"The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first." ~Thomas Jefferson

The founders of our country had lived under a tyrannical government and fought a bloody war to obtain their freedom. The last thing they wanted was a new tyranny to replace the old.

So when they established these United States, they embedded a number of features in its Constitution designed to limit federal government power. Many of these we learn about in school, like the division of power between the three branches of government and the guarantee to trial by jury.

Still, even with these protections built in, many people would not ratify the new Constitution. They wanted additional assurances that the government would not trample their rights. They feared for their newly-won freedom.

So amendments were proposed to the Constitution, spelling out key rights of the people and forbidding the federal government from violating them. Among these were the rights to freedom of speech, religion, association, self-protection, and due process.

Lest anyone assume the listed rights were the only rights of the people, the 9th Amendment explains "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." In addition, the limits of federal government power are clarified in the 10th 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."

With these extra promised safeguards on federal government power, the US Constitution was ratified in 1788.

Since that time however, the Constitutional chains constraining the federal government have been broken, one after another. There is wide-spread belief in Washington today that the power of the federal government is unlimited. That with only enough "political will" they can force us to buy healh insurance, cap and trade us into poverty, and send our kids to fight their wars, while they bail out the politically-connected with our tax dollars.

It's time to put those chains back in place before they completely destroy our economy and our morality. That is what I will do in the United States Senate--work to restore Constitutionally-limited government and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.

~Mike Labno