Letters to the Editor
Are States Sovereign?
I am alarmed by the terminology many people use in their efforts to define the relationship between the federal and state governments. They talk and write about state sovereignty, and they quote our Founding Fathers as authority, but please read those quotes carefully and in context. Most of the quotes they use talk about powers, not sovereignty.
I do not believe that the states are sovereign. If the states are sovereign, then they are “supreme in power or authority,” have “undisputed ascendancy,” and have “independent authority.” If the states have sovereignty, then they have the “power to govern without external control,” and are the “supreme political power in a state.” Think carefully about what the word “sovereignty” means!
I believe that individual people are sovereign and that people delegate powers to governments. The people do not give up their sovereignty when they form governments. If states have sovereignty, then states determine which rights they give to (and can take away from) people. If the states are sovereign, then they cannot be held accountable for tyranny. We complain about the federal government, but what state government is not at least as oppressive as the federal government? If people really believe their states are sovereign, then they accept that their state has the “independent authority” to make any or all of their decisions for them.
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