AR State Sovereignty Bill to be Heard in Committee Tomorrow; Failed in Committee, 8-10
Thanks to a report from the TolbertReport.com blog:
Rep. Jon Woods passes along that HCR1011, the state sovereignty bill will be discussed by the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs on Wednesday morning. The hearing is scheduled for 10:00 and should generate quite a bit of discussion. This bill and similar bills in other states have been a rallying pointfor those at the state level who are fed up with the Federal Government’s expanding role in areas reserved for the states.
Jason Tolbert had originally reported on Arkansas’ State sovereignty bill here.
Update: It was a party line vote:
I had I chance to speak with Rep. Jon Woods today on a resolution he is co-sponsoring regardingstate sovereignty, HJR1011. Woods discussed why he felt this bill was needed and said he was disappointed in the straight party line vote in committee this morning. The House Committee on State Agencies defeated the resolution by a vote of 8 Republicans to 10 Democrats with Republican Donna Hutchinson and Democrat Clark Hall absent. Woods wondered if he may have gotten a different result if he had filed the bill in the previous legislative session when a different party was in the White House.
One note -- A Tolbert Report hat tip to Rep. Duncan Baird who broke the news of the bills defeat via twitter. Twittering, blogging, and all the tools of the new media have been fun this session but would be greatly improved by passage of HB1611 and HB1783 (the two bill package making up the Jason Tolbert Transparency Act of 2009) to get these hearing streaming on the internet!
One battle down, many more to go. Like other States’ histories with State sovereignty resolutions and bills, it is going to be a long, drawn-out process to get these things enacted. Yet, that’s what consistency and persistency are about. The time to try again will come around soon enough.
A current listing of State-based initiatives can be found here.
-Phil
The igorance escapes me. To turn the sovereignty movement into a racial one is a copout. To vote party lines and ignore the voice of the people is insolent. Elections are coming up, we’ll be heard then.
“I suppose I fail to understand how, in essence, slavery would spontaneously become an issue at any time that States’ rights is being discussed. Really, I don’t understand.”
I hear your point. Not slavery but more Jim Crow will be the issue you are going to keep running in to with this–fair or unfair. There would have to be a mental shifting of paradigms to get where you are trying to go and that will not be easy.
I am not aware of all the reasons but states’ rights always gets a little start and then gets shot down. I checked out the GA voting legislature record on my mother’s suggestion. She said that this has come up a few times before and it does not get far. I think the last time was ‘95 or ‘96.
“I am sounding very hard-nosed to you, a fellow Georgian, not because I’m intending to be a butt hole, but because I think many have forgotten what it means to be an American citizen.”
Don’t worry about being hard-nosed. I am used to that. Being an American citizen means something different to every person and then it means something different to every group and culture. I agree that there is too much Federal involvement and I have no ideas and I am not sure Rush or any of the others who speak so loudly know either. I know money but I am at a lost when I study this national situation. I think this has been brewing for decades going back to when the Federal Reserve was implemented, as a trick in my opinoin. We will NEVER be free of the Federal Reserve. That is why I do not like when Obama is accused of ruining everything. I have taken over broken things and it is always hard and everyone is quick to criticize even when they did not offer to head it nor were they chosen for the role and they hold no responsibility for the outcomes, so I feel him.
Our rights have been eroding for some time and I am not sure what “being free” means anymore. I think we toy with the idea of our freedoms but we have what I call “limiting” freedoms and we are so intertwined now they I am not sure any one part can exist without the whole–in all its dysfunctions.
Nonotes,
I suppose I fail to understand how, in essence, slavery would spontaneously become an issue at any time that States’ rights is being discussed. Really, I don’t understand.
Is slavery legal in this country? Of course not (except maybe for indentured servitude, but spending so much on a credit card that one cannot pay it off every month is freely brought upon oneself, and so is not part of this issue). Would slavery or any other type concept be revived as a part of the States re-asserting their authority? Of course not, and here’s why.
