Oklahoma to DC: Not Yours!

Oklahoma State Representative Charles Key wants a very clear message sent to Washington D.C. The message is: “You are outside of your Constitutional authority. Back off!”

“The more we stand by and watch the federal government get involved in areas where it has no legal authority, we kill the Constitution a little at a time,” he said. “The last few decades, the Constitution has been hanging by a thread.”

Specifically, Resolution 1089 says the following:

“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.”

The resolution resolves that Oklahoma will “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 bill passed the OK House 92-3, but there is an even split in the Senate, and the Democrats are holding it up. Um, what exactly is there to hold up? Do they want more federal intrusion on their state? Are voters in Oklahoma aware of this?

Key said his bill “is making a difference” in the way legislators in Oklahoma are talking and thinking about state’s rights. “I think it will make even more of a difference,” he said, “when I bring it up again.” He vows to put the pressure on Oklahoma’s Senate to pass a resolution like 1089, and he plans to begin communicating the cause with legislators around the country, urging them to bring up the issue in their states.

That sounds like a great idea.