Posted on 12/31/2001 5:05:47 AM PST by al_possum39
Under the AOC the states were considered to be countries and I don’t believe that the Constitution changed their status to provinces. So...is the U.S. one country or 50 countries?
Another clue might be that short statement referred to as the Pledge of Allegiance - cfr in relevant part..."one Nation, under God, indivisible..." There are more than a few court cases, I am advised, that address this issue, both directly and indirectly.
A more serious question is" What the hell is the AOC? Later.
I think the one country question is pretty well answered by the power to negotiate treaties being given to the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate.
1) The United states of America, the Union of the fifty states. there is ONE of these.
2) The United States of America, there are 50 of these.
3) what ever is in #1, but not in #2. This would be the Territories, and the 10 mile square area known as "The District of Colombia."
Why would we want to do that??? Let 'em go -- That's what I say! And while you're at it, California and Oregon -- please take Maryland (and maybe a few other states) with you...
Buh-byye!
The powers of the federal government are supposedly limited to those enumerated by the Constitution. Those powers not specifically granted to the federal government supposedly belong to the states or to the people, but we all know the federal government considers itself to be supreme in all matters, great or small.
However, if the Federal Government breaks the written agreement known as the Constitution, then the contract is null and void, and the states are not bound by any document to remain part of the whole. We are actually an anarchy at the moment, held together by force of arms. Not that I want to join a militia or anything. But truth is truth.
The right to bear arms, uninfringeable, has been infringed upon countless times. Even bee bee guns might get regulated.
Property rights have been subjegated to the rights of bugs, lynx hairs, and other beaurocratic nonsense.
Every other right has been trampled on.
Thus, the one document that gives the Federal Government power to trample each state's sovereignty has been violated.
I guess this will put me on a 'domestic terrorist' list. But I must warn the authorities, I am armed with 5 guard cats. =]
The founders envisioned the several states regulating themselves within the constraints of the Constitution, (no ex post facto laws, no bills of attainer, ect.) This is the part of Federalism that has been lost in the last seventy years.
TM
One cannot exisit without the other. I believe the founding fathers intended the federal government to play a minor roll in the lives of Americans, and would be shocked at the $1.2 Trillion budget we currently have....
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
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