Take Action and Support Sovereignty Today!
31. Jul, 2009 
16 Comments
by State Senator Mary Pilcher-Cook (Kansas-10th)
“In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.”
–Thomas Jefferson
I would like to extend to you an opportunity to show your support for our United States Constitution’s Tenth Amendment.
As you may be aware, I introduced Senate Concurrent Resolution 1609 to the Kansas Legislature in early February of this 2009 session. This resolution contains language which clearly spells out state sovereignty rights under the United States Constitution’s 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.”
The U.S. Constitution does not empower the federal government to overrule state laws without restraint. The Constitution does not give the federal government the right to interfere with the affairs of our state – or any state – especially by seducing citizens with money that comes with hidden and unknown obligations.The Constitution does not authorize the federal government to intrude by decree into the lives of citizens with excessive spending of their tax dollars.
As James Madison specified in Federalist #45, the U.S. Constitution creates a federal government of specific listed powers, not one of wide-ranging and far-reaching power that usurps the state’s authority and the rights of the people.
After introducing the resolution, I quickly received massive statewide support. With that support, and because of the significance of the underlying principles of the resolution, I wanted to give as many state senators as possible the ability to co-sponsor the legislation. I had the resolution redrafted, received a total of 24 senators’ signatures onto the measure, including all of Senate leadership, and re-introduced the resolution, SCR 1615. You can read it here.
Now I would like to extend you the opportunity to show your support by attaching your signature to this letter.
You won’t be alone. Many organizations throughout our state have voiced concerns about this subject, and their members will also be signing this letter.
The Senate Judiciary Chairman has promised SCR 1615 will have a hearing on Jan. 15, 2010, the first Friday of the 2010 session. But we can take action before that time by sending out a public statement showing the respect and support we have for our state’s sovereignty, and the indignation we feel about the over-stepping of the limits the Constitution places on the federal government.
Today, both the President and Congress assume the federal government should control the states and give them the role of acting as agents on their behalf. But they have it backwards.
Today we put the President and Congress on notice: it is the federal government that exists for the benefit of the states, and that includes the great state of Kansas.
Kansas residents and organizations, to show your support, please e-mail me at tenthamendment@pilchercook.com with your name and the city in which you live, and we will add you to our list of supporters.
I appreciate your attention to this matter and your passion for our liberty.
Mary Pilcher Cook is married to Don Cook – a talented musician and furniture repair technician. Mary grew up in Shawnee and St. Joseph Parish and her parents, Ray and Bertha Pilcher, have been members since 1963. Her brother is Father John Pilcher. Mary has served two terms as a Kansas State Representative and has done quite a bit of legislative work in giving the voters a better system of selecting judges and pushing for more accountability and transparency in government Mary also served as Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women President from 2003-2005. Mary was employed as a software engineer, and she has professional experience in the high-tech financial news industry. She received a BS in Information Science and an MBA specializing in finance from Avila University . Mary and her husband have five children and four grandchildren, and are small business owners in the mobile furniture repair business.
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Powerful stuff, Mary. Glad to have you as an ally in this fight!
Definitely with you on this Mary. Great work there in Kansas!
Question: If the people of the 8 southeastern states should choose by ballot to associate themselves into a “Southeastern States of America” with its own state governments merged into one entity, would this action be protected by the Tenth Amendment? Not secession per se, rather a confederation of states to separate itself from some of the controls and demands of the federal government.
DeNeece, I don’t think anyone’s talking about creating a new entity, what we’re trying to do is simply exercise our God-given rights without constant interference. I love my neighbors around the country, and I respsect them enough to live how they see fit, in their state.
While I don’t live in Kansas, I do work there. Kansas and Missouri share a border that tightly binds each state to the other. Nowhere else is this more evident than in the Kansas City area.
Jim Guest in Missouri has forwarded the cause of Liberty in MO quite a bit the last couple of years. He has pushed for our Castle Doctrine, Anti-REAL ID, Concealed Carry, etc etc. It is very very good to see that Kansas has someone representing her People’s Liberty and taking a stand.
