In a press release, movement conservative superstar John Shadegg, who ran unsuccessfully for Minority Whip for the new Congress, announced his proposed “Enumerated Powers Act,” which would require that any federal legislation proposed by a legislator must include a clause stating the Constitutional provision allowing said bill to be authorized by the federal government.

The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution reads:

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.

Shadegg is right in stating that:

“It is a well-known fact that the size and scope of the federal government has exploded since the New Deal. Congress continues to operate without Constitutional restraint, creating costly and ineffective programs and blatantly ignoring the principles of federalism.”

Democrats and Republicans alike have forgotten the meaning of the 10th Amendment. Education is not mentioned in the Constitution. Therefore, it is (or should be) reserved for the states - meaning the entire Department of Education is unconstitutional, as is No Child Left Behind. Healthcare is not mentioned in the Constitution. Therefore, it is (or should be) reserved for the states (see: Medicare). Retirement savings are not mentioned in the Constitution, so the federal government should have no involvement in it - much less a scam of a program known as Social Security. I could go all day here.

Mainstream Republicans need this reminder much more than Democrats. Igoring the tenets of the Constitution is essentially part of the Democratic Party platform (championing universal healthcare, union-empowering laws, etc.), and there is no use in attempting to convince them otherwise. Republicans have lost their way and need to be reminded of the importance of federalist principles, and need to have another revival such as that seen under Ronald Reagan or the Contract With America (which quickly became soiled).

Shadegg has an excellent Barry Goldwater quote at the end of his press release:

I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is ‘needed’ before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents’ interests, I shall reply that I was informed their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can.

H/T Redstate.