How many states have constitutions or have passed laws that prohibit the feds from ...?

Nancy G

Most state constitutions already have sovereignty clauses and many have made big deals out of passing sovereignty resolutions recently. The truth is though that most state and local governments have willingly sold their autonomy in exchange for funding from other entities and few would be able to survive on their own even if they wanted to. I've worked for a city government (in Texas), two county governments (one in Arizona, one in California) and a tribal government (completely dependent on Federal funding). The common denominator was that people wanted more than they needed and more than they could afford on their own so they looked to someone else (i.e., the Federal government directly, or the State government using funds from a Federal grant or program) to pick up the tab and spread the cost. In exchange they got rules and regulations, red tape and unfunded mandates -- all of which they bemoaned while they were taking the checks to the bank and adding to the list of what they wanted at someone elses expense.

Cities, counties and states have given up their autonomy in exchange for money from a dizzying array of other government entities -- most of which are at least partly funded by the Federal government -- including hybrid entities like local and regional funding authorities, development districts, public/private partnerships and enterprise zones; and, now, we have the Federal government giving up its autonomy in exchange for money borrowed from foreign governments and sovereign wealth funds that have interests and agendas that have little in common with our own.

Local autonomy sounds great as do all of these sovereignty resolutions that have become so popular of late. Governors like Perry, Sanford, and Palin tried to make political brownie points by turning down stimulus money and condemning earmarks, but the truth is they are taking the money because they can't survive the political heat from their constitutents and locally-elected Federal congress members from both parties keep asking for the pork because their constituents want them to "bring home the bacon".

If you really want to get serious about telling the feds to "go to H***", get a copy of your state's budget then start subtracting -- take out all of the money your state gets from the Federal government, your state won't be getting those checks anymore; then figure out how many of your state's residents will lose their Federal jobs, they won't have those jobs anymore so be sure and subtract all of the state income taxes, property taxes and sales taxes they pay; what are the Social Security recipeints and federal pensioners going to do -- stay or leave, if they leave, they take their money with them; once you've eliminated every single solitary penny that comes to your state as a result of the Federal government (and it's not easy to find it all) you can start figuring out what you do want to pay for and how you can afford it (i.e., that means "who" will get the honor of paying for it). Somewhere in the process, you'll have to figure out how to deal with the people who aren't going to agree with you. I was part of a group that went through this exercise and it was very sobering -- in a group of 20, we had at least a dozen fist fights.

borgmstr

I could not find a concise number. But your right, the Fed has been overstepping their authority.
The Civil War was a struggle for state's rights - Feds 1 State rights 0.
Nancy G does have a point, the Fed uses money to coerce states into submission.

Perhaps the real causative factor is that sheeple do not take freedom seriously. One example: the Social Security Act of 1935 explicitly states it will not be used for a national ID. But it is the de facto national ID, thanks to our paranoid Congress.
Sheeple willingly giving their SS number to corporations, has led to the Real ID Act, which forces (?) states to require a SS # for drivers, fishing, hunting and other state licenses.
This is in direct violation of the Privacy Act of 1974.
The Fed says do it or we will withhold your local road funding, and states jump through the hoop. Gutless wonders they are.

Possible solution: In the book Starship Troopers, Robert Heinlein muses that a Citizen, to gain full rights, must first earn it through voluntary Federal service.

Even that may not be sufficient, during Op Enduring Freedom I kept reminding people that only Congress can declare war, much to my detriment. Let alone trying to inform them of the moral high ground.

I find that our citizens make decisions based on emotion not logic.
Convenience, not conscience. Self gain versus the greater good.
Movies versus books. TV over objective discussion.

It is refreshing to see MT taking a stand. Go get 'em!

Lexie

That would be meaningless legislation, a joke.

The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution makes federal law supreme over any State law. States can't "exempt" anything from federal control.

Ye Olde Fasc-Fiter

Who would protect us from tinhorn state dictatorship?

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