Oklahoma Tenth Amendment Center
Oklahoma House Joint Resolution 1054 was vetoed by Governor Brad Henry on Friday. The resolution would have prevented Oklahomans from the mandated purchase of health insurance and prevented monetary penalties for non-compliance. The message of the Oklahoma legislature was clear, Federal Government you have overstepped your Constitutional authority. Here is a perfect example of the State of Oklahoma exercising its 10th Amendment supremacy. Yes supremacy, when the Federal Government strays from its authorized constitutional parameters, the states reign supreme. The Oklahoma Legislature recognized the overreaching power grab and looting of personal freedom over the state and its citizens. This is an example of nullification: telling Congress your actions are invalid, void, and we nullify that action or legislation.
In order to understand the rationale for nullification we must revisit our founding. Even our Founding Fathers argued over the proper role of a centralized government. There were three main schools of thought: monarchists, nationalists and federalists. The monarchists; lead by Alexander Hamilton desired state sovereignty to be eliminated and the establishment of a British style government. He called for life terms for a president, and senators and the president would appoint governors. Madison, Jefferson and Washington spearheaded the nationalists who advocated for a strong centralized government. The dominant group emerged, understanding the advantages of a coalition of states handing specified powers to a federal, not national government, and this group was the Federalists. These founders wanted to maintain the primary authority of the states, yet handing delegated powers to a federal government. In Article 1, Section 8 the draft Constitution included a list of congressional powers. Most of those powers were related to foreign affairs and trade. The Federalists had their way in the end. Thus, what materialized was the establishment of a federal government. And to protect the states from an overzealous federal government the “Bill of Rights” was ratified effective December 15, 1791. Included in the Bill of Rights is the 10th Amendment, which states, “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”. Overtime state authority has eroded to the point that state officials don’t challenge the dictates of Washington, D.C. There is a new awakening in our nation. A growing movement is emerging, pockets of citizenry educating themselves on our history and our founding documents. They are electing representation to protect God-given freedoms and stand against the deterioration of liberty.
Anytime freedom is stolen from its people it is tyranny. The Oklahoma legislature took a courageous stand for freedom in passing HJR 1054. They stood against a mighty Goliath. We all know the end of that story. Know is the time to cast a stone at Washington and override the Governors veto. In liberty, Wayne
Oklahoma HJR 1054 Bill Summary
The Conference Committee Substitute (CCS) for HJR1054 seeks to preserve the freedom of Oklahomans to provide for their health care by prohibiting any law or regulation requiring any Oklahoma resident to have individual insurance coverage. Exceptions are provided as may be required by a court or the Department of Human Services. No law or regulation shall hold any Oklahoman liable for any penalty, fee or fine for not having health insurance.
The CCS authorizes an individual or an employer to pay directly for health care services and prohibits either from being required to pay any penalty or fine for direct pay. Health care providers are also authorized to accept direct payment for services and are not required to pay any penalty or fine for accepting direct payment from an individual or an employer. The CCS will not affect the services of a health care provider, restrict them, or affect laws or rules currently in effect.
The CCS also authorizes the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House to hire legal counsel to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Congress, the President and the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to prevent the recently passed federal health care legislation from taking effect.
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"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."
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All content © 2013 by Oklahoma Tenth Amendment Center
[...] Posted A Case for Nullification. [...]
Wayne, I greatly respect and appreciate the content of the article. Thank you for posting this. If I may make a suggestion, though, please run your article past a qualified editor. If this article were to be quoted in a national newspaper or magazine, items such as "Overtime state authority… ", "Anytime freedom is stolen… " or "Know is the time…" would be followed by [sic], highlighting the grammatical errors, and taking the focus off of the content and making it easy to imply a lack of education or intelligence. Again, I submit this respectfully and with the hopes that the messages on this site reach a far broader audience while maintaining the full strength of their truth.