by Eric Dalton

For those of us who have long recognized the virtues, advantages, and strengths of federalism and strong adherence to the 10th Amendment, it has seemed like we have been shouting into the wind, desperate to be heard.

We recognized early on that the predations of the federal government and the lust for power of DC politicians and bureaucrats could only be restrained by states acting as sovereigns asserting their Constitutional prerogatives rather than acting as mere administrative units of the federal government.

Given birth by the aggressive overreach of the Obama administration and the Democrats through the cram down of Obamacare, the TEA Party ignited a resurgent interest in our Constitution and the check that the states can provide against federal power.

The interest in the Constitution as a restraint on the federal, central, government has led to a slow rediscovery of the much maligned 10th Amendment and the concept of federalism. The intensifying interest in the 10th is driven by an almost panicked desire to stop an insatiable and rapacious federal government that is devouring more and more of our liberties.

Perhaps if the GOP in DC had some semblance of a spine and an interest in protecting us from the socialists that have take over the Democrat party the 10th Amendment wouldn’t be experiencing a rebirth, but unfortunately we know we can’t count on those in DC to look out for us. Perhaps we will look back one day and see that the aggressiveness of the Social-Democrats and the weakness and fecklessness of the GOP were the spark that lit the fire of liberty that saved our republic.

Too many people; pundits, bloggers, average citizens, have for too long looked to Washington DC for solutions to our national problems and still to this day there are countless articles lamenting how we are finished as a nation if Mitt Romney doesn’t win the election in November. These people for whatever reason refuse to consider that too much concentrated power in Washington has been the source of many of our problems and that only a devolution of power back to the states can begin to address the issues that face us. But that’s starting to change.

For whatever reason, although Obamacare is likely the biggest one, federalism is finally starting to get the attention it deserves in mainstream conservative outlets.

In a March 21st National Review article titled ‘The Federalist Solution’ Jonah Goldberg addresses the advantages, for both Left and Right, which federalism can deliver, Jonah writes “A Left-Right federalist compromise would make America a happier, freer, more prosperous and interesting country. It would also dethrone those in both parties who think they know what’s best for more than 300 million Americans.”

That article was followed in rapid succession just this week by an article in the American Spectator by Lisa Fabrizio titled ‘The States—Our Last Best Hope’. In it she says, as many of us have been saying “What this all means is that many states, and more importantly, many of the people are rediscovering the idea of just where the sovereignty in the U.S. Constitution resides, even if the Roberts Court has yet to figure it out.”

But I think the biggest news this week for federalism was the approximately five-minute discussion of the subject by Dr. Walter Williams while guest hosting for Rush Limbaugh wherein he flatly states that states should nullify Obamacare.

So, the message is getting out there and it’s great to see Americans waking up to the dangers of an all powerful central government and the return to federalism as a counterbalance.

I want to urge everyone to become commenters on as many political websites as possible and post comments about federalism and the 10th Amendment. Also, reach out to as many TEA party organizations as possible to enlist their aid in spreading the word.

We can defeat the leviathan via divide and conquer strategy – let’s get to it!

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