“States’ Rights”

Where did the idea of “states’ rights” come from? People think the 10th Amendment to the Constitution says that, but this is what it says:

"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."

The “powers” are reserved to the States or people, unless the federal Constitution prohibits it. (A federal Constitutional amendment takes precedence over state laws. The states can’t violate it.) An amendment to the Constitution has to pass by two-thirds of the U.S. Senate and House and then three-fourths of the state legislatures. The checks and balances set up by the framers of our Constitution were ingenious.

States don’t have rights. Only people have rights. No government should be allowed to take away people’s rights.

Wanting to take power away from the federal government so that state governments can violate people’s rights will give wanting a smaller federal government a bad name.

If you really care about reducing the size and power of the federal government to be in line with the Founding Fathers’ vision, don’t use it as an excuse to violate the rights of any other person. If you are an American, you need to believe in Life, Liberty, Property and the Pursuit of Happiness for all Mankind, in our country or anywhere in the world. It’s the right thing to do.