Forrest Knox is State Senator for the 14th District in Kansas. He puts out a weekly newsletter to keep his constituants up to date on happenings at the Capital, just as many other Legislators do. He is not my Senator but I do receive his letters, and I appreciated his last so much I asked his permission to include it here in its entirety.
Federal Overreach – Did You Know?
February 2, 2014
Did you know that SB 276 enacts the state sovereignty over non-migratory wildlife act? The bill states that Kansas is successfully managing the prairie chicken and that this is none of the U.S. government’s business (my paraphrase).
Did you know that the 2nd Amendment protection act was passed last year protecting the sovereign right of Kansans to manufacture and possess firearms within Kansas without federal interference?
Did you know that the federal government is exerting its reach into more and more parts of our lives that are outside its constitutional function and that further legislation is being considered to limit the federal government when it comes to environmental issues, healthcare issues, etc.?
Did you know that the U.S. Constitution clearly delineates the powers and function of the federal government and makes clear, in the 10th Amendment, that “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.” The 9th Amendment clearly states that “the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
Did you know that the Democratic Republic of Korea, North Korea, has a constitution which clearly delineates “genuine democratic rights and liberties” of its citizens; equal rights for all its citizens “irrespective of sex, race, occupation, length of residence, property status, education, party affiliation, political views, or religion?” Which defines the fact that the state’s sovereignty resides in its people; that the “organs of state power” are “elected on the principle of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot;” that these elected bodies have “close ties with their constituents and are accountable to them;” that the elected officials can be recalled “if the latter are not to be trusted?” That “the State shall guarantee conditions for the free activity of democratic political parties and social organizations?” That “citizens are guaranteed freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, demonstration and association” and “freedom of religious beliefs?”
In the North Korean constitution “citizens are entitled to free medical care; freedom to reside in and travel to any place;” that “marriages and the family shall be protected by the State” which “pays great attention to consolidating the family, the basic unit of social life.”
Their constitution guarantees private property; an eight-hour workday; a hygienic work environment; prohibits child labor; includes a compulsory, free 11-year public education system including preschool; and provides for protection for the environment.
Did you know that recently 80 North Korean citizens were executed in an arena full of people, machine-gunned down, for offenses such as possessing Bibles?
Did you know that virtually all authoritarian governments on earth have such constitutions guaranteeing rights?
Did you know that a constitution and the laws of government are not worth the paper they’re written on unless they are enforced? If the government will not obey its own laws, or must “regulate” the rights of citizens…?
Did you know that the U.S. Declaration of Independence states that, “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.”
Forrest Knox
Kansas Senate, District 14
Kinda gives you pause for a little cogitation, doesn’t it?
