New ‘tenther’ term is used to discredit

Published 7:29 pm Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Here’s a new word for you conspiracy buffs: “Tenther.” Like “truther” and “birther,” it’s intended to categorize the subject as a nutjob. In this case, a “tenther” is someone who has actually read the U.S. Constitution.

Most recently, it’s being applied to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who was in Iowa recently sounding out supporters for another presidential bid.

“His basic issue remains the same,” writes Charles P. Pierce for Esquire magazine. “Perry is a Tenther, one of those people who interpret the 10th Amendment to the Constitution as prohibiting virtually anything the federal government has done since the turn of the last century. … Tenthism is behind everything he says about federal regulations, especially those concerning the environment, but Perry’s concept of it is something close to absolute, and his concept of the country is based on the notion that we are all better off if the states compete against each other — a deregulated, free-market political republic.”

Aside from the enthusiastic “why yes, we all would be better off” we should like to give that last sentence, we should look more closely as Pierce’s claim.

Just what does the Tenth Amendment say? Actually, it’s pretty clear.

“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,” the amendment says.

In other words, the states have jurisdiction over powers not specifically granted to the government in the U.S. Constitution.

The amazing thing is that when the Constitution and Bill of Rights were being debated, the big question was whether or not the Tenth Amendment was even necessary. James Madison introduced the amendment, and he acknowledged that many would see it as “superfluous.”

“I admit they may be deemed unnecessary,” he said. “But there can be no harm in making such a declaration, if gentlemen will allow that the fact is as stated. I am sure I understand it so, and do therefore propose it.”

Rick Perry agrees.

“The government is closest to the people,” he says. “Our Founding Fathers understood that, because they wrote that Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and they got down to that Tenth Amendment. The Tenth Amendment basically says the powers not delegated to the federal government are left to the states. It says what the federal government is supposed to do: protect the country, secure the border, have our currency, do our treaties, deliver the mail, preferably on time and on Saturday. … The point is that the federal government is supposed to do a few things and do them well. And our Founding Fathers said the states and/or the individuals are where these other issues are to be decided.”

Does that mean all the other federal actions and programs are illegitimate? Of course not.

But as a “tenther,” Perry is correct in putting the burden of proof on those who would expand federal powers.

There are plenty of reasons why Perry isn’t an ideal candidate for president. The Constitution isn’t one of them.