Our founding fathers distrusted any government that was powerful enough to enslave its citizens. That’s why they embraced federalism, and built checks and balances into the Constitution.
Our founding fathers distrusted any government that was powerful enough to enslave its citizens. That’s why they embraced federalism, and built checks and balances into the Constitution.
Their vision was for a weak federal government which was held accountable by strong states. The Tenth Amendment states that:
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 the people.
It’s noteworthy that the original Constitution didn’t grant many powers to the United States. The federal government was never intended to be where America’s real power resided.
Unfortunately, as the founders predicted, the federal government has spent the last 237 years growing and subverting the checks and balances intended to keep it obedient to the people.
As our new administration pulls the curtain back and shines light into the corners of our federal government, we are learning how successful it has been at rigging the system to avoid accountability. It is no longer subservient to the states nor the people, and has come within inches of total unrestrained control.
Tax dollars are recklessly spent to resist the will of the people. Bureaucrats work to subvert our guaranteed freedoms. Our elected federal representatives are too often seduced by the power and money.
Granted, those seeking to destroy the vision of our founders are currently suffering a setback at the hands of a new administration. But it is only a battle in the larger war. Their objectives, and their means to advance them, remain the same. We will face the same challenges again – soon – unless the system is changed to provide accountability in the 21st century.
Fortunately, the founders provided a constitutional means to perform a system upgrade. Article V of the Constitution empowers us to amend the rules under which our government operates. The process can be initiated by those who have slipped our accountability – our elected representatives – or by us, working through our respective states. Sadly, our elected representatives are unlikely to trigger a process intended to limit their own power, therefore the duty falls on the states.
The United States was not created by a single hero, but by many men of wisdom and conviction that answered the call of freedom. Each time it has been attacked, America has been defended by average citizens, stepping forward to fulfill their patriotic duty.
It is misguided to assume that any single President will win the war against those intent on imposing a central control. The President’s power is limited to resisting and revealing. He can show us what needs to be changed, but the Constitution doesn’t grant him the power to change the system. That power is reserved for us – the self-governed.
Now it’s our turn to answer the call for our republic’s defense. We can either step forward, as countless of our ancestors have, or we can choose inaction. Regardless of the choice we make, the America which we bequeath to our children, will be the America we choose today.
On March 12, 2025, Idaho chose to stay on the sidelines. By a vote of 44 to 26, the Idaho House of Representatives decided that they would not use their Article V power to join 19 other states calling for term limits, fiscal restraints, and restrictions on government overreach. For now, Idaho will be sitting this battle out.
