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by Ashley Murphy

When will enough be enough? People are beginning to ask if the federal government is involving itself too much into state and individual rights. Federal government spending has now evolved into an $11 trillion debt over the heads of American citizens. There are new bills regulating tobacco companies and their products, laws designed to control firearms and those who legally own them, even private property rights have been viscously attacked. Homeland Security is eroding individual privacy and liberty that is considered by the world a staple of the American way of life.

The federal government is growing more and more powerful and less and less accountable to the states and the American people it works for. When the federal government was first created it was intended to be a delegate for the states. The states actually created the federal government. But, year after year the original intent has slowly been reversed. The states are now becoming delegates to the federal government. Many of the ever increasing mandates handed down by Washington, and the assumption of power the federal government is asserting over the states, are not identified by the Constitution and therefore are in violation of the founding document.

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Citizens and lawmakers in many states have began to question the federal government's right to ultimate power over individual states, and are demanding the intent of the Tenth Amendment restricting Washington's power be restored.  The resulting groundswell of dissatisfaction is being labeled a "movement" in the media due to the increasing number of states drafting sovereignty resolutions. Many states have now joined this "movement," including Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and South Dakota, and the number is growing. Tennessee has recently added it's name to the list by passing House Joint Resolution 108 through the House with an 85-2 vote. The bill will now be passed to the Senate for ratification.

In his article for FOXNews.com titled "Tenth Amendment Movement Aims to Give Power Back to the States," James Osborne wrote; --At least 35 states have introduced legislation this year asserting their power under the Tenth Amendment to regulate all matters not specifically delegated to the federal government by the Constitution.

"This has been boiling for years, and it's finally come to a head," said Utah State Rep. Carl Wimmer. "With TARP and No Child Left Behind, these things that continue to give the federal government more authority, our rights as states and individuals are being turned on their head."

The power struggle between the states and Washington has cropped up periodically ever since the country was founded. But now some states are sending a simple, forceful message:

The government has gone too far. Enough is enough.

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer recently signed into law a bill authorizing the state's gun manufacturers to produce "Made in Montana" firearms, without seeking licensing from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Similar laws are being considered in Utah, Alaska, Texas and Tennessee.

The Montana law is expected to end up in the courts, where states' rights activists hope judges will uphold their constitutional right to regulate firearms.'

Texas Gov. Rick Perry made headlines recently when he made a passing reference to the possibility of the Lone Star State seceding from the U.S., saying, "if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that?"

States rights advocates offer countless examples of what they believe is Washington's overreach.

In Utah, 67 percent of the state's land is controlled by the federal government through wilderness preserves, limiting state leaders in their bid to fill government coffers through oil and natural gas drilling after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar cancelled 103,000 acres of leases this year.

In Idaho, ranchers are furious that federal endangered species law prevents them from shooting the wolves that prey on their cattle.

"The balance of power between the states and the federal government is way out of whack," said Georgia state Senator Chip Pearson. "The effect here is incalculable. Everything you do from the moment you wake up until you get to bed, there is some federal law or restriction."

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