As a die-hard constitutional conservative, I love this resolution by the Oklahoma legislature. Unfortunately, the states discarded their true agents at the federal level when they ratified the 27th Amendment in 1913. That amendment removed from the states their right to appoint their two senators. That was the states' key check on federal power in the original Constitution, and the states stupidly threw it away.
The Constitution already ensured that the people of the several states could directly elect their own representatives. That's why the House of Representatives was once called the people's house. Senators were agents for their state governments, and the country's President and Vice President were our only national elected offices.
In my opinion, the 27th Amendment, combined with the 26th (income taxes), also ratified in 1913, totally turned our original constitutional system upside down. These two amendments gave the federal government far, far more power than the founders ever intended. It's why we have senators like Byrd, Kennedy, Thurmond, and too many others who are de facto senators for life. It's why senators see themselves instead of agents for their states.
So while Oklahoma's sovereignty resolution is a welcome tiny step toward what I hope will be a rebirth of the proper role of the states in our republic, it has little practical effect at this time.
You mean 17th and 16th amendments.
I think you mean the 16th and 17th.