STATES’ RIGHTS ADVOCATES PROMISE RETURN TO REPUBLICAN FORM OF GOVERNMENT
by Sharon Rondeau
(Mar. 7, 2010) — Georgia gubernatorial candidate Ray McBerry and the Tenth Amendment Center were the cohosts of the first-ever Tenth Amendment Summit held in Atlanta, GA on February 25 and 26, 2010.
According to The New American, about 400 people attended the conference, of which about two dozen are candidates for public office. Roy Moore, former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice and currently running for Alabama governor, was one of the speakers. McBerry’s website states that attendees came to Georgia from as far away as Washington state.
The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: “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 following statement was prepared by those candidates for office who attended the summit:
We The People of the several States created a federal government to serve as our limited agent, delegating to the federal government only those limited and few powers listed in the Constitution, and no others.
We recognize the federal government has seized unlimited power over virtually every aspect of Americans’ lives in violation of the Constitution of the United States, specifically with respect to the Tenth Amendment.
We call upon freedom-loving citizens everywhere to stand with us, as candidates for state and federal office, to pass meaningful and sensible legislation to restore the most critical check and balance deliberately designed into our constitutional republic; that of strong, sovereign states.
We pledge to limit and restrain all federal government exercise of power that exceeds in any way the plain language of those few powers listed in the Constitution and to nullify all others that exceed such limit.
When we restore the balance of power between the states and the federal government according to the Constitution, our country will enjoy the dynamic blessings of liberty and prosperity.
Several states such as Oklahoma, Alaska and Kansas have passed Tenth Amendment resolutions or bills. Other states such as Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, Texas, South Carolina and Kentucky are moving forward on a Tenth Amendment resolution or bill.
An inside page of McBerry’s website states that he has introduced eight different pieces of legislation to the Georgia legislature which “will be THE model States’ Rights legislation across America in the coming months and is already gaining local, state, and national attention.”
According to a Fox News report dated May 26, 2009, at that time, 35 states had introduced some form of resolution or bill to combat “everything from land use to gun control to education spending” on the part of the federal government.
Sharon, excellent article. I was not aware of this convention. Thanks for sharing this.
Another person you may wish to report on, is Debra Medina, who got 1 out 5 votes last week in the Republican Primary for Texas Governor, despite being over-spent by millions by incumbent Governor Perry and US Senator Kay “Bailout” Hutchison. She is BIG on states rights. Here are a couple of statements from her:
“We must demand that our elected officials support and respect the 10th amendment and Texas sovereignty.”
“We must use the tools of nullification and interposition aggressively if we are going to restore state sovereignty in Texas, …”