I was flipping through the news this morning when I spotted this article in the New York Times (something that you normally wouldn't get me to read on a bet) http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/20/washington/20epa.html?em&ex=1198299600&en=3374f6deadedfb89&ei=5087%0A . What struck me about the article was that an agency, not even a branch of the Federal government, has ruled on the rights of California and 16 other states to decide on the emission levels of automobiles.
Now I'm not sure that I agree with the levels that all of these states are trying to force on the automobile industry, but that's not the point here. The point (having recently been schooled on the Constitution by a radio station program director who will remain unnamed) is that this decision of the EPA is Unconstitutional. Quoting the Tenth Amendment: "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."
Call me crazy, but unless I missed a section or amendment, I don't recall air quality standards or emission levels being specifically mentioned in the Constitution, nor do I recall any section or Amendment giving the EPA the power to rule on the Constitution, or to modify it at their whim.
This is one of the biggest problems that we are facing in America these days. We have created a bureaucratic monstrosity in Washington, and this monster answers to no one but itself. It creates rules, interprets them, and acts as judge, jury, and executioner for anyone it considers violators. These bureaucratic fiefdoms are becoming increasingly intrusive and oppressive in the lives of citizens. They seek to insinuate themselves into every aspect of our lives in order to protect us from big business, the world around us, and ourselves.
What they do not protect us from is the "big government" which has become the most dangerous challenge to personal liberty in this country since the British left.
It is time that we woke up and recognized that these monsters, fed and financed by our taxes, have no power to regulate the behavior of states under the Constitution. We may not agree that the decisions that the states may make on their own behalf, but unless specifically prohibited in the Constitution from doing so (which they are not), they have the right to decide these issues for themselves.
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2 comments:
I find this strange but true story a little odd. At least twice a week on my TV, I see some highly educated (often using that term loosely) lawyer standing in front of a hoarde of microphones spouting off rhetoric about how some guy who robbed a __________ (fill in the blank) with a gun was shot and killed by a __________ (again, fill in the blank). That same lawyer has filed, on behalf of the robber's grieving family, a ___________ kazillion dollar (sorry, you have to fill in the blank once more)lawsuit because his constitutional, civil, etc. (OK, I filled it in for you this time, in case you were already exhausted, being the holidays and all!) rights were being violated. Where are all these lawyers now that all of our constitutional rights are being violated?
Be afraid! Be very, very afraid when people, judges, and organizations like the EPA start taking our rights bit by bit. Lately, there have been a lot of rulings coming out taking away the right to what is currently legal abortion, the rights of smokers, and rights of drinkers, just to name a few. No matter where you stand on any of these issues, the real issue is who gets to decide? Supposedly, we the voters do! Start paying attention when election time rolls around. It's not just somebody else's job, and if you don't vote, don't bitch!
Kathy,
What so few people seem to understand these days is that we don't have a "right" to most of the things that people talk about. What we do have is the right to pursue whatever course in your life that you choose to as long as you do not infringe someone else's right to do the same.
What has happened is that we have diluted the very meaning of the concept by creating all of these other rights which have no basis in the Constitution. The largest and worst violator unfortunately, appears to be our own government.
Our only hope is that enough of us will wake up enough to identify and begin to reverse the process.
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