Sunday, February 12, 2017

The Tenth Amendment

Implied Powers
The Tenth Amendment
Weights and Measures
By Stephen L. Wilmeth



            I can smell my boots.
            I came in a bit ago after weighing and loading calves at Porter’s and didn’t take them off. The calves are now delivered (and awaiting a pending snowstorm!) for this week’s Clovis market and I had an epiphany of thought that needed to be written down before I forgot it. There is little doubt I’ll face the consequences, but the sweet smell of cow sticking to my boots has never offended me. In fact, I like the sweet, musky odor.
            In the balance, there is simply no comparison to cow shit and the human comparison. The former smells of the sun, earth, and grass. The latter smells like partisan politics.
            Weights and Measures
              The old scale beam at Porter’s is a seasoned relic. In the midst of weighing a draft of heifer calves, I mentioned to Asa, Jr. the sum of all the cattle weighed across those scales would probably shock us. Millions of pounds of American beef have tread across its wooden and beamed floor. The calves that the Porter brothers and I preconditioned when we were but young men at the Kennecott Farm were likely finished at the feedlot and weighed across this grand old scale.
            Three generations of Porters have now used it and their business, hard in any region, remains open and operational. With the exception of their “hospital”, their working facilities are not cutting edge but they are very functional. You can see era thought processes everywhere and I can visualize Mr. Porter, the now deceased patriarch, in every corner. Founders have a way of working themselves into the framework of their ideas and lifelong pursuits.
            Our country is no different.
            Our system, conceived by Americans at great risk, may display similar era characteristics if examined closely, but its functionality has never been more cutting edge. If there is criticism, it is in the expansive altered state of its original framework. Too many contrived alterations have taken place and too few real patriarchs have arisen to step forward and guard its foundational tenets.
            With that, generations of leaders have assumed the position that “implied powers” actually stems from an undrafted, intimated Article VIII of the Constitution. More specifically, generations of play actors in judicial black robes have bastardized the principle of representation and have seized and redistributed unintended powers.
            Progressive bush league umpires from every Podunk municipality now have the assumed power of carrying water for the agendized power base. “Necessary” laws have been morphed into matters of social conveniences, but the practices are not only illegal, they are blatantly unconstitutional.
            There are no implied powers.
            Powers given to the branches of government including Franklin’s most worrisome concern, Judicial, are clearly defined. These generational black robed hoods cannot change or arbitrarily interpret anything on the basis of convenience. Madison clearly reminded eternity of that matter in Federalist Paper 53. “(the) Constitution is established by the people and unalterable by the government.”
            It is time to dust off our beam of measurements. It is time to start applying only constitutionally granted powers.
            Implied Powers
             AMENDMENT X
            POWERS RETAINED BY THE STATES AND THE PEOPLE   
            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.
            Since we were never really taught the Constitution, any interpretation has come subsequent to adulthood. That is especially true when the last amendment of the first ten ratified back in December, 1791 just before Congress broke for Christmas is read and pondered.
            An impression could well be that someone in the drafting committee was struck by the realization it would probably be more appealing if the peasantry was acknowledged. After all, the sweaty citizenry would have to be relied upon to ratify the amendment, and it was that order of society from which the talking points of the revolution were actually crafted. Another, more powerful interpretation, though, should be it was the crowning, more encompassing signature applied to the first ten amendments. The whole body of effort was concluded and punctuated by, “We, the People”.
            We will proceed on the basis of the latter theme.
            The Tenth Amendment sets forth that all powers, not reserved by the three equal branches of federal government and or the states, is granted to the People. Theoretically, we have a fairly extensive array of powers.
            What are they?
            Well, we can vote and the 2016 election results suggest we were fed up with the antics of the federal government and 95% of their conditioned press corps. Our votes counted. Uh, let’s see. What else? Maybe a few of us could buy a senator or a judge if we had enough money and or influence. Uh … Hmmm.
             The truth is we are subservient to the lesser gods, the federal government and to the states in which we live. The Tenth Amendment simply appeases an electorate that has long been used and abused by a principle of representation that operates in greater part by powers seized through implication. It isn’t just the courts, the wealthy, and well positioned NGO fronts that control our system. The political parties have become more villainous than any factor.
            The Tenth Amendment
            The events of this past week promulgated by a black robed hood from Podunkville and sanctioned by character actors from the bar scene in Star Wars on loan to the 9th Circuit Star Chamber panel clearly reminds us where we stand. The Tenth Amendment is in play, but, by implied powers, it has now been transferred to immigrants who are filling the void once occupied by the masses expeditiously added as the trailer in the Tenth Amendment. We are simply expected to pay the bills.
            Indeed, a States’ driven constitutional convention is in order.
            The first order of business is to deal with the Tenth Amendment. It needs to be repealed. That’s right! It must be repositioned within our Constitution and set forth as a new Article I. It must stand before all powers granted to the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches.
            There are really only two things that must be considered in that reorganization. First, our vote must be elevated in prominence. Secondly, our payment of taxes must be controlled and metered. Taxes must be paid two fold. The first payment must be direct and applied to normal operation and maintenance of our government bodies. The second standard must be conditional. It must be granted only on benchmarks that our States, collectively and individually, approve. That money must be held in escrow before remitted to the federal government. It is time our States start fulfilling the obligation of protecting us, the citizenry.
            Article I of the Constitution must elevate the original premise of this whole experiment, and that isn’t the Legislative Branch of government. It is the People and it must include our collective protectorate, the State. We control the vote and we must control the purse strings.
The rest is what I still smell on my boots.

Stephen L. Wilmeth is a rancher from southern New Mexico. “I agonized over shipping all those heifers.” 

Editor's comments

The predecessor to the 10th amendment was Article 2 of the Articles of Confederation:

Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled. 

Note it says expressly delegated. Also note the word expressly was not included in the Constitution, which has led to much of the implied stuff of concern to Wilmeth and many of us.

For an interesting discussion on all this go here and read Lash's article.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I notice that most young people (teens to 30's) I meet do not have any knowledge of the U.S.Constitution or what rights are.
They don't want to talk about any politics.
They do think that anything with key words such as eco, environment, earth, sustainable, EPA, CWA, ESA, wolves, etc. are all good things, and that we should acquiesce rights for the sake of the environment and wildlife. That's OK with them.

The U.S. Board of Education is responsible playing a major role in public schools.
If the Constitution were taught properly, or Mr.Wilmeth's article were part of the curriculum, then the US would be in much better shape.

It's a political civil war out there and the democrats will not give an inch while screaming for bi-partisanship.