Today, December 15, the 221st Anniversary of the Ratification of the bill of Rights..

[ezkl2230]

They were much too young to die.

But it didn't begin with the Obama administration. It began with George Washington. The following is from the circular letter he sent to the governors of the States on the eve of his retirement from public service:

"There are four things, which I humbly conceive, are essential to the well being, I may even venture to say, to the existence of the United States as an Independent Power:

1st. An indissoluble Union of the States UNDER ONE FEDERAL HEAD.

2dly. A Sacred regard to Public Justice.

3dly. The adoption of a proper Peace Establishment, and

4thly. The prevalence of that pacific and friendly Disposition, among the People of the United States, WHICH WILL INDUCE THEM TO FORGET THEIR LOCAL PREJUDICES AND POLICIES, TO MAKE THOSE MUTUAL CONCESSIONS WHICH ARE REQUISITE TO THE GENERAL PROSPERITY, AND IN SOME INSTANCES, TO SACRIFICE THEIR INDIVIDUAL ADVANTAGES TO THE INTEREST OF THE COMMUNITY.

These are the pillars on which the glorious Fabrick of our Independency and National Character must be supported; Liberty is the Basis, and WHOEVER WOULD DARE TO SAP THE FOUNDATION, OR OVERTURN THE STRUCTURE, UNDER WHATEVER SPECIOUS PRETEXTS HE MAY ATTEMPT IT, WILL MERIT THE BITTEREST EXECRATION, AND THE SEVEREST PUNISHMENT WHICH CAN BE INFLICTED BY HIS INJURED COUNTRY.

On the three first Articles I will make a few observations, leaving the last to the good sense and serious consideration of those immediately concerned.

Under the first head, altho' it may not be necessary or proper for me in this place to enter into a particular disquisition of the principles of the Union, and to take up the great question which has been frequently agitated, WHETHER IT BE EXPEDIENT AND REQUISITE FOR THE STATES TO DELEGATE A LARGER PROPORTION OF POWER TO CONGRESS, or not, Yet it will be a part of my duty, and that of every true Patriot, to assert without reserve, and to insist upon the following positions, That unless the States will suffer Congress to exercise those prerogatives, they are undoubtedly invested with by the Constitution, every thing must very rapidly tend to Anarchy and confusion, THAT IT IS INDISPENSABLE TO THE HAPPINESS OF THE INDIVIDUAL STATES, THAT THERE SHOULD BE LODGED SOMEWHERE, A SUPREME POWER TO REGULATE AND GOVERN THE GENERAL CONCERNS OF THE CONFEDERATED REPUBLIC, without which the Union cannot be of long duration. THAT THERE MUST BE A FAITHFULL AND POINTED COMPLIANCE ON THE PART OF EVERY STATE, WITH THE LATE PROPOSALS AND DEMANDS OF CONGRESS, OR THE MOST FATAL CONSEQUENCES WILL ENSUE, THAT WHATEVER MEASURES HAVE A TENDENCY TO DISSOLVE THE UNION, OR CONTRIBUTE TO VIOLATE OR LESSEN THE SOVEREIGN AUTHORITY, OUGHT TO BE CONSIDERED AS HOSTILE TO THE LIBERTY AND INDEPENDENCY OF AMERICA, AND THE AUTHORS OF THEM TREATED ACCORDINGLY." George Washington

So the States did exactly what he required of them, and delegated larger and larger portions of their enumerated powers to congress; and rather than building the nation, congress pillaged it and continued to take more and more of the rights that had been reserved to the People and the States. BTW, according to these remarks, Jefferson and Madison were traitors deserving of severe punishment for their insistence on a strict, literal interpretation of the Constitution that relegated the federal government to a relatively utilitarian role.