On January 20th 2010, I signed and submitted the 10th Amendment Pledge, from TenthAmendmentCenter.com you can see the signed pledge by Clicking Here

"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."

In other words, it puts the cap on federal power, it limits federal legislation only to the congress, and limits the legislative ability to that for which the constitution provides.

In 1931 The United States Supreme Court, in a case called US v Sprague, The supreme court ruled that the 10th Amendment didn't add anything to the constitution of The United States of America, and they weren't completely wrong. In Federalist Paper #45, James Madison said "The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite." In other words, it was always meant to be understood that the United States Federal Government had only those powers enumerated inside the Constitution.

But the founders, they knew a thing or two about governments. They knew that governments have a bad habit of breaking their own rules, that they have a bad habit of usurping power, overtaxing, overregulating, and just plain acting like bullies. So even though they knew the constitution enumerated the only powers the government should have, they wrote the Bill of Rights, just to further restrict congress, and to remind them that the states and the people were powerful, and that the federal government was to remain weak.

The 10th Amendment was a reminder to you and me, it was put there for us. So that we would know when our government was doing things it was not supposed to do, that this was unconstitutional and illegal. Since the supreme court is not doing its duty to uphold the constitution, it is up to us to vote out of office those who usurp power.

Nowhere in the constitution will you find the words, medicine, drug, doctor, or insurance. Nor will you find the words energy, fuel, oil, gas, car, solar, or wind. You will not find the words agriculture, soil, water, fish, plants, animals, or species. This is because the United States Federal Government has no constitutional authority by which to restrict such things.

The only way the United States Federal Government can gain power is by way of a constitutional amendment, the process for outlining this requires the consent of 3/4 of the state legislatures, or a constitutional convention. Needless to say, this is kind of a big deal, it isn't easy to do, and that is no accident. The Constitution need not be changed unless there is a large consensus.

For example, I think most of us would agree it is important in this modern age to have federal control over air traffic, especially since the events of 9/11, this is a matter of national security. The United States Federal Government has no such legal authority, but we can amend the constitution to provide for it, and such a thing would likely pass without much contriversy.

On another note, something like Cap & Trade is very contriversial to implement at the federal level. If New York wants to institute Cap & Trade, there is nothing preventing them from doing so in the constitution. If you don't like Cap & Trade, you can move to Montana, and not have to leave your country. But if Cap & Trade is really a good idea, then there should be no problem getting 3/4 of the State Legislatures to agree to it and amend the constitution to implement it at the federal level.

By separating the powers of the federal government from the powers of the states, we were given many choices. If we love our country, but not so much our state, we can move to another State, and if enough people leave the State, then the state will rethink its decisions and try to bring back citizens and their businesses by changing their policies. When the United States Federal Government usurps power and imposes bad legislation and high taxes across the country, then we have nowhere to run, but out of the Country.

I Love My Country, and I do not wish to leave it. I seek to reaffirm the Sovereignty of the States, and of We The People.