Pubdate: Thu, 31 Mar 2016
Source: Tulsa World (OK)
Copyright: 2016 World Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.tulsaworld.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/463
Author: Mike Ritze
Note: Rep. Mike Ritze, a Republican from Broken Arrow, represented 
House District 80 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

COLORADO KEEPS POT; OKLAHOMA KEEPS LIBERTY

Even if you oppose marijuana legalization, as I firmly do, the U.S. 
Supreme Court's decision recently not to interfere in the decision of 
Colorado voters to end cannabis prohibition was a major victory for 
states' rights, federalism and the 10th Amendment.

It was also a victory for all Oklahomans who do not want to be ruled 
by unaccountable and out-of-touch bureaucrats and politicians 
thousands of miles away in Washington, D.C. - and even abroad - 
acting in defiance of our Constitution.

Let me explain.

In the lawsuit, the attorneys general of Oklahoma and Nebraska 
appealed to a distortion of the U.S. Constitution's "supremacy 
clause" in an effort to attack the decision made by Colorado's voters 
in a 2012 referendum.

The lawsuit essentially claimed that because a federal statue and a 
few U.N. treaties ban marijuana, Colorado has no choice but to not 
only accept prohibition, but to help enforce it. But that's simply 
wrong. First of all, the U.S. Constitution does not delegate any 
power to the federal government in this area. That is why alcohol 
prohibition in 1920 necessitated a properly ratified constitutional 
amendment to be adopted at the federal level.

If the U.S. Constitution does not delegate any powers to the feds in 
the area of marijuana prohibition, and it doesn't, Washington D.C., 
has no business ratifying international treaties or passing federal 
statues acting as if it possessed those powers.

The U.S. Constitution only says statues and treaties created in 
pursuance with the Constitution are the supreme law of the land. Any 
power grabs undertaken in defiance of that Constitution are mere 
usurpations that states have a duty to nullify.

America's founders and even the Supreme Court have acknowledged this 
fundamental truth about our federalist system of self-government. 
Anything else would be absurd, as there would be no limits to what 
the federal government could do. Nobody wants that, not even liberals.

Secondly, even if those U.N. treaties and federal statues were 
constitutional, the U.S. Constitution does not allow the federal 
government to compel a state to criminalize something. Nor can the 
federal government commandeer state or local government resources in 
pursuit of its own policy agendas.

Again, the framers of the Constitution and even the U.S. Supreme 
Court have all acknowledged this. Reasonable people wouldn't want it 
any other way.

So what does all this mean for Oklahoma? It means we can continue 
pushing forward on returning powers to the people of Oklahoma that 
have been usurped from us by Washington and, with D.C.'s help, by the 
dictators' club known as the United Nations.

Whether the issue is guns or healthcare or education or environmental 
protection or abortion, the U.S. Constitution leaves all authority in 
these fields to the states of the people. That means none for 
Congress, Obama, the Supreme Court, or the U.N.

The sooner we realize that, the sooner we can restore the proper 
constitutional balance between the states and the federal government.

Today, almost all Americans realize that Washington is completely out 
of control. Bureaucrats and politicians lie to us, spy on us, 
regulate us into oblivion, plunder our wealth, and more, all with no 
concern whatever for the limits on their power imposed by the U.S. 
Constitution.

Together, the Supreme Court and the voters of Colorado just took a 
significant step in the direction of putting an end to all that.

Let's make sure Oklahoma takes many more.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom