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Oklahoma Rebellion

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:17 pm
by The Annoyed Man
Again, I'm not sure where this story belongs on the board, but it is interesting for its RKBA implications...

Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Oklahoma Rebellion
by Walter E. Williams
TownHall.com
One of the unappreciated casualties of the War of 1861, erroneously called a Civil War, was its contribution to the erosion of constitutional guarantees of state sovereignty. It settled the issue of secession, making it possible for the federal government to increasingly run roughshod over Ninth and 10th Amendment guarantees. A civil war, by the way, is a struggle where two or more parties try to take over the central government. Confederate President Jefferson Davis no more wanted to take over Washington, D.C., than George Washington wanted to take over London. Both wars are more properly described as wars of independence.

Oklahomans are trying to recover some of their lost state sovereignty by House Joint Resolution 1089, introduced by State Rep. Charles Key.

The resolution's language, in part, reads: "Whereas, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads as follows: '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.'; and Whereas, the Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that specifically granted by the Constitution of the United States and no more; and whereas, the scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment means that the federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states; and Whereas, today, in 2008, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government. … Now, therefore, be it resolved by the House of Representatives and the Senate of the 2nd session of the 51st Oklahoma Legislature: that the State of Oklahoma hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States. That this serve as Notice and Demand to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers."

Key's resolution passed in the Oklahoma House of Representatives with a 92 to 3 vote, but it reached a bottleneck in the Senate where it languished until adjournment. However, Key plans to reintroduce the measure when the legislature reconvenes.

Federal usurpation goes beyond anything the Constitution's framers would have imagined. James Madison, explaining the constitution, in Federalist Paper 45, said, "The powers delegated … to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, [such] as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce. … The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people." Thomas Jefferson emphasized that the states are not "subordinate" to the national government, but rather the two are "coordinate departments of one simple and integral whole. … The one is the domestic, the other the foreign branch of the same government."

Both parties and all branches of the federal government have made a mockery of the checks and balances, separation of powers and the republican form of government envisioned by the founders. One of the more disgusting sights for me to is to watch a president, congressman or federal judge take an oath to uphold and defend the United States Constitution, when in reality they either hold constitutional principles in contempt or they are ignorant of those principles.

State efforts, such as Oklahoma's, create a glimmer of hope that one day Americans and their elected representatives will realize that the federal government is the creation of the states. A bit of rebellion by officials in other states will speed that process along.

Re: Oklahoma Rebellion

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:28 pm
by drw
I'd love to see our representatives here in Texas follow Oklahoma's lead. We can't go wrong by putting our government back under the Rule of Law, the Constitution. Of course, cowardice politicians seem to never do the right thing. I must be getting cynical.

Re: Oklahoma Rebellion

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:37 pm
by LedJedi
well written article and i would love to see Texas leading the way on this too.

:txflag: :txflag: :txflag: :txflag: :txflag:

Re: Oklahoma Rebellion

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:28 pm
by mr.72
Rock on Oklahoma!

49 states to go...

Re: Oklahoma Rebellion

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:21 pm
by BigDan
Okay... you've heard the joke... "Why doesn't Texas fall into the Gulf of Mexico? Because Oklahoma sucks." Now they suck a little less. ;-]

Re: Oklahoma Rebellion

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:31 pm
by shootthesheet
I could not agree more with what they are doing and what the article covers. It is time the federal government be made to only work in the areas for which it was created. The fact is, the states can survive without the federal government but the fed cannot exist without the states. The states are the people and the people’s voice as to what they will and will not tolerate from government, foreign influence, or each other. It is unfortunate that we and our elected servants have forgotten that we are the rulers of this land and not slaves of a festering centralized power.

States rights mean the people of each individual state have the right to make whatever law they like as long as it passes the test of the U.S. Constitution. It also means, as this article covers, that we have been robbed of our right to choice by those who consider themselves our masters. I am not calling for open rebellion. I am calling for my rights to be restored. By pen or by blood, I will serve no master but my Lord.

Re: Oklahoma Rebellion

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:57 pm
by drw
shootthesheet wrote:I am not calling for open rebellion. I am calling for my rights to be restored. By pen or by blood, I will serve no master but my Lord.
Very well said, and amen!

Re: Oklahoma Rebellion

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:08 am
by WarHawk-AVG
Believe it or not OK is the leader in most of the right to carry and other laws...Texas is usually not to far behind