A Little Understanding...

In a recent opinion column this was written:

“The U.S. Supreme Court has the final say when it come to interpreting federal law.

Either Meeks doesn't understand this or he's showboating. Since his degree is in pastoral ministries and not jurisprudence, the former would appear to be the case. On the other hand, clearly HB 1053 is a tea-party bill and Meeks is a tea-party guy, so there is a third possibility, sheer presumptuousness. But that's for others to say.” Meredith Oakley

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2011/jan/28/corner-turn-20110128/

This is just one of the examples about those who have made the judgement that either I (or the Tea Party) don't understand or just don't know all the facts. So to help clear up any misunderstandings, here is a little more about why I filed HB1053, the Healthcare Freedom Act:

On January 10^th when I was sworn in, I along with all the other representatives all took an oath that says: “I will support the Constitution of the United States and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of State Representative in and for the State of Arkansas on which I am about to enter.”

I can assure you what I did was not showboating, but just keeping the oath I took not only on January 10^th, 2011, but also on June 30^th, 1990 when I was sworn into the US Army.

While it is true I don’t have a law degree, that doesn’t mean I can’t understand law or the way our judicial system works. That would be like me telling you that you can’t understand the Bible because you don’t have a pastoral ministries degree.

So here are some things I understand:

I understand what our founding fathers meant when they wrote the 10^th amendment.

“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.”

I understand what James Madison meant when he wrote:

“The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government, are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.”

I understand that the powers in the Constitution that are few and defined are found in Article I, Section 8.

I understand that unless the State or the people give more powers to the Federal Government then the Federal Government has overstepped its bounds as laid out in the Constitution.

And I understand that when the Federal Government oversteps its bounds, it is the right of the States to challenge them.

That is why I filed HB1053. I truly believe that by forcing Arkansans to purchase health insurance the Federal Government has overstepped its bounds.

Yes, I understand that ultimately the Supreme Court will decide on this issue, but I believe that this issue is important enough that we join with other states in challenging the Federal Government and so do the overwhelming majority of Arkansans.

Hopefully, now that people have a better understanding of what I believe in, there won’t be any misunderstandings in the future.

Here to Serve,

David Meeks

PS> There have been many cases where the Supreme Court has ruled on the side of states so to use the argument that federal law trumps state law is not understanding history.