"Some of the more enlightened Americans who are still familiar with the terms “Constitution” and “Bill of Rights” have been harping for years that the U.S. government is overstepping its boundaries, in the process taking away more and more of the people’s liberties.
Now the State of Oklahoma is tooting the same horn. In a recent, headline-making move, Oklahoma’s House of Representatives passed House Joint Resolution 1089, declaring sovereignty for the state under the 10th Amendment. The state complains that “the federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states […] Whereas, today, in 2008, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government.”
Not to be mistaken for a secession movement, sovereignty means simply that Oklahoma’s politicians want to take their power back from the federal government: “Now, therefore, be it resolved by the House of Representatives and the Senate of the 2nd session of the 51st Oklahoma Legislature: that the State of Oklahoma hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States. That this serve as Notice and Demand to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers.”
The resolution passed the House with a whopping 92 to 3 vote, but got stuck in the Senate. Yet State Rep. Charles Key, who originally introduced the resolution, is not giving up that easily – he’s planning to reintroduce the measure when the legislature reconvenes. We’ll see what happens."
