In my monthly column, I have tried to avoid discussion of political issues and instead focus on political strategy. This issue, however, is both a political issue and a strategic issue.
Jake Porter
States do not have rights over individuals. You are born with inalienable rights and the American people, through the Constitution, have granted government permission to use force to protect those inalienable rights. The belief in the inalienable rights of individuals is what makes us libertarians and not conservatives or liberals. It is what differentiates us from any other political philosophy. It truly is our most significant benefit to sell to the American public. When libertarians and Libertarian candidates talk about states’ rights we are giving people the false impression that we believe that groups of people can somehow vote away the rights you are born with. By focusing on “states’ rights” we are also destroying our most significant benefit to sell to the American people.
When America was founded, our founders separated our nation from the belief in the Divine Right of Kings theory which proposed that God granted all rights to the king and the king made all the decisions. The founding fathers held a belief that God grants rights directly to the people and people grant permission to the government to uphold and protect those rights.
Of course, many of our founding fathers did not believe black people were granted God given rights which brings us to another topic. States rights, to many people, means segregation. Do states have rights to allow someone to own another as property? Do states have rights to force businesses to discriminate against someone because of the color of their skin? Of course not! On the other hand, many supporters of states rights historically were supporters of states rights because they wanted to keep slavery legal so they could rape, torture, and abuse black men, women, and children. Years later, the same argument of states rights was used to defend the segregation of white and black people. Thankfully, today, most people realize that blacks and whites can live together, work together, and even have children together without any problems.
If states’ rights are not libertarian, go against natural law, and were used to defend segregation and even slavery why do some libertarians insist on talking about states rights? Don’t get me wrong, I think the state governments should have more power over more issues than the federal government does; however, the ninth amendment which states that “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people” is just as important as the tenth amendment which states that “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”. Please notice that the tenth amendment says powers are reserved to states. It says absolutely nothing about states’ rights.
