Software Vault: The Diamond Collection/The Diamond Collection (Software Vault)(Digital Impact).ISO/cdr14/faxcong.zip/10AMEND.ASC

Text File | 1995-03-10 | 14KB | 287 lines

Colorado's Bold Move Toward Sovereignty

Editor's note: During this week, CONTACT received several inquiries
from readers concerning the movement within various state
Iegislatures toward reclaiming their state sovereignty.
Specifically, the inquiries have concentrated on what is taking
place in the state of Colorado. In attempting to answer our
readers' questions, what follows is an informative and important
story, beginning with an article by Colorado State Legislature Rep.
Charles Duke, author of the proposed legislation.  Next we share
CONTACT's conversation with Representative Duke, as well as
presenting the actual Iegislation in point. And finally, for those
readers familiar with the stories run in previous issues of CONTACT
concerning a very old gold certificate held by the corporation
known as Cosmos Seafood Energy Marketing, Ltd., we share a letter
from one of the signers on this certificate, who has written to Mr.
Duke offering support for his efforts at reclaiming Constitutional
Sovereignty, along with correspondence to Arizona's Governor
Symington.  You may correspond with Rep. Duke at 200 E. Colfax,
Denver, CO 80203 (please keep in mind a shortage of staff for
responding). There is also a grassroots organization devoted to
support of this 10th Amendment legislation: The 10th Amendment
Committee, P. 0. Box 1001, Wheatridge, CO 80033 [phone].

"STATE SOVEREIGNTY UNDER OUR CONSTITUTION"
 by Charles Duke
Colorado State Rep., District 20

Colorado House Joint Resolution 94- 1035 is one of the more
interesting pieces of legislation with which I have been
associated. Simple in concept, the resolution is awakening of
feelings not felt by Americans for a long time. Good feelings.
Patriotic feelings. Feelings of hope and promise. Feelings of a
proud future free of domination.

Not that the resolution itself can deliver these feelings. But, it
may be a step one in a journey of a thousand miles. I did not at
all anticipate that others would see what I see in the resolution.
The resolution begins by stating the Tenth Amendment to the U. S.
Constitution. "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." This amendment does not
seem at all to be ambiguous. It says that the powers belonging to
the federal government are defined and listed by the Constitution.
All other powers are reserved to the states (and the people).

The resolution goes on to remind the federal government that it was
created to be an agent of the states. As such, the power of the
states is intended to be superior to that of the federal
government.  In 1994, the federal government treats the states and
its citizens as agents for itself. In (some) cases, the "agent"
context is even construed to mean "subject". It occurred to me that
the Tenth Amendment grants us rights we have always had.  The
federal government is not in the business of assuring and granting
rights.  Rather, the overwhelming bulk of policy from the Feds is
to restrict and limit our rights. A right, however, will rarely be
granted by any government body. For a right to be in effect, it
must be asserted and claimed.

The pertinent paragraph in HUR 1035 reads as follows, "The State
of Colorado hereby claims sovereignty under the 10th Amendment to
the Constitution of the United States over all other powers not
otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the
United States Constitution.

It is a strong statement of intent by the state that we have and
are claiming sovereign rights. It is asserting nothing more or less
than that to which we are entitled under our U.S. Constitution. The
response from the people has been, for me, personally rewarding.
A number of talk shows have featured and are promoting the
resolution. When they do, the switch-boards instantly light up with
callers offering words of encouragement and support.

Last week a group of young people from a youth ministry stopped me
in the basement of the Capitol. The area was a high traffic area
during one of the busiest times of the day. They wanted me to sing
the Star Spangled Banner with them while they videotaped. It took
a few moments for them to convince me they were serious. I still
thought it was a joke, but I decided to play along.  It was no
joke. They let me sing the first two bars. The they joined me with
strong and proud voices. Needless to say, the commotion generated
quite a bit of interest from passersby.  People were looking and
smiling at us from every angle. That did not deter us. The sense
of pride and nationalism I felt standing with those young people
was for me a very uplifting moment. What could have motivated them
to seek me out? And why the Star Spangled Banner? They left before
I could ask.

The resolution was introduced (in the Colorado State House) March
2, 1994. It is scheduled to be heard in committee March 15. With
a little bit of luck and a bucketful of courage, Colorado can take
a bold step into the future by passing HUR 1035.
***
The following is a transcription of a telephone conversation
between Colorado State Representative Charles Duke and Rick Martin,
for CONTACT, on Friday April 1. 1994

Rick: Can you tell me a little bit; I have no hard copy at all on
what you're doing. I have heard rumors from several sources about
your efforts. Can you just explain a little bit about what you are
trying to do?

Duke : Yes. This comes about as a result of the myriad of Federal
mandates that are coming down from Washington.  Many of these, of
course, come with money and some without.  Either one is equally
bad. And many of these mandates that are coming down are in
violation of the United States Constitution. They are just ignoring
the Constitution in Washington and sending whatever, you know,
dictatorial edicts that they wish to down to the states. I can give
you several clear examples. HR6 is one of those.  You probably
already know about HR6 but the re-authorization of OSHA is another
one.  This tobacco thing-that's where they are trying to ban
tobacco smoking in all buildings, etc., etc.  That's a direct
violation of local control, even this America 2000 program they are
putting in place, in my opinion, is a violation of that although
it is more permissive than many mandates are.