The States already have the power/right/authority to do as they please under the confinement of the Constitution! Let’s not forget this.
Remember, too, that the proverbial shackles of the Constitution aren’t only there for the federal government; they are there for the States as well, hence the reason why certain enumerated rights were relinquished by the States to the federal government in exchange for being part of the Union.
I am sounding very hard-nosed to you, a fellow Georgian, not because I’m intending to be a butt hole, but because I think many have forgotten what it means to be an American citizen. And one of those things is that States and individuals are the only legal entities in this country that have rights; the federal government has no rights!
-Phil
“It is uncivil to proclaim that some people in America “are not ready for this;” who are you to judge?”
I can judge because it is my life and those who have come before me. I am a black American who has listened to my ancestors tell the stories of the many injustices. My parents did very well for themselves and made sure my siblings and I were well educated, well traveled and and exposed but I am only second generation college educated with a business degree from the University of Georgia. I have done well but I can still see what happens arounds me to those who look more like me. Maybe this is only about the 10th amendment for you (and you are entitled to your thinking) but it is about so much more for so many more. You have to live with those people and their thoughts just like they live with yours. We will coexist. I have no problems with your opinoins. I enjoy reading all the various comments here. I share them with my former educator retired mother who usually has no comment before she tells me to go for a walk or go buy myself something pretty.
I will end with this comment. IMHO, I think this a battle between the future and the past. I hear many say that they want things back the way it used to be in the “good ole days” but you must understand that many, many people were not having much fun. It is time to make some new “good ole days” for all to enjoy and not just a few.
I think I read that you are in Georgia so we have GA in common. I will be a “Georgia peach” until the day I die but you can have the Atlanta traffic. Goodness!
I wish you peace and happiness in all your endeavors.
Nonotes,
You said, “You think you are just fighting for votes in the House and Senate but if the people at large find out you will have a bigger issue to quell. If these bills passed many would assume the roles they had in the good ole days with pleasure. I do believe that the gov’t is corrupt and needs to be more accountable but we are not yet ready for THIS measure to be used as a means to our end. Maybe this could work in other regions but the South is not ready for this yet.”
Regardless of the court of public opinion, the issue of State sovereignty has absolutely nothing to do with anything respecting race and everything to do with the proper balance between State and federal authority.
To imply that this is about anything other than Tenth Amendment issues and then to create an ad hominem argument against certain regions of America is rationally and logically baseless unless, of course, you can actually substantiate your subjective opinion.
It is uncivil to proclaim that some people in America “are not ready for this;” who are you to judge?
-Phil
I listened to the Youtube video. The representative did not seem to know why the bill was shot down but spoke about some comments made about Arkansas’ racial past which he felt had nothing to do with the bill but was used to incite fear.
I can only speak of where I was born and have chosen to live and that is the South. If this were ever to become mainstream news (which is appears it will not) all minorities would rise up in numbers you would not believe because of the past when the states had their own powers to allow terriosm of those groups. If it had not been for the Federal gov’t intervening in states’ rights in many instances some feel they still would not be able to get home from work everyday without fear of being lynched because now the perpetrator can not just go home and eat his dinner without consequences. The Federal gov’t had to step in for Little Rock vs Arkansas and also when Gov. Wallace stood in the doors of University of AL. There are many more and none of this was all that long ago. You think you are just fighting for votes in the House and Senate but if the people at large find out you will have a bigger issue to quell. If these bills passed many would assume the roles they had in the good ole days with pleasure. I do believe that the gov’t is corrupt and needs to be more accountable but we are not yet ready for THIS measure to be used as a means to our end. Maybe this could work in other regions but the South is not ready for this yet.
As an Arkansan, I am relieved that those 10 “liberales” have said NO to defending the Constitution. They show their true colors – not red, white and blue – but red and yellow.
Viva la revolucion!