State Sovereignty, Part Deux

CNN is reporting on the growing sovereignty bills going through the states right now. Previously mentioned on this blog here.

From their website:

Republican lawmakers from more than 20 states across the country are willing to take federal funding, but only on their terms.

From Montana to South Carolina, lawmakers in mostly red states have pushed ahead with measures calling for state sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment, saying the federal government has overstepped its bounds with the stimulus package. The states are calling for the right to ignore laws they deem unconstitutional.

Oklahoma state Sen. Randy Brogdon, a Republican and the first to introduce this type of legislation last year, originally pursued it because he thought then-President Bush and Congress exceeded their authority with the Real ID Act, which required states to include certain information on driver's licenses.

He called the stimulus package "immoral and unconscionable" and said it was "the final straw that broke the financial back of America."

Brogdon's bill passed the state Senate on Wednesday and the state House approved a similar measure. The office of lead House sponsor Republican Rep. Charles Key said it is confident a joint resolution will get through.

The legislation would be binding. So, if the governor signs it, it theoreticallly would allow Oklahoma to ignore laws that are not "enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution," as stated in the Tenth Amendment.

"I'm sick and tired of Congress overreaching and underachieving," Brogdon said. He added, "If we have an opportunity to salvage freedom and protect sovereignty, it has to be done at the state level."

Makes me sick that we have yet to win the Civil War.

An interesting point brought up by my mother, of all people, if the states are refusing the sovereignty of the federal government, what is the standing of the Federal Defense of Marriage Act? Clearly an overstepping of federal powers.

Marriage is not in the Constitution.