Anyway, this being a violation, the 10th Amendment of the United
States Constitution state that the powers granted to the federal
government are enumerated in the United States Constitution, and
all other powers reserved to the states. So, what this was put in
place for a protection against abusive power that they could not
anticipate in 1776. And how wise they were; I mean, it's
unbelievable how wise they were.  They had just come from England,
of course, which was under the strong domination of the Church of
England. They knew what abusive power really meant and even in
those days, so, they put those in. In fact, if they had not put
those in, some of the original backers of the Constitution refused
to sign it and so they put that in as a concession. That kind of
held in place for about 150 years but in the last 50 or 70 years,
we have kind of drifted away from that in marked difference from
the way the country is supposed to be and the federal government
is just essentially taking the Constitution and just trashing it,
doing whatever they can to subjugate the American people to the
will of the power mongers in Washington.

And so the resolution makes the case and restates the 10th
Amendment and then it makes the case for the fact that the federal
government is really our agent, not the other way around. We are
not their agent. They are our agent. We created them. We can
uncreate them. Then it says that, based on the lOth Amendment, the
state of Colorado hereby claims sovereignty over all powers not
otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the
United States Constitution. A claim of sovereignty is essentially
an international proclamation of independence, if you will, and so
it is more than just a statement, more than just a position. To
Washington, our majority leader here in Colorado describes it as
a Letter to Congress. It's a lot more than that. It's a
proclamation to the international community that Colorado claims
power over those powers not otherwise granted to the federal
government by the Constitution.

Rick: It certainly is a declaration, a very strong one at that.

Duke: Yes it is. And then the second paragraph says that now that
we've got you properly calibrated, federal government, and now you
know that we consider you our agent, we hereby instruct you to
cease and desist mandates that are beyond the scope of your
Constitutionally delegated powers.

So we are making the case that the federal government is our agent
acting in our behalf and we are issuing instructions to it to cease
and desist this nonsense of issuing mandates outside of their
delegated powers.

Rick: What is the current status of the bill?  Has it gone before
the assembly yet?

Duke: It has cleared committee. It passed committee on an 8-1 vote
and is now before the full House. It has been sitting on the
calendar about two weeks. The majority leader is the one who
controls the entrance of measures to the floor and he is telling
people, "Oh, I support this measure. We've really got to do
something about the federal government."  But, he absolutely
refuses to schedule it. You know, there is a difference in what
people say and what they do.

Rick: True.

Duke: He can proclaim support all he wants but if he isn't going
to schedule it, then that tells you how he really feels. But in any
case it is to be heard on Monday or Tuesday.

Rick: And then what?

Duke: Then it goes to the Senate, assuming that it passes the
House, and I have the votes for passage if we can just get it
through.

Rick: Are you being contacted by other states as well?

Duke: Yes, I am. There are about- we've received inquiries from
over 40 states so far.  And I would say serious inquiries,
inquiries of a nature that these are people who are legislatures
themselves or have an intention of contacting a legislature with
the intent of asking them to introduce this measurer in their
respective bodies.  From about 14 states, we've had that kind of
serious interest and so it is getting... It never was intended to
be a multi-state measure but it sure is being picked up by a lot
of grassroots effort, just saying, well of course, that's the real
secret to shifting the power from the entire universe circulates
around Washington, D.C., to the 50 some states we were always
intended to be.

Rick: Are you getting cooperation from any media?

Duke: Well, you know, it's kind of highs and lows.  From the radio
talk show hosts I'm getting a fair amount of interest from around
the country.  There are a number of conservatives, as you know, in
the talk show business and we are getting quite a bit of interest
from them.  The printed medial has all but ignored it.  The only
print we've had so far is in the Montrose Daily Press.  We've had
an article published on it and an editorial published in the Denver
Post by Al Knight on this measure.  So far, that's all of the print
media exposure we've had.  The print media has ignored it
exclusively.

Rick: Well, thank you so much.

***
Contact can be reached at [phone]
H.J.R. 94-1035
Unofficial Pre-Engrossed Version
(Printed resolution as amended by committee and floor amendment)

Second Regular Session
Fifty-Nineth General Assembly
LLS NO. R94PO784.ENG JY

STATE OF COLORADO

BY REPRESENTATIVE Duke:
also SENATOR Roberts,

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 94-1035

WHEREAS, The 10th Amendment to the Constitution of the United
States reads as follows:

"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."; and

WHEREAS, The 10th Amendment defines the total scope of federal
power as being that specifically granted by the USC and no more;
and

WHEREAS, Today, In 1994, the states are demonstrably treated as
agents of the federal government; and

WHEREAS, Numerous resolutions have been forwarded to the federal
government by the Colorado General Assembly without any response
or result from Congress or the federal government; and

WHEREAS, Many federal mandates are directly in violation of the
10th amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and

WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has ruled in New York v.
United States, 112 s. Ct. 2406 (1992), that Congress may not simply
commandeer the legislation and regulatory process of the states;
and

WHEREAS, A number of proposals from previous administrations and
some now pending from the present administration and from congress
may further violate the United States Constitution; now, therefore,

Be it further resolved by the House of Representatives of the
Fifty-ninth General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the Senate
concurring herein;

(1) That the State of Colorado hereby claims sovereignty under the
10th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all
powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal
government by the United States Constitution.

(2) That this serve as Notice and Demand to the federal government,
as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates
that are beyond the scope of its constitutionally delegated powers.

Be it Further Resolved, that copies of this Resolution be sent to
the President of the United States, the Speaker of the United
States House of Representatives, the President of the United States
Senate, the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate
of each state's legislature of the United States of America, and
Colorado's Congressional delegation.