by
Walter E. Williams
Recently
by Walter E. Williams: Bit
by Bit Strategy
Recent opinion
polls demonstrate a deepening distrust of the federal government.
That’s not an altogether bad thing. Our nation’s founders recognized
that most human abuses are the result of government. As Thomas Paine
said, “government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil.”
Because of their fear of abuse, the Constitution’s framers sought
to keep the federal government limited in its power. Their distrust
of Congress is seen in the governing rules and language used throughout
our Constitution. The Bill of Rights is explicit in that distrust,
using language such as Congress shall not abridge, shall not infringe
and shall not deny and other shall-nots, such as disparage, violate
and deny. If the framers did not believe that Congress would abuse
our God-given, or natural, rights, they would not have provided
those protections. I’ve always suggested that if we see anything
like the Bill of Rights at our next destination after we die, we’ll
know that we’re in hell. A perceived need for such protection in
heaven would be an affront to God. It would be the same as saying
we can’t trust him.
Other framer
protections from government are found in the Constitution’s separation
of powers, checks and balances, and several anti-majoritarian provisions,
such as the Electoral College, the two-thirds vote to override a
veto and that two-thirds of state legislatures can call for reconvening
the constitutional convention, with the requirement that three-quarters
of state legislatures ratify changes to the Constitution.
The heartening
news for us is that state legislatures are beginning to awaken to
their duty to protect their citizens from unconstitutional acts
by the Congress, the White House and a derelict Supreme Court. According
to an Associated Press story, about four-fifths of the states now
have local laws that reject or ignore federal laws on marijuana
use, gun control, health insurance requirements and identification
standards for driver’s licenses. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback recently
signed a measure threatening felony charges against federal agents
who enforce certain firearms laws in his state.
Missouri
legislators recently enacted the Second Amendment Preservation Act,
which in part reads that not only is it the right of the state Legislature
to check federal overreaching but that “the Missouri general assembly
is duty-bound to watch over and oppose every infraction of those
principles which constitute the basis of the Union of the States,
because only a faithful observance of those principles can secure
the nation’s existence and the public happiness.” The bill further
declares that the Missouri General Assembly is “firmly resolved
to support and defend the United States Constitution against every
aggression, either foreign or domestic.” The legislation awaits
Gov. Jay Nixon’s signature or veto.
Both lower
houses of the South Carolina and Oklahoma legislatures enacted measures
nullifying Obamacare on the grounds that it is an unconstitutional
intrusion and violation of the 10th Amendment. You might say, “Williams,
the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled Obamacare constitutional, and that
settles it. Federal law is supreme.” It’s worth heeding this warning
from Thomas Jefferson: “To consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters
of all constitutional questions (is) a very dangerous doctrine indeed,
and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy.”
Jefferson and James Madison, in 1798 and 1799 in the Kentucky and
Virginia Resolutions, said, “Resolved, That the several States composing,
the United States of America, are not united on the principle of
unlimited submission to their general government … and whensoever
the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are
unauthoritative, void, and of no force.” In other words, heed the
10th Amendment to our Constitution, which reads, “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.” That’s the message state legislatures should send
to Washington during this year’s celebration of our Declaration
of Independence.
July
2, 2013
Walter
E. Williams is the John M. Olin distinguished professor of economics
at George Mason University, and a nationally syndicated columnist.
To find out more about Walter E. Williams and read features by other
Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, visit the Creators
Syndicate web page.
Copyright
© 2013 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
Republished with permission from:: Lew Rockwell