For decades, using a tortured definition of interstate commerce, Congress has tried to regulate everything, from wheat grown on an individual’s own land for personal consumption, to weed grown in an individual’s own home for the same purpose. Unfortunately (with some notable dissenters aside), the Supreme Court has largely condoned and encouraged such reprehensible legislative behavior.
But now, adding to a banner year for the 10th Amendment in the Commonwealth, Virginia is once again leading the way in saying “Back Off” to the feds.
In late February, the House of Delegates passed HB 18, introduced by Delegate Mark Cole, which
Provides that all goods manufactured or made in Virginia and all services performed in Virginia, when such goods or services are held, maintained, or retained in Virginia, shall not be subject to the authority of the Congress of the United States under its constitutional power to regulate commerce. The measure shall not relate to goods or services ordered, procured, or purchased by the federal government or by a federal contractor.
Such bill might not at first seem revolutionary — until one considers how much of our current unconstitutional federal leviathan the Supreme Court has attempted to stuff behind that tiny fig leaf known as the Commerce Clause.
From ObamaCare to Cap and Trade to the Controlled Substances Act, there are countless instances in which goods or services that consumers might want to purchase, and which could be produced and consumed exclusively within Virginia (or any other state), could be considered in violation of existing or future federal law.
With the passage of a bill like HB 18, Virginia would become the first state to reject the ludicrous and intellectually dishonest constitutional rationale that underpins so much federal activity, and reclaim the rightful authority to regulate commerce within its own borders.
CLICK HERE – for the Tenth Amendment Center’s Legislative Tracking page for States Seeking to Nullify Federal Power over Intrastate Commerce