Ninth & Tenth Amendments

It is impossible to read the history of our nation's founding without realizing that the framers of our Constitution were very reluctant to relinquish unlimited authority to the new federal government. The first attempt at a national government, a confederation, proved too limited to be functional. They realized that format wouldn't work if we were indeed to function as a unified nation. But they also wished to draw clear limits on what the federal level could do.

A constitution does three basic things. It describes the organization of the government; bicameral legislature, judiciary system with subordinate courts to be determined, a singular executive. It describes the operation of the government; checks and balances, legislative sequence, hierarchy of laws. And, maybe most critically, it describes the function which the government is to perform; the powers of the government.

To get the document ratified it was soon realized that simply listing what the government CAN do was inadequate. They needed to also offer details on what the government CANNOT do--the Bill of Rights. Language like, "Congress shall make no law..." and "shall not be infringed..." is clear limitation on the federal government and when coupled with "equal protection under the law..." it extends generally to the states as well.

The Ninth and Tenth Amendments are important even if they are regularly ignored. The Ninth says that just because a right is not listed in the document as protected, it still exists and the people retain it. The Tenth says that anything which isn't spelled out as within the authority of the federal government or prohibited to the states is kept by the states.

That's the essence of delegated and reserverd power. The states delegate limited power to the federal level. The powers of the federal government are enumerated, i.e. spelled out. There is provision for some implied powers but with the 9th and 10th operative, those implications should be viewed as limited.

What then do we make of this:

Feds to Fix College Football

NO! A thousand times NO!

I don't like the BCS system one bit. But, it is well beyond any interpretation of the authority of the Constitution for the federal government to stick their meddling fingers into this pie.