The Ohio Senate on Tuesday struck a victory for states’ rights, constitutionalism and federalism.

The Senate passed 19-12 Senate Concurrent Resolution 13: “To claim sovereignty over certain powers pursuant to the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, to notify Congress to limit and end certain mandates, and to insist that federal legislation contravening the Tenth Amendment be prohibited or repealed.”

Wow!

Basically, the Ohio Senate just told the U.S. government, in legislative jargon, to “Butt out!”

Unfortunately, most Ohioans did not hear about it because there was very little media coverage of the vote, probably because most reporters do not understand what it means.

The  governor’s reaction? He issued a press release praising the selection of Cleveland as the site of the 2014 Gay Games.

Now the vote goes to the House of Representatives. If it passes the House, Ohio will become the eighth state this year to pass such a resolution and will join the ranks of Alaska, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Tennessee.

The 10th Amendment simply reiterates that the federal government has only the powers granted to it by the states through the Constitution. That is, if the power to do something is not specifically mentioned in the Constitution, then the federal government cannot do it.

This is called federalism. Essentially, all power in this country rests with the states, through the people. In order to provide for a common defense, the states banded together, gave some limited powers to the federal government, and listed those powers in the Constitution.

This proper balance was mostly kept through the 18th and 19th centuries, despite attempts by various Congresses and presidents to take more power than permitted. Fortunately, the Supreme Court served as a check on those power grabs.

Then came the 20th century. The Supreme Court, through various opinions, began to break down that wall and give more power to the federal government. The death knell of the 10th Amendment came after President Franklin Roosevelt tried to pack the court. Suddenly, the court had a change of heart and basically eviscerated the amendment to the point that most consider it dead. Dying along with the death of the 10th Amendment was the idea of a limited federal government. The Constitution became nothing more than a tourist attraction in Washington, D.C., that most politicians have never even read.

However, in the last few years, and especially in the months after that rabid fascist, Barack Obama, became president, states are starting to reassert their power.

In addition to the sovereignty resolutions, which carry no real power, states are beginning to push back.

As Michael Boldin wrote on the Web site for the Tenth Amendment Center:

“A state-level rebellion to the Bush-era Real ID act has rendered the law virtually null and void. Thirteen states have passed various marijuana laws in direct contravention to federal laws. Two states have passed laws nullifying some federal gun regulations.

“Groups in multiple states are pushing their governments to withdraw their state’s guard troops from Iraq and elsewhere. And people in up to 10 states may have the opportunity to vote on state constitutional amendments effectively banning national health care.”

While it might be too much to hope that this is the beginning of a trend for the states to take back the government from the federal leviathan and bring the federal government back to its constitutional limits, it should at least give the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress at least one thing to think about while they steamroll over our liberties en route to “fundamentally transforming” our country in ways no one wants.

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