Sovereignty

About twenty or so states have sovereignty bills moving through their legislators. That doesn't mean a whole lot until these bills become law. Lots of laws that have no chance of passing wind up in both state and federal legislators. I don't have the nose to smell which laws have a chance vs. which ones don't. Arizona, my favorite state, has one of these bills in the works as well. I'm not really sure where the bills come from, and if they are the source of some nation-wide group being rallied (I suspect Paulites when left to my imagination in the absence of more information).

These bills have a common element: The tenth amendment - 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. The general ideal is that the federal government's power is limited only to what the Constitution gives it. The rest of the power is left to the states. Under the tenth amendment and some laws and court rulings that support its interpretation, these bills assert themselves.

These bills also seem to address federal encroachments upon the Constitution - such as an overreaching federal government with a massive expansion of power. I think there's some that list bills specifically or other expansions, but they ultimately have the same message. A state passing such a bill draws a line in the sand saying "That's too far".

Now, this doesn't mean secession from the union. Could it lead to that? Maybe, but we'd have to go a lot further down the rabbit hole first. I think the message is a powerful one. Once that line has been drawn by enough states, will a boastful federal government want to cross it? Either way, it's a statement that says that the fed works for us (and the states), not the other way around. There's no mention of action (let alone secession) if Congress prints more money on the shredded remains of the Constitution.

I like Arizona's bill myself, and I hope it becomes law. Arizona's lawmakers generally have me pretty happy. However, more than just Arizona will need to pass these bills if they are to be effective. Such bills come in a time when Obama is in office with his Democratic majority in Congress. However, I'd welcome them during any administration, and no matter what bills were sitting in Congress.