South Carolina Tenth Amendment Center
Late last year, Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) was asked about the constitutionality of the pending Obamacare legislation. He answered that “most of the stuff we do is not authorized by the Constitution.” Not a surprise to anyone paying attention, and a bit of a lowball estimate, IMHO. The extraordinary thing about this was that it was the first time I’d heard an elected official admit, in public, that the Congress doesn’t care what the Constitution says. Since then, it’s been openly stated at an ever increasing frequency.
We have crossed a line. They no longer fear the people.
Politicians have always liked spending other people’s money. It’s the easy way to get votes. They are also masters at creating novel, stealthy ways to skirt fiscal, monetary, or Constitutional limits and to keep their actions out of the limelight. In the past, however, they were afraid of popular sentiment, and would back off when the complaints and protests got to a certain point, or as a last resort, when elections got near. Not any more.
Boondoggles like TARP, financial gerrymandering of Wall Street, takeovers of the auto industry, takeover of the medical industry, troops in over 100 countries with open ended missions. The list goes on, but the point is they just do it, without any legitimate authority, because they can. And because they’ve always gotten away with it by playing on our compassion, “We have to help (fill in the blank).”
The constant barrage of guilt trips on the middle class, personal attacks, and derogatory labels have made common sense people retreat in fear rather than speak up.
Our self-appointed rulers will never stop. Getting angry and voting every other November isn’t often enough, and every bad batch is just replaced with another. In fact, our rulers count on our short memories.
The check on their power grab lies with the states, and fortunately, the Constitution was set up for just this eventuality. We must reacquaint ourselves with the pecking order so clearly spelled out in the 10th amendment and work at the local and state level to return power where it belongs.
States can act immediately when DC oversteps and nullify their antics. South Carolina, among others, is directly challenging the health care reform law. It’s an attack on personal liberty, state sovereignty, the entire medical profession, and serves only to continue the power and influence of the elites.
Our freedom depends on it.
Scott Martin is the State Chapter Coordinator for the South Carolina Tenth Amendment Center.
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All content © 2013 by South Carolina Tenth Amendment Center
Sure they're elected, and yes this is our fault. I wrote about this in a previous post. Our current political situation has been a long time coming, and will take a long time to fix, but politics in America has reached an historical turning point.
The old rules as national politicians understood them were that they were going to DC to bring home the bacon, and somehow at the same time stem the tide of government intrusion. Party politics evolved with these rules such that once elected, the new member of Congress was protected by the party, and even back home he was "Our guy."
As the years went by, the incumbents began to feel safer, and they stopped listening. We've had a watershed of new spending, regulations, and laws in the past three to four years that have enough voters finally speaking up. In the past, folks got angry, but soon forgot. Now they're saying, "listen to us!" months-or years-after a particular event. The response from elected officials is simply a case of "We know best." When politicians stop acting like representatives and start spending money that isn't theirs, that we don't have, on things we don't want, with the result of increased power over our lives, they become self-appointed rulers.
With few exceptions, the 537 elected officials in Washington, DC have stepped outside the limits set by the Constitution-the contract with the states and the people. They ACT like rulers, so I'm calling a spade a spade.
"Our self-appointed rulers will never stop." – Self appointed? Really? You don't have elections for federal office in South Carolina?
Stick with the truth. Don't embellish. It will help your cause more greatly.