Founding Fathers, States Rights and Individual Freedoms

The number one concern of our founding fathers and the framers of the Constitution was having the federal government get too big.  They were afraid the federal government would infringe on the rights of the states and restrict the freedom of individuals.

This is why several states would not adopt the constitution until the first ten amendments were added.  The ninth and tenth amendments specifically limit the size of the federal government. 

The Ninth Amendment

        “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

The Tenth Amendment

        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.”

        These two amendments seem pretty clear and straightforward.  The founding fathers thought they made it clear the federal government would have limited powers for things like foreign affairs and consequently would stay small in size and expense. 

        What happened?  What would the founding fathers think of the 3.6 trillion dollars our federal government now spends every year, and almost 16 trillion dollars of debt?  What went wrong?  This cannot continue. We must stop this power and greed in Washington.  We are creating a political elite ruling class.  We must fix this problem or we will all lose our personal freedoms eventually.  It is already happening in several areas of individual and states rights. Unfortunately, we do not get too concerned if the loss of these rights and freedoms do not affect us personally, and before we know it, it is too late. 

        We must get involved and reduce the size of the federal government and the government debt now before it is too late.