And there you have the 10th Amendment. Does it have meaning anymore? The very statement of the amendment presupposes that the Congress has been delegated powers that are enumerated within the Constitution. Anything not enumerated is to be left to the States and the people. It is a very simple amendment that speaks volumes. Like the 2nd Amendment, it is loathed by those who seek to empower the central government. Health care, retirement savings, education, and countless other aspects of life are nowhere listed in the Constitution and yet, despite the clear limit set by the 10th Amendment, government has seized control to varying degrees in all of these areas.
I have found myself asking those who favor Obamacare to explain what limit there is on government if it can do this? Can it tax people who don't have gym memberships with the goal of addressing the obesity problem? The reply is generally a roll of the eyes, as if my question is foolish. Obviously, government isn't going to tax us if we don't get gym memberships. How do you know? What limits it from doing just that? The 10th is a bright red line of a limit and it was breached more than a century ago. Like the human appendix, it is a vestigial part of the Constitution that no longer has a function. However, it was never repealed and could resume its purpose to limit the government.
The Founders had intended for We the People to be the final arbiters of Constitutionality. They provided that we could vote the bums out and, failing that, also provided that we had guns to establish new government just as they had.
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