The Tenth Amendment - Home Rule Overrun

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.

This is my favorite amendment, and its probably the one that is the most ignored and abused.

It is kind of interesting that it comes right after the 9th, that says the people have rights by default, the 10th essentially says the federal government has its hand's tied by default. But that is not the way we see things played out

California's proposition 8 was probably one of the most famous state referendums in the nation in 2008. After heated protests and demonstrations the people of California vote to amend their constitution to ban gay marriage. The will of the people right? This is a state issue isn't it? After all, the people of California and all the other states where gay marriage bans have been on the ballot, deserve to have a say in their laws right? Not so fast. Proposition 8 was overturned by a lone federal judge, who, after his retirement, told the press he was gay and in a long term relationship.

In Judge Walker's decision, he even said, "An initiative measure adopted by the voters deserves great respect. The considered views and opinions of even the most highly qualified scholars and experts seldom outweigh the determinations of the voters. When challenged, however, the voters’ determinations must find at least some support in evidence." However, in the end, instead of saying he didn't have the power to overturn their decision based on what was obviously his personal opinion, instead of saying the constitution has never addressed gay marriage, instead of deciding to recuse himself, he overturned the will of the people.

The tenth amendment is really what makes our country great, we don't all have to agree %100, %100 of the time. When we are able to turn to Jefferson City or Topeka to petition, protest, lobby, or run for office you will find yourself with a much much louder voice then you have going through Washington DC. So don't you want the most decisions possible to come from your own state government? If you really think about the functions of the federal government laid out in the Constitution, it was really only limited to the things the states simply can't. Imagine if Hawaii had to raise its own navy to fight off Japan. Imagine if we had customs offices between the borders of every state, Kansas City would look a little different for sure.

Do you know what you can do if you don't like the state laws in Kansas? You can move to Missouri! However what happens when the federal government starts taking more power and making every decision. Where do you go to get away from that?

We were designed to be a country that can disagree a little, but still come together to defend the nation and maintain a running free economy. If we continue on the path of sacrificing states rights everyone is going to lose. Imagine if we had George Bush deciding every part of the nations social policies just to have it all changed by Obama? At one point or another everyone isn't getting what they want.