Cheers to Mary from your neighbors in MO!!
For all those in KS looking for someone to rally around in support of the 10th:
Read this article carefully and then consider that Senator Pilcher-Cook may be that figure.
Are you looking to drop the drinking age to 18 and ensure that we don’t lose highway funds – not sure what our state would look like without federal highway dollars. How about the airplane company – what would we do without that ? Do away with Federal meat processing standards so the rest of the US would only want to buy Texas or California beef ?
Do you want to ensure that we can go to war against Nebraska over water rights ? Or that the EPA can regulate our air and CO2 emissions ?
What exactly are your concerns ?
Scott Owens – the first step for you would be to understand that the people created the federal government for limited purposes only. Then, read the constitution and see what’s been authorized to them. Once you have those basics, you can see that much of what they do is not authorized – and rather than asking such questions, you can educate others.
Start here.
Thank you, Thomkind for your response. While I realize full well that what I propose would be a challenge of gargantuan proportionsn, my initial thinking about it is as follows: This country is just too damned big for central government that tries to govern all aspects of our lives. And, there are too many variables. I see the country in basically 6 sections, each with its own cultural identity. What is good for the Northwest is not necessarily good for the Southeast or any of the other sections.
Seems to me that there is power in numbers. For some fights with the Federal government, wouldn’t we be more effective having 6 sections opposing them rather than 50 states? Wouldn’t the requirement for whatever the US Congress tries to do be ratified by the 6 entities (sections) server our purpose?
Yes, I recognize that this would require a Constitutional Amendment, and should such a direction be chosen, it would take years to establish and iron out how these sections of the country would inter-relate with the federal government. But I’m beginning to think it would be worth it to let the Southeastern 8 states conduct our own affairs when it comes to health, education, and welfare within the parameters of our own culture and people. Yes, we would all still be neighbors, but neighbors with more clout with the Fed.
I envision such a resurgence of pride and motivation in being allowed to control our own Southeastern affairs and free ourselves from the abuses of the Fed.
Do you think my ideas have any merit at all? DeNeece
Thomkind: Should have proof-read more carefully. When I talked about 8 sections, of course, I meant 6. DeNeece
No,
Really. What do you want the feds to stop doing ?
Insuring people ? regulating banks ? bailing out car companies ?
EPA ? FDA ? Currency ?
And we are not splitting up the country … We would not come out very much ahead.
Scott,
This movement is about holding the Federal Government to the limits provided by the US constitution. In short, we want an end to centralized power that goes beyond those limits.
Bryce,
Can you give me 5 examples of the problems you see Kansas having issues with the Federal Government ? Using non-specific “limits provided by” and “an end to centralized power” does not really speak to the issue you see.
In 2005 we got back $1.12 per dollar sent in taxes. Where are we going to make up that 12% ?
I think the State is pretty much broke. Any and all money is welcome.
We have 42,000 Federal employees and retires – http://www.eyeonwashington.com/few_map_2008/htm/Kansas.html
Would you want to fire them or stop their income ?
You might want to carefully read this web site which is an analysis of labor data -
http://www.scribd.com/doc/16365468/Kansas-loses-private-sector-jobs-as-government-grows
Kansas has the third highest State Government ratio of employees to residents.
Thank you.
Scott – the real question is not what good or bad things do you want to do. It’s not what programs do some people want to protect and others don’t.
The question is this – do you want to have a government that is required to follow the rules? Or, do you prefer the George Bush style of government that spent 8 years of doing whatever it wanted, whenever it wanted?
Doesn’t seem like you’re interested in answering that fundamental question. But, if you do, I might decide to weigh in on a few things that you’ve been here trying to snipe with.
I am interested and I am not sniping,
I am interested in the federal govt being smaller – although smaller does not mean better.
What I am not getting is …. specifically why …
If this is such a large problem there should be 5 items immediately shareable on what you want the federal government to stop doing.
I think you really can not do that.
What is interesting here is that I tried submitting the above question with
my work account. It did not work so I tried my home email. It did.
Is my work email blocked for postings