Boo Radley
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Really? This is your response?
We know, at least, that the founders intended to limit the national government's authority and, hence, enacted the 10th Amendment to make clear that powers not delegated (and need I remind you that the Founders deliberately did not use the word "expressly" to qualify "delegated") to the national government wouold be reserved to the People or the States.
Now, how could anyone reasonable argue that the Founders intended for the "the People" in the 10th Amendment would mean Congress? Come on...there's nothing interesting about such a persepctive. There's nothing reasonable about it. Such a view negates the entire purpose of the 10th.
But you know that...so I don't know why you're playing this game.
Congress represents the people. The people do not vote on issues, but on representatives. There is no direct vote on issues.
As to the tenth amendment, which I was not arguing specifically:
Federal powers listed in the Constitution include the right to collect taxes, declare war, and regulate interstate and foreign trade. In addition to these delegated, or expressed powers (those listed in the Constitution), the national government has implied powers (those reasonably implied by the delegated powers. The implied powers enable the government to respond to the changing needs of the nation. For example, Congress had no specific delegated power to print paper money. But such a power is implied in the delegated powers of borrowing and coining money.
In some cases, the national and state governments have concurred powers -- that is, both levels of government may act. The national government laws are supreme in case of a conflict. Powers that the Constitution does not give to the national government or forbid to the states, reserved powers, belong to the people or to the states. State powers include the right to legislate on divorce, marriage, and public schools. Powers reserved for the people include the right to own property and to be tried by a jury.
The Constitution of the United States of America
The ebb and flow of Tenth Amendment JURISPRUDENCE reflects the delicate constitutional balance created by the Founding Fathers. The states ratified the Constitution because the Articles of Confederation created a national government that was too weak to defend itself and could not raise or collect revenue. Although the federal Constitution created a much stronger centralized government, the Founders did not want the states to lose all of their power to the federal government, as the colonies had lost their powers to Parliament. The Tenth Amendment continues to be defined as courts and legislatures address the balance of federal and state power.
Read more: Tenth Amendment Tenth Amendment
How about these things that involve the federal government:
The National Endowment for the Arts
Medicare
Social Security
The Department of Education
Just to name a few. Clearly, our understandings change. How people see things change. People can read the same words and see different meanings overtime. Our Founding fathers could not foresee all the future held. Nor would we really want to live in their world, by their sensibilities. They set forth a guideline, and gave it the room to change and grow. They had to know times would change, just as they saw their time change. What they did was on the radical side, thought not with out influence.
The question is where is the line. And that line will move from time to time. But to state that we have an absolute and unchanging grasp and understanding of this great document is false. It will change each time we change. And that is a good thing. That which does not change is dead.