Oklahoma, a State that gets the Consitution

HT: Mike P from Repeal the 17^th Amendment Discussion Board

From: Beyond the Cusp: Oklahoma, a State to Crow About

Living in Oklahoma is not exactly living in the fast lane. Truth be known, Oklahoma is rarely at the leading edge of anything. That has now changed with the House’s attempt to pass new groundbreaking legislation. Reading the recent Walter William’s article, Oklahoma Rebellion, I was introduced to a brave idea from State Legislator Charles Key. Even though the bill died in the State Senate, by passing the house by a vote of 92 to 3 pretty much guarantees this idea will be brought up again.

Ask my closest friends what my favorite of the Bill of Rights are you will get one of two answers, the Second Amendment or the Tenth Amendment. My love of the Second Amendment is probably to have the recourse of enforcing the Tenth Amendment. I have long been a proponent of States Rights. I desire returning to having the States choose their Senators by whatever means they wish, be it the State Legislators or the lesser idea of direct election. I have always felt that should the United States Senators be directly answerable to the State Government then the State would regain much of their powers lost between the Civil War and the 17th Amendment. My desire has always been the repeal of the 17th Amendment and the full enforcement of the Tenth Amendment, which I feel, would go a long way to restoring balance to our Federal Government.

Quoting from Walter Williams Article:

The resolution's language, in part, reads: "Whereas, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads as follows: '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.'; and Whereas, the Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that specifically granted by the Constitution of the United States and no more; and whereas, the scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment means that the federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states; and Whereas, today, in 2008, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government. … Now, therefore, be it resolved by the House of Representatives and the Senate of the 2nd session of the 51st Oklahoma Legislature: that the State of Oklahoma hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States. That this serve as Notice and Demand to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers."

That pretty much says it all. Having nothing to add I will leave you with the wish that every State bring such an article to their State Legislature and perhaps we can take some small but concrete steps to return balance and sanity to our out of control Federal Government.

Comment: The author is spot on as well Mr. Williams. But I believe the two big parties will block anything remotely oriented toward greater states rights because it lessens their power.

I agree with Mr. Williams concerning the oaths our elected officials dismiss (that was contained in the TownHall article), but ask yourself who was behind the Oklahoma Senate muddle? You can bet it was the two major parties. And while it may not be readily apparent, you can bet pressure was put on these senators from behind the scenes. Readily, I admit I have no proof, but I would be willing to bet the case.