Reserve Clauses Clarity

Covid Crisis Reveals Need for Long Overdue Reform

The simplest way of explaining the concept of our original federal government is through the lens of our Constitution.  It is one of subordinate powers… with limited functions and purpose.  Each branch was expressly created within the confines of these limited rules and conditions.  Remember, the Constitution represented the States’ desire to create a subordinate set of guidelines that would promote a homogeneous domestic environment and project a unified national front.

At the end of the Constitutional Convention, several prominent members voiced concerns that certain rights were not enumerated and identified.  Even though they all knew that these rights were implied, their farsightedness caused them to recognize that future generations might not get their implications.  So they delineated and included them in what we now know as the Bill of Rights… so future generations would have clarity.

The first eight amendments created a clear and specific enumeration of several key limits to the new government’s power and reach… and as importantly… the ninth and tenth amendments included more general language, which made the scope of their intentions as encompassing as possible.

Their intentions were that this Constitution delineate a SUBORDINATED AND LIMITED form of government… to promote domestic tranquility and project a legal and united front to the rest of the world.  It was never intended to run the daily lives of ‘We the People’ within their political jurisdictions (States).

The Reserve Clauses

The ninth and tenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution are generally referred to as the Reserve Clauses.

The Ninth Amendment language is simple and general.  It states…

‘The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.’

This was a compromise amendment created and inserted as a safety net to annotate unspecified or unenumerated rights… in other words, all those not named yet protected and retained by the people.

The Tenth Amendment’s language is also simple but more direct and specific…

‘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.’

Both of these amendments emphasize that the inclusion of a bill of rights does not change the fundamental character of the federal government… it remains a government of limited, enumerated and subordinated powers… with all other rights reserved and retained by ‘We the People’.

• These two amendments alone should give ample and clear evidence that our Constitution has a specific and limited purpose and scope.
  
• More importantly, it should be clear that the primary question involving an exercise of federal power is not whether it violates someone’s rights, but whether it exceeds the federal government’s enumerated powers.

Recent Reserve Clause Challenge

These amendments and distinctions were thrust into the national spotlight recently because of Commander-in-Chief Trump’s assertion of omnipotent control and power over the States.  Several constitutional scholars immediately came forward to dispel his notions of grandeur.

As a point of clarification… the reason I keep referring to the Executive as the Commander-in-Chief (identified with hyphens to distinguish from Constitutional reference of Commander in Chief) is to highlight a gross unconstitutional violation that allows the executive branch to function under an erroneous scheme concocted and maintained by the 2 Major Political Party’s (2MPP’s).  

The 2MPP’s created an unconstitutional power called ‘States of National Emergency’ naming the Commander-in-Chief as its facilitator… and provided that position with broad and unconstitutional powers… actually unilateral powers that far exceed the scope of authority outlined in the Constitution. 

This scheme was created during a time of Crisis in the second Civil War and has been continuously in effect since The Depression.  Because of this creation, the Executive continues to have a vast array of unconstitutional powers available which allows that branch unilateral and unconstitutional control over the government and this country… all through directives called Executive Orders.

And while his assertions were quickly debunked, it reveals a much deeper and disturbing trend that has surfaced over the past two generations.  The 2MPP’s have steadfastly –through their various positions of authority and control– pushed for increased National control over ‘We the People’.  In point and truth, their incessant legislating has garnered them increasing control over ‘Citizens’.  Please notice that I refer to the inhabitants of our country in two ways….  ‘We the People’ and ‘Citizens’… two vastly different classes, as I’ll show here.

‘We the People’ refers to that class identified in this country’s originating document, The Treaty of Paris.  We current generations –WHO RECOGNIZE THEIR SOVEREIGN AUTHORITY– represent the original, true and sovereign owners of this country.  Consequently we have complete authority and control over all matters… at all levels… in all situations.  ‘Citizens’ are outlined below.

Fourteenth Amendment Citizens

The Fourteenth Amendment was a reactionary response to this country’s second Civil War.  Still stinging from the war, the dominant political party exerted its control over the reformation of the Congress and the southern states through overt military and civilian control… culminating with two predominate documents… the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Fourteenth Amendment.  Both of these were the result of the four year crisis that bitterly divided this country… a situation fertile for imposing sweeping changes on the weary and subjugated inhabitants on both sides of the war.

Amendment XIV  Section 1.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.  No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

The Fourteenth Amendment essentially upended the original and clearly delineated power delegated by the Constitution by naming and inserting the Federal government ahead the States, thus placing this 14th amendment ‘citizen’ in a subordinate position and the Federal government in a superior position.  Before this amendment, there was no mention or limitation of a Sovereign Inhabitant’s rights… the were supreme.  The Fourteenth Amendment was (IMHO) a glaring overreach by the dominant political party.  The language and effect essentially gave the Federal government dominate control over the States and those residing in them.  This amendment is the ‘official’ beginning of National (top-down) domination over the States.  The dominant Political Party –using the Congress– created legislation that granted itself the power to define and subjugate ‘Citizens’ and control States.

Now this might seem like parsing words,
BUT because of this very specific language in the Fourteenth Amendment,
this distinction has become critically important.

Whatever their questionable control is over the ‘Citizens’ of this country… they never had -or ever will have- ANY control over ‘We the People’ of this country… simply because ‘We the People’ are the ultimate control as the rightful, legal Sovereign Owners.

And Herein Lies The Problem…
‘WE THE PEOPLE’
DO NOT KNOW
THAT WE ARE THE SUPREME, LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY!