The amendment to the Constitution that turned Senators into
Congressmen-At-Large. Prior to that idiotic move they were selected by
their home State governments who in turn were elected by the population. As
Senators they were responsible primarily to the home State and represented
that State directly while the House of Representatives represented the local
areas and the citizens directly. The States at that time had effective
legislative power over the federal government since their were only two
Senators per State. Absent that power to check the federal government the
states lost control and the wisdome of the Federalist Papers came true.
Completely constitutional all the way. The second thing the federal
government did to assume complete control was gather up the purse strings.
Not just the obvious income tax but over time control over all financial
issues, banking laws, insurance, you name it. The third point is regulatory
powers over everything, no exceptions. One Senator even stated it didn't
matter what state he was from, he was part of the federal government. And
last that I'll mention but not finally, the ability to ignore the 10th
Amendment derived from this same fundamental change AS DID the curious
notion that a Supreme Court ruling is the final say so. Under the old checks
and balances system no single part nor all parts of the federal government
could rule within themselves or over the states. A little applied
gradualism and a lot of red herrings, presto! One day you wake up and find
it ain't the party of Roosevelt anymore. Not hard when there are zero
checks and balances in place.


"Gilligan" wrote in message
news
What exactly caused this? Name the legislation and I'll certainly look
into
it.

Gilligan

"Michael" wrote in message
...
That is left to the States. The Constitution limits and delegates
powers
to
the Federal Government. Those powers that aren't are left to The
People
and
the States respectively.


Where did you ever get such foolishness as the above statement? That
has
been gone, finished, zipped, zeroed, nada'd, goose egged for many many
decades. The states can do nothing without permission from and in
compliance with the rules and regulations of the federal government.
The
states have no power whatsoever and in point of fact serve no useful
function anymore. They are leftover and for that matter highly
inefficient
historical curiousities. What you are refering to is the way things
used
to
be before the checks and balances system was dismantled. The portion of
the
Constitution you refer to was amended about 90 years ago. The word
state
is
now splled with a small 's'.

Think I'm wrong? HOW then would a state, such as colorado compel the
Federal Government to do anything?