The Hologram Reignites Federalism

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. – Amendment X, US Constitution

The Founders were a collection of political geniuses the likes of which the world has never seen since. Having personally lived under a capricious and arbitrary unitary system of government, in which all political power emanated from a king (George III of England), they crafted a political system called federalism that split power between the central government and the state governments. The federal government was further constrained by numerous checks and balances among its various components enshrined in the US Constitution with a specific goal to prevent the consolidation of power and tyranny by any federal entity:

  • Three branches of federal government sharing political power, each with overlapping authority to check the other two
  • Clear enumeration of the limited powers of the federal government
  • All other powers were reserved for the states, with the Tenth Amendment expressly reinforcing that important concept

According to Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution, the enumerated powers of the US Congress include those associated with declaring war, maintaining armed forces, regulating commerce, coining money, protecting intellectual property (patent and copyright laws), defining immigration and naturalization laws, developing uniform bankruptcy laws, and establishing a post office. The Founders also included a statement at the end of Section 8 – called the “Elastic Clause” – that authorized Congress to pass laws that were “necessary and proper” to carry out the enumerated powers listed in Section 8.

There has been tension between the Elastic Clause and the 10th Amendment throughout American history. The “Federalists” wanted a strong federal government and argued that the Elastic Clause allowed Congress to write federal laws governing virtually all aspects of American life while “states rights advocates” argued for limiting the power and authority of the federal government in favor of strong state governments. The Civil War was ultimately a conflict fought to curb the state’s rights claims of the South in order to preserve the primacy of the federal government.

Since the Civil War, the 10th Amendment has taken a back seat to the rise of the federal government through Congress’s use (some would consider abuse) of the Elastic Clause, as well as through the legal opinions of leftist federal judges who favor “big government.” After the passage of the federal income tax (the 16th Amendment) in 1909, the power and authority of the federal government has expanded to the point of federal regulatory control of nearly all human endeavors in America, as well as a continuing infringement of the civil rights of American citizens that are enshrined in the Bill of Rights – especially by the political party of government (the Democrat Party).

Which brings us to the tyranny of what amounts to one-party rule in the US in 2021. With the Hologram in the Oval Office, the Democrats in control of both the House and the Senate and a compromised US Supreme Court, the federal government's encroachment on state’s rights and civil liberties has become painfully obvious to most Americans. Biden’s 63 executive orders and other actions are similar to the arbitrary and capricious diktats of King George III; they are aimed at destroying jobsundermining traditional American valuessuppressing the constitutionally-guaranteed speech of political adversaries, weaponizing federal agencies against Trump supporters, usurping constitutional provisions granting state legislatures the authority to determine election laws, and attacking the Second Amendment. Add the fever-pitched acceleration of the totalitarians in the cancel culture to the mix, and the result is parallel to the dystopian futures predicted by George Orwell (1984) and Aldous Huxley (Brave New World). Even a few Democrats who voted for Biden-Harris and other Democrats are beginning to have second thoughts, if not outright “buyers’ remorse.”

Suddenly, the 10th Amendment, states’ rights, and federalism are back in vogue! Republican-dominated statehouses around the nation are already pushing back on current and planned encroachments, diktats, regulations, and laws by the federal government. Let’s look at several recent actions around the country that the legacy media have essentially ignored in their ongoing narratives focusing on the Democrats’ consolidation of power in Washington, DC.

In South Dakota, a state representative, introduced a bill that would enable the state attorney general to review and reject presidential executive orders that violate the Constitution. What a way to deal with Biden’s unconstitutional executive orders in one fell swoop!

What started as a trickle of state legislation in January is turning into a flood – and the Biden regime is not yet two months old! We have seen glimpses of the future of a Democrat-run totalitarian central government since January 20. Americans of all stripes will not willingly give up their economic and individual freedoms without a struggle. There will be many more confrontations between the states and the federal government’s encroachment on states’ rights and civil liberties over the next four years. State government actions more closely represent the will of the people and are more easily scrutinized by the citizenry. The federal government? Not so much. Long live federalism!

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