Posted on 05/16/2010 6:45:05 PM PDT by Bokababe
Representative Tom McClintock (R-Granite Bay, CA) joined Republican Study Committee (RSC) Chairman Tom Price (R-GA), Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT) and nine other Republican Members of Congress to officially launch the newly formed 10th Amendment Task Force, a project of the RSC. The Task Force will develop and promote proposals that aim to disperse power, decision-making, and money from Washington back to states, local governments, and individuals.
The Task Force was created in response to the concentration of power and the one-size-fits-all solutions from Washington. Representative McClintock made the following remarks at today’s press conference:
“I believe that it can be stated as a universal maxim that the failures of our government can be traced to a single cause: the abandonment of federalism.
“The tenth Amendment was not written to protect states rights. Experience has shown that state governments can be just as abusive of their authority as any other government.
“The tenth Amendment is rather about dividing governmental authority to limit the abuse of power that naturally occurs when it accumulates into too few hands.
“The Founders knew that the ultimate check upon an abusive or dysfunctional government is the ability of people to walk away from it. By limiting the federal government to those enumerated powers that serve a truly national objective, our Constitution disperses the remaining powers among 50 states and a hundred fold more communities.
“Those states that are governed unwisely naturally lose population and commerce and revenues to those that are governed well. It is a self-correcting mechanism.
“In 1821, Jefferson warned that "When all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated."
“We have reached that point, and the time has come to restore the genius of the American founding by restoring those principles of federalism that are the foundation of our freedom and the natural ramparts that protect us against both folly and despotism.
“I can’t imagine more important work than that which this task force now sets out to do.”
Ugh. Co-opting makes me gag.
This is a good development. Tom McClintock has great promise.
I gotta wonder if they really mean it.
McClintock is a good guy, though.
Wow... don’t hear much about the 10th Amendment from federal legislators much. This is good news, I hope it grows, I will try to keep up with this story.
Freedom Ping —10th Amendment!
Good, he may have to explain the 10th Amendment to most of the people in DC though. I don’t think they’re aware of the concept.
And land. The feds have no business owning huge swaths of land. Except for bases and office buildings, open land should be returned to the states. National forests, national parks, national monuments, national wilderness lands should all be handed back to the states where they are located along with the personnel who manage those lands, for thes states to do with as they deem fit.
BLM land, on the other hand, should be privatized, sold off to the citizens.
BTT
Amen, Tom.
Isn't that the amendment that allows the federal government to tell the states what services to provide for it's residents, but not have to provide the funds to do it?
I don’t know much about the others on this committee, but this does not surprise me about my rep Tom Price. He is a SOLID conservative, and as a MD was very vocal against Obamacare - stood up to Obama at the summit, among other things. Like DeMint, I get emails and facebook messages daily from Price, letting us know all the atrocities going on and what they are doing to fight them.
There are a handful of “keepers” who are not RINOS. He is one of them.
(simpering sarcasm on) Oh, but don't you understand, the states are so broke now that they couldn't handle all of that land in their parks' systems! (Nevermind something I read the other day about how volunteers happy to help with parks' operations have been turned away and parks closed instead).
Turn things back to the people??? Why, something isn't really confirmed or validated until government gets involved! Without government, why ... it's nothing!
(/simpering sarcasm)
Tell'em Tom!
LOL, that’s the current Washington interpretation of it. I think they may have a bit of a “schooling” coming to them from SCOTUS. Do you suppose any of them will bother to read that old Bill of Rights before it goes to court?
God Bless you Tom, and your associates as well. We wish you, and all of us well in your venture.
They'll find all the justifications they need in the penumbras.
You’ve got that right. The feds have sucked up most of the land in Montana. They are grabbing more all of the time through one swindle or another.
The push for more wilderness areas and a dodge called “conservation easements” never stops. I wonder how many people here know about Agenda 21.
Ah yes, that’s the same place where they find the right to healthcare and the right to an education.
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