On the recordJune 8, 2010
I thank the gentlelady from North Carolina for coming down here and helping assist with this. She did a wonderful job in trying to put everything in some kind of perspective. I think what we've talked about tonight is an effort to try and ensure that what the Founding Fathers did when they wrote the 10th Amendment in the First Congress, when that was part of the Bill of Rights, and indeed what they did in Philadelphia is they structured government the way it was. It had a purpose--separating power horizontally between the branches of government and, equally important, separating vertically between the national and States--had a specific purpose, and it was to ensure that there would always be a balance so that not one entity had too much power to use that to abuse people. Making sure there is a balance is the key element to protecting individual rights and individual liberty. By allowing States to have a primary function, we become more creative.…





