Casey Anderson is running for the US House of Representatives in Utah’s 2nd District.  He’s also just signed the 10-4 Pledge…10 affirmations and 10 promises on the 10th Amendment.

Here’s what he has to say about his campaign, the 10th, and the Constitution:

Growing up as a student in public education, I remember always hearing about the Bill of Rights in U.S. Government class, but what I do not remember hearing about was the 10th amendment.  What you are not told as a young student in public education is that the Constitution likely would have never been signed by the founding fathers had it not included the 10th amendment.

Furthermore the 10th amendment clearly addresses a paradigm in modern Washington and that is the thinking that if the Constitution does not forbid it, then it is constitutional.  The 10th amendment clearly states that any power that is not specifically enumerated to the federal government is hereby given to the states and people.

This claim that the federal government is permitted to do something, because the Constitution does not prohibit it, is a fallacy and should be recognized as such in all schools – public and private.

The 10th amendment being slowly eroded over time has cost us our structure of government and that is a federalist government, that is to say a system of checks and balances.  In our countries early history, states had the power to check and balance the federal government through the 10th amendment and other venues including the 17th amendment.

Sure, there are other forms of checks and balances which maintain our federalist structure, but the 10th amendment was perhaps the strongest of them all.  The power for all people to, “vote with their feet” has been stripped from our freedoms as we are now forced to live under a single umbrella of the federal government.

Instead of having states that succeed and states that fail, which promotes competition and free market principles, we are now forced to accept this monopoly.  Promoting and defending the 10th amendment may be the only way to return peace, prosperity, and liberty to our country.

It may also remove the stigma of bi-partisanship in Washington as the federal government would no longer falsely claim the jurisdiction of manipulating the most controversial social issues.

I look forward to working closely with the 10th Amendment Center in restoring peace, prosperity, and liberty through the 10th amendment.

Michael Boldin