A simple question each of us needs to learn. As Ken Ivory (UT-HD47) has stated, “I don’t have all the answers but I have a really good question, where’s the line?” We just came from a presentation by Mr. Ivory and he is creating a ground swell of excitement here in Utah that will be spreading across the country and you can help! As a matter of fact this is so simple to grasp and powerful to enact you will want to help.
Anyone investing a few minutes to read this knows the 10th Amendment. “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.” In his new booklet Mr. Ivory talks about the foundations of our “Compound Republic” and it is built upon a vertical separation of powers even more important to our preservation than the horizontal separation most were taught in 8th grade civics classes. “The founders of this nation understood that it is the nature and disposition of men and governments to amass and consolidate unbridled power and control, or, in their words, tyranny.” (Ivory, p. 1) The basic roots of Federalism, that unique grand experiment formed by our U.S. Constitution, has a line drawn between two governments, the State and General government levels.
Today our General government forgets there is a constitutional line while many state legislatures and governors forget their responsibility to hold the line against national encroachment, or usurpation. When the powerful forces from D.C. send down mandates to the states there are many ways they control the strings of those who forget their responsibility to protect citizens from direct government control. Instead they accept the mandates and all the incessant strings that come with acceptance. By doing this the states are liable to the people for helping to weaken our governing dictates designed to secure the Blessings of Liberty for our Posterity.
According to Mr. Ivory, “The constitutional relationship among sovereign governments, State and national, is formalized in and protected by the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution.” (p. 19) Remember the words of Jefferson who reminds us the States are, “the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against antirepublican tendencies.” If we wonder why we are developing rapidly into a representative democracy and losing our republican roots it is due to States failing in their responsibility for too many decades.
Mr. Ivory has clearly outlined the 37 enumerated powers found in the Constitution. Beyond any of these the people need to ask their state legislatures why they are allowing the national government to cross the line. We will be fighting against a long tradition of usurpation, so long it is an accepted form of operation today and it should not be. If we continue to allow the line to be ignored then we can expect men and governments to follow the natural tendency, to draw power to the center. Can you learn to ask the simple question, where’s the line? More importantly, will you join many across this country over the next year who will ask this question so often it will become the one question all politicians know will be coming no matter what they do.
Stay tuned for the soon to be available booklet and website. The title of Mr. Ivory’s timely booklet is ‘Where’s the Line? An Investigation into the Rights, Powers, and Duties of State Legislatures.’ Armed with this booklet and a voice you too can join together with many who are tired of governments crossing their line of power. We are a Federalist, Compound Republic built with the double security of vertical and horizontal separation of powers. Only by restoring this can we once again take back our responsibility to raise our children, care for our needy, and embrace the level of Liberty for ourselves and our Posterity our Framers and Founders envisioned. Where’s the Line? Alexander Hamilton knew it well, he knew the proper guardianship.
It may safely be received as an axiom in our political system, that the State governments will, in all possible contingencies, afford complete security against invasions of the public liberty by the national authority. (Federalist #28) (emphasis added)
We may safely rely on the disposition of the state legislatures to erect barriers against the encroachments of the national authority. (Federalist #85) (emphasis added)
Join the new group at the Heritage Training Center network;http://heritagetrainingcenter.com/group/wherestheline
cross-posted from the Utah Tenth Amendment Center
- Jeff Sessions Reminds Us of Our Need for the Tenth Amendment - January 9, 2018
- The Ninth and Tenth Amendment: Partners in Federalism for Liberty - October 30, 2017
- A Closer Look at the American Creed - April 10, 2017