Ever heard of the Tenth Amendment? If not, you’re not alone.
And that explains a lot about why the country is in the political and fiscal mess it’s in.
It’s right there in the Bill of Rights, right along with the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of speech and religion.
It’s right there under the Second Amendment’s protection of the right to bear arms.
It’s right there close to the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.
But the Tenth Amendment is at least as important as the first nine—maybe more so—even though it is ignored, denied and forgotten. It 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.”
It’s just that simple.
Rep. John Shadegg goes through a biennial ritual introducing a bill entitled “The Enumerated Powers Act.” The legislation reads: “Each Act of Congress shall contain a concise and definite statement of the constitutional authority relied upon for the enactment of each portion of that Act. The failure to comply with this section shall give rise to a point of order in either House of Congress. The availability of this point of order does not affect any other available relief.”
What Rep. Shadegg is trying to do is take us back to our constitutional roots: Exactly what powers did the Founding Fathers give the federal government?
Answer: Only those expressly enumerated in the Constitution,or the Amendments to it.
See anything in the Constitution about education? A national health insurance program? Curing cancer? Ensuring social or income equality? And many, many more projects and programs and agencies?
Important issues, to be sure. But are they mentioned in the Constitution?
Now, we know the cat’s out of the bag on most of these issues; and there’s probably little or no turning back—and certainly not with this Congress (nor any before it for many years).
But as the presidential candidates continue to stump for votes by promising anything in the world; and as countless voters, born and raised on countless handouts from and intrusions by the federal government, keep asking the candidates “What will you do for me?”; it may be worth remembering what the Founding Fathers intended when they ratified the Constitution:
It can only do what the document allows it to do.