Daily Skiff

The United States was formed on the basis of each state having its own sovereignty.

This fact is not new. In fact, it was a founding principle clearly outlined in the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Our Founding Fathers agreed that each state would have the ability to make its own laws and carry them out, with a central government uniting all the states and keeping them together, while making federal laws that would not overshadow the 10th Amendment.

The 10th Amendment of the American Bill of Rights plainly dictates that the federal government shall not overstep its bounds and take control away from any of the states within the union, therefore sovereignty would remain intact.

Unfortunately, one bill that President Barack Obama wants to pass would displace this fundamental right by breaking the contract that bound the states to the union.

Twenty-one states, including Texas, have declared states rights since Obama was elected.

Bryan Hughes, a republican legislator from Mineola, introduced a bill to the Texas Legislature this term that would legally declare Texas an independent state from the U.S.

The state of Texas was its own country before it was annexed by the United States in 1845. This treaty stated that we would join the Union with the notion that our state would retain sovereignty, with local authority not to be imposed by the federal government but by state officials.

Some may not realize that this is the reason why our state flag can fly at the same height as the United States flag, and our state is the only state in the Union able to do so.

This is history in the making, as we witness states declaring and passing these resolutions, which have never been necessary in the past.

It's something that states have threatened to do but never carried out.

Normally, it's advisable to try to remain fair and balanced in politics, but it seems that we have gotten to a point where independence is necessary to remind the federal government that they don't have the power, and we won't be imposed upon with socialist values.

Margaret Foland is a junior theatre major from Arlington.

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