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.

The Tenth Amendment. One of the most critical amendments in the Bill of Rights to keep the federal government in check.

During last nights debate, one believer in the Founders vision called out the phony-baloney blowhards who like to tout the Constitution when it fits their view of the when the central government should be restrained.

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee went on the following rant when asked about a litmus test:

One final thing. I’d make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us — our biggest fight wasn’t always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood that if it’s not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it’s left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington.

In a very timely and appropriate question that led to the hypocrisy exposure, the moderators asked Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul about legalization of marijuana in Colorado and NJ Gov. Chris Christie’s statement in a previous interview when he stated, “If you’re getting high in Colorado today, enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana.”

I think one of the great problems, and what American people don’t like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them — for themselves, Paul said referencing former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don’t think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves.

Christie then chimes in, “That doesn’t mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also.

“That’s why I’ll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we’ve done in New Jersey.”

Paul comes back against the “law and order” Christie saying, “Understand what they’re saying. if they’re going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren’t really believing in the Tenth Amendment.”

The non-profit organization, The Tenth Amendment Center, lists the 30 enumerated powers authorized to the federal government in the Constitution HERE

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Robert Herriman is a microbiologist and the Editor-in-Chief of Outbreak News Today and the Executive Editor of The Global Dispatch

Follow @bactiman63