearly every wet area in the nation, including farm...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A medical-marijuana advocate who grew 32,000 plants on his land in Lake County was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday by a federal judge who criticized the law she was applying. "I think that amount of time is excessive, but it's not up to me," U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel said in sentencing Charles "Eddy" Lepp in a San Francisco courtroom crowded with his supporters. Patel gave Lepp until July 6 to report to prison and said she would reconsider the sentence if Congress changed the law, which requires a 10-year term for growing at...

If one wants a nearly thorough education about the U.S. Constitution, it would be wise to examine the following: the notes from the Constitutional Convention, the public editorials written both for and against the proposed Constitution that followed, the state ratification debates, and the actual document itself. These all give one an almost comprehensive knowledge of the U.S. Constitution, although, as any law student will explain, modern constitutional law consists solely of Supreme Court cases mostly from the last 50-100 years. So why should someone bother wasting time on the above-mentioned items when they’re no longer relevant to our federal...

Throughout the history of this country, the federal courts and most specifically the Supreme Court have been guilty of many of these constitutional assaults by overstepping their authority and scope. The Supreme Court is authorized by Section 2, Article 3 of the Constitution: “The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority; to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls; to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction; to Controversies to which the United...

The GOP platform in 1996 stated: "The Federal government has no constitutional authority to be involved in school curricula or to control jobs in the market place. This is why we will abolish the Department of Education." President Bush let Ted Kennedy write his education bill and he outspent Bill Clinton. I wonder what happened to undoing Roe v. Wade...what happened to getting rid of AMTRAK? It seems to me that the GOP abandoned limited government during 8 years of George Bush and now with a full blown socialist like Obama...is Conservatism politically dead? In 1962, a Madison Square Garden...

Although Gov. Brad Henry vetoed similar legislation 10 days earlier, House members Monday again approved a resolution claiming Oklahoma’s sovereignty. Unlike House Joint Resolution 1003, House Concurrent Resolution 1028 does not need the governor’s approval. The House passed the measure 73-22. It now goes to the Senate. "We’re going to get it done one way or the other,” said the resolutions’ author, Rep. Charles Key, R-Oklahoma City. "I think our governor is out of step.” House Democrats objected, saying the issue already had been taken up and had been vetoed, but House Speaker Pro Tempore Kris Steele, R-Shawnee, ruled the...

The States still have the power and the means to bring the Federal Government into compliance with the intent of the Founders, but to do so they must be willing to kill the Sacred Cow of American politics - democracy. Mostly unheralded and unknown, the Founding Fathers feared and rejected it. Examination of Farrand's Records, (The minutes and journal of the 1787 convention) clearly reveals the Founders' intent. For instance: Gerry, "The evils we experience (in the confederation) flow from an excess of democracy." Madison describing Randolph: "the General Object (of the Convention) was to find a cure for the...

Washington Post reporter Tim Craig relays that the D.C. Council has voted 13-0, without debate, to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Watch D.C. Wire for updates.

The U.S Constitution "originally" laid out the separation of powers between the federal government and the State governments in the first paragraph of article 1 section 3. How this paragraph accomplished that goal will become clear later in this article. This paragraph states: "The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, chosen by the LEGISLATURE thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote." Then in Article I, section 4 we also find this: "The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each...

Can states secede? There are three levels on which this question can be answered: the inalienable right of secession, the international law of secession, and the US law of secession. All three say yes.

WASHINGTON -- Four years ago, Eliot Spitzer, then the New York attorney general, asked several national banks to explain why they were disproportionately charging blacks and Hispanics high interest rates. Instead of an answer, he got a lawsuit. The banks, and the Treasury Department agency that regulates them, persuaded federal courts to bar the state attorney general from enforcing New York antidiscrimination laws. On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear New York's appeal. If the state wins, it would mark a break with decades of precedent that mostly favors the powers of the federal government and open a new...

Re Randy Barnett's Proposed "Federalism Amendment", here's an amended version that I think would be an improvement: Section 1: Secession. Any State or Indian tribe may, by an act of its legislature, secede from the United States. Section 2: Nature of the Union. From the perspective of the United States, the States are sovereign and are the parties to the Constitution, which is a compact among the States. Section 3: Nullification. (a) When a national majority the States of the United States declares a decision by any federal court to be inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution, the said decision shall...

Randy Barnett, a Constitutional Law Professor at Georgetown, had an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal that proposed a Federalism amendment to the Constitution, which would, among other things, repeal the 16th amendment (providing for the income tax) and require congress to preform only such functions that are enumerated in the Constitution. Understanding that such an amendment would not pass in the halls of Congress, he proposes a method by which the states could pressure congress into proposing this amendment. Barnett points out that the states have the power to petition Congress for a Constitutional Convention to propose amendments....

In response to an unprecedented expansion of federal power, citizens have held hundreds of "tea party" rallies around the country, and various states are considering "sovereignty resolutions" invoking the Constitution's Ninth and Tenth Amendments. For example, Michigan's proposal urges "the federal government to halt its practice of imposing mandates upon the states for purposes not enumerated by the Constitution of the United States." While well-intentioned, such symbolic resolutions are not likely to have the slightest impact on the federal courts, which long ago adopted a virtually unlimited construction of Congressional power. But state legislatures have a real power under the...

Last June, the Supreme Court ruled in District of Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to keep and bear arms, at least in the home for self-defense.  Here’s our own Bob Levy, who masterminded the Heller litigation, talking about that decision: While the Court’s ruling was a watershed in constitutional interpretation, it technically applied only to D.C., striking down the District’s draconian gun ban but not having a direct effect in the rest of the country.Well, today the Ninth Circuit (the federal appellate court covering most Western states) ruled that the Second Amendment restricts the power of state...

. . . If opening day is the best day of the year for professional athletes, then April 15 -- tax day -- is probably the worst. Especially now that 20 of the 24 states with franchises in at least one of the four major pro leagues -- the NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball -- have laws that require visiting athletes to pay state income tax for each game they play there. Considering that top-level athletes in football, basketball, hockey and baseball now make an annual average salary of $2.9 million, that means big bucks for states such...

WASHINGTON — And now there are four. In the space of a week, the number of states allowing same-sex marriage has doubled, with Iowa and then Vermont joining Massachusetts and Connecticut. In California, gay and lesbian couples were exchanging vows for five months before voters put a stop to the practice in November. Californians are still talking it over, though, and loudly. New York and New Jersey may be next to debate the question. In other contexts, this sort of turmoil might amount to an invitation for the United States Supreme Court to step in. But there are all sorts...

Fifteen years after Congress promised that Washington would help states pick up the tab for imprisoning illegal immigrants convicted of crimes, California is receiving but a fraction -- less than 12 cents on the dollar -- of its nearly $1-billion annual cost. The unfulfilled promise is perhaps the most glaring example of the federal government shortchanging California. Officials from states greatly affected by illegal immigration long have argued that their taxpayers should not have to bear the burden for Washington's failure to control the border.

Recently, I joined the attorneys general of all the states in asking President Obama to reexamine actions by a federal agency permanently blocking states from enforcing their consumer protection laws with regard to certain financial institutions. I am also joining a brief asking the United States Supreme Court to hear a case that permitted this agency to block state enforcement of a state law against a national bank that was violating the state law. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is the federal agency responsible for oversight of national banks. The OCC's unprecedented seizure of regulatory authority...

Warning that anyone accepting federal stimulus funds from Washington should “read the fine print,” Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is urging her fellow Alaskans not to “sell our birthright for short-term gain.” Palin’s comments came in an opinion column defending her decision to reject close to a third of the $930 million in stimulus funds allocated for her state in the $787 billion bill signed into law by President Obama. Critics charge she is turning down the money to reinforce her conservative credentials and bolster a presumed 2012 presidential run – an accusation Palin’s representatives staunchly deny. In addition to Palin,...

One week after President Barack Obama's top law enforcement official seemed to indicate the feds would no longer raid pot clubs, DEA agents busted a medical marijuana facility in San Francisco Wednesday night. As agents carried large plastic containers of marijuana plants out of Emmalyn's California Cannabis Clinic at 1597 Howard Street, a small crowd of protesters formed a gauntlet outside the door, booing the agents and chanting, "our medicine is marijuana … listen to Obama!" DEA spokeswoman Casey McEnry told CBS 5 the documents regarding the raid are sealed, so the DEA was not able to give any details....

Columbia, S.C.America's states are laboratories of democracy. They are both affected by, and relevant to, the larger national debate. What we've found in our own corner of the country is that carrying a substantial debt load limits our options when it comes to running government. A recent report by the American Legislative Exchange Council ranked us 47th worst in the nation for annual debt service as a percentage of tax revenue. Our state dedicates nearly 11% of its annual tax revenue to paying debt. On top of that, South Carolina has another $20 billion in unfunded, long-term political promises for...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Eric Holder signaled a change on medical marijuana policy Wednesday, saying federal agents will target marijuana distributors only when they violate both federal and state law. That would be a departure from the Bush administration, which targeted medical marijuana dispensaries in California even if they complied with that state's law

I just ran into Patrick Rose at the gym. What a sniveling, worthless, nothing-of-a-man that guy is. I asked him if he knew Leo Berman and was familiar with House Concurrent Resolution No. 50. He looked at me with incredulity and answered me in a condescending tone. He told me "You State Sovereignty people are insane. The State of Texas derives its power from the Federal Government and not the other way around."

Several Governors, most notably Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) and Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), have refused stimulus funds, due to the enormous amount of strings attached. Yet due to a provision in the stimulus bill itself, legislatures have the power to override the Governor’s decision, and it appears that at least in South Carolina, that provision may be exercised. In yesterday’s Chicago Tribune, however, Chapman University school of Law professor Ronald Chapman argued that the provision is blatantly unconstitutional and would likely not survive a court challenge, because it may attempt to alter existing state law and state constitutions. Congress may...

The current American system of government, the one created by our Constitution, was formed out of thirteen sovereign states. Among all the myriad threats to our liberty, the disintegration of the independent rights of state governments is, in many ways, the most dangerous threat. "States' rights" has gotten a bad name. This vital principle of American government has been linked to Dixiecrat racism and thug rule by local bosses. The reality is very different. States are the best agents for protecting the rights of minorities. The mashing of states into lifeless appendages of the federal government poses dangers for freedom...

With those who believe a centralized government is the answer for everything (despite decades of evidence to the contrary) in full power, those same power hungry politicians are taking advantage of every opportunity to increase Federal power and authority over the states... However, some states are resisting--at least in spirit...

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif) called fellow Republican governors Mark Sanford (SC), Bobby Jindal (Louisiana) and Rick Perry (Texas) “fools if they turn away free money.” The reluctance of these governors stems from provisions in the stimulus bill that require states to supply matching funds. The fear is that this will add to states’ already strapped cash flow problems. “Look, we are starving out here in the states,” Schwarzenegger said. “If the feds put more feed in the trough, we, as governors, owe it to the people of our states to get our snouts in to get our fair share.”

 Subject: Open Letter to Congress  An Open Letter to the Congressand the President of the United StatesFor the last 35 years, educators and analysts at The Heritage Foundation have been intimately involved in the nation’s great public policy debates. In all that time, we have never encountered legislation with such far-reaching and revolutionary policy implications as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act currently before Congress. And never have we seen a bill more cloaked in secrecy or more withdrawn from open public exposure and honest debate.In addition to being the single most expensive bill ever proposed, this measure calls for...