Tag Archives: 10th Amendment

What Seems Good Isn’t Always Good

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We need to think about the things Congress is codifying into federal law. The Tenth Amendment says:

Amendment X

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.

Theoretically the states are the government laboratories–the places where policies can be tried and if they are successful, copied by other states. Unfortunately, we seem to have lost that concept. When Florida led the country in prosperity and in success in handling Covid, most other states ignored their example. While California is experiencing major energy problems due to rushing too quickly into green energy, some states are considering following suit. While some states with high taxes and bloated governments are losing population to states with more sane fiscal policies. the high tax states are making no effort to rein in their governments. Those high tax states will continue to suffer the consequences of their policies (unless the federal government steps in to help them, which would be a mistake). You don’t give an alcoholic beer money–you let him suffer the consequences of his actions. Subsidizing states that overspend does nothing to solve the problem. The federal government has become expert at overstepping its legal bounds.

Recently, the House of Representatives passed HR 8404. This bill is called the Respect for Marriage Act. It federalizes approval of gay marriage. It also has some language in it about bi-racial marriage, but that it not what it is about. The language about bi-racial marriage is an attempt to link the gay rights movement with the civil rights movement. They are not the same. I really don’t care what someone does in the privacy of their own home. I also don’t want to see anyone denied their rights because of their sexual orientation. Actually, I don’t need to know anyone’s sexual orientation. However, traditionally, marriage is between a man and a woman, whatever race or races are involved. There is a danger here of churches being forced to perform ceremonies that go against Biblical teaching. That infringes on the First Amendment. It would be much simpler for the federal government to stay out of marriage (except for tax purposes) and leave the matter up to the states. If you are gay and choose to get married, move to a state that allows gay marriage.

There is no reason for the federal government to get involved in the issue of marriage. Marriage is a church sacrament. If the federal government wants to establish civil unions for tax purposed only, I believe they have that authority under tax laws, but they do not have any authority to interfere in a church sacrament.

Some Unintended Consequences Of Federal Government Overreach

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Yesterday I attended a meeting of the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee in Raleigh, North Carolina. There were a number of items discussed–the Read to Achieve program, Charter Schools in North Carolina, the Founding Principles Act, and the complications in hiring substitute teachers caused by the implementation of ObamaCare. Yes, ObamaCare has made it more difficult for schools in North Carolina to hire the substitute teachers they need. Why? Because ObamaCare requires that every person working thirty hours a week be given health care.

ObamaCare requires that health benefits be extended to non-permanent full-time employees in North Carolina who traditionally have not been eligible for coverage under the State Health Plan. ObamaCare also complicates things for retired certified teachers covered under their retirement health plans. If they are substitute teaching more than 29 hours a week, they have to be covered by their employers and are no longer eligible for their retirement health care benefit.

There were two suggestions made for legislative options that would solve this problem, but my point is this, “How is it that the federal government created a problem for a state that has to be solved with a new state law?” What is the federal government doing saying anything about a state’s health care policies? The shortage of substitute teachers in North Carolina is only one of many reasons we need to rein in the federal government.

The Tenth Amendment states:

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.

From Healthcare to Common Core, it is time to get the federal government out of the states.