Federal Dollars Beget Federal Power

FEDERAL DOLLARS BEGET FEDERAL POWER
BY
Dr. Jimmie R. Applegate

“O Oysters,” said the carpenter,
“You’ve had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?”
But answer came there none—
And this was scarcely odd, because
They’d eaten every one

Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

That America was to become a shining city upon a hill whose light cannot be hidden was foretold by John Winthrop in 1630. Winthrop’s prescient statement came to pass, but not without multiple challenges to the liberty and to the individual autonomy so cherished by the colonists. The early colonists love of liberty even resulted in some moving from colony to colony in search of freedom from control by the local establishment. The French and Indian War from 1754-1763 was a major challengeto their liberty and it wasfollowed a short time later by the greatest challenge of all—The War of Independence.
Following the Declaration of Independence and the successful conclusion of the War of Independence, Americans continued the debate over the distinction between liberty and power in the arguments between those who supported individual liberty and state’s rights and those who supported the power of a strong central government in the Articles of Confederation and in the Constitution of the United States.
The current debate regarding the primacy of state’s rights in a federal form of government versus a stronger central government should be viewedin the context of the arguments made during the ratification process. The Anti-Federalist
Papers 1 were writtenin support of a strong state’s right position. The Federalist Papers2 are far better known and most often cited. The authors of the Federalist Papers wrote in support of the provisions in the Constitution that created a strong central democratic federal republic. The position of the Federalists was paramount in the Constitution; however, the Bill of Rights was an attempt to appease the anti-federalist’s fear of a strong central government.
The title of this blog, “Save Our American Rights”, is contemporary, but the conflict between liberty and power began in England, was carried by the colonists to the “shining city on a hill”, survived the early challenges, the War of Independence, the ratification of the Constitution and it continues today. The Anti-Federalist Robert Yates aka “Brutus” captured the kernel of the conflict when on October 18, 1787 he was critical of the language “Congress shall have the power to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution” all powers granted to the government of the United States “or in any department or office thereof”. Brutus argued the “most natural and grammatical construction” is that such language authorizes Congress “to do anything which in their judgement will tend to provide for the general welfare, and this amounts to the same thing as general and unlimited powers of legislation in all cases…..”.3
The federalist arguments that were used in 1787 to support a strong federal government inherent in the language“….to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper….” and “….to provide for the general welfare….” are used by the adherents of the liberal-progressive philosophy today to rationalize increasing the power of the central government.
I believe in liberty that begins with the individual citizen and progresses through local, county, and state governments in that order to the federal level. It is the “collective citizen as individual” who grants power to local, county, state and national entities—not the other way around. Or said another way, neither political organizations nor politicians grant liberty to individual citizens. Liberty, and thus power, is the individual citizen’s inherent right to deny or to cede.
The recent actions by the Obama administration in nationalizing American automobile manufacturing, the firing and hiring of Chief Executive Officers of American businesses, the Common Core School Standards and, of course, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act aka “Obamacare” are examples of top down actions that centralize power in the federal government. Today, gun ownership, our choices of the light bulbs we use and the SUVs we drive as well as the content of the fast foods we purchase are threatened. To solidify power in the federal government, Obama appointed fifty some czars none of whom were vetted or approved by Congress and all reported directly to Obama resulting in unilateral administrative rule making without Congressional action. Activist judges continue to reinterpretthe Constitution to fit “current circumstances”. Federal grants and contracts entice the unwitting with so-called free money that is nothing more than brides with strings attached. School districts, counties and states stand in line to compete vigorously for these entitlements only to discover the real cost is loss of local control and state’s rights to the central government resulting in an ever increasing debt for future generations. Local sovereignty is sold for federal dollars, and federal dollars beget federal power.
To make matter worse we live in a time when political correctness demands an emphasis on multi-culturalism with hyphenated Americans such as Muslim-American or Hispanic American be they citizens or illegal aliens. The historical concepts of one American, individual American rights and American exceptionalism are under siege.
I fear for the America we have known and love. But I have faith our future is not that of the oysters who joyously trotted along with the walrus and the carpenter who shed crocodile tears while eating the trusting oysters alive. We are Americans, we are exceptional and we will survive the current challenges to our liberty and power as we have throughout our history.

1. Borden, Marton. The Antifederalist Papers. The Michigan University Press, 1965
2. Rossiter, Clinton, Ed. The Federalist Papers. New American Library, New York, 2003
3. McClellan, James. Liberty, Order and Justice: An Introduction to the Constitution, Liberty Fund, Indianopolis, 1989.