States Rights - Timeless

The cause of States Rights which drove the Southern states to secede from the Union and establish the Confederate States of America and draft a Constitution reinforcing those rights is front and center in the news today.  From the question of the Constitutionality of the Federal health care reform which was enacted last year to the states managing drastic budget deficits and to the potential for a catastrophic national economic and monetary system crash, states are challenging  and guarding against the over reaching Federal government on many fronts today.  This question of states rights is obviously a timeless one for this country.

The Federal government has pinned the entire premise of their Health Care Reform on the commerce clause of the Constitution.  A tax for a massive universal health care entitlement program is related to or a guarantee of interstate commerce?  But the 10th Amendment to the Constitution provides final authority for all matters not specifically allocated to the Federal government by the Constitution to reside with the states and the people and certainly, universal health care mandated for all citizens from birth through their death bed by the commerce clause is a flimsy argument.  Twenty four states brought suit against the federal government challenging the Constitutionality of the law and the highest court yet to rule on the issue, an appellate court in Florida, has declared the entire law un-Constitutional and null and void.  This will likely be settled finally by the Supreme Court and has the potential to be a watershed decision for the matter of States Rights and reigning in the over reaching Federal government.

Huge demonstrations have sprung up in the state capitals of Wisconsin and Ohio as new conservative governors have acted on the very campaign pledges which carried them into office.  These and many more states are facing huge budget deficits and potential bankruptcy due to lower tax receipts because of the poor economy and prolonged recession and they are proposing drastic cuts in entitlement spending and state sponsored programs.  While the federal government faces similar budget deficits, it simply prints more currency but these states have no presses to create more money to hand out to balance their budgets.  Tough reductions in spending will be required but many who have been coddled on the public dole are reluctant to sacrifice even as the tit of the government dries and shrivels away. And what responsible statement does the President of the United States make concerning the crisis? Does he endorse responsible balancing of the budget and ask all to sacrifice in these lean times.  No he endorses shipping in demonstrators from other states and comes to the defense of the unions and their fat cat bosses to irresponsibly demand no budgetary cuts from their swollen benefits packages which are costing the state billions of dollars.  Is this not a state and a state budget issue but the Federal government feels a compulsion to over reach it's influence and authority yet again.

While the Federal government can simply print more money to cover their budget bills and trillion dollar deficits, it is becoming crystal clear that the end result will be run away inflation which could result in an economic collapse and a real Depression as well as a collapse in the monetary system as the dollar becomes worthless.  The world's economy and monetary systems are now largely based on the dollar but as the recent trillion dollar budget deficits have grown, many countries have ceased buying US  bonds and loaning the US government cash and extending this debt.  Some local municipalities across the US and now even states like South Carolina have begun or are considering creating their own currency not pinned to the US dollar which they fear is doomed to a massive devaluation.  Most are returning to monies based on precious metals instead of the good faith of the US government.  Truly faith and not sound economic and budgetary principles are required to believe that these massive Federal debts and deficits will not result in catastrophic consequences.  Again, over reaching government spending on entitlements and following a socialist redistribution of wealth philosophy has brought our country to the brink of disaster and the states are wise to develop contingency plans for their citizens.