Pubdate: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 Source: Eagle-Tribune, The (MA) Copyright: 2005 The Eagle-Tribune Contact: http://www.eagletribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/129 Author: Richard Driscoll Cited: Gonzales v. Raich ( www.angeljustice.org/ ) HIGH COURT TRAMPLES ON STATE'S RIGHTS To the editor: Monday, June 6, was the day that the U.S. Supreme Court abolished state government in this nation. In their ruling on medicinal marijuana they have sealed the fate of the 50 states and relegated them to the dust bin. For years the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution has been twisted and distorted to permit the federal government to insert its nose, then its foot and now its whole body into local matters in a way our Founding Fathers in their wildest dreams could not imagine. Our U.S. Constitution states that all powers not specifically granted to the federal government are reserved to the states and the people. Now the Supreme Court has found a way to invalidate this safeguard. Any day now we can expect the federal government to regulate and license and tax local yard sales, pot luck suppers and the type of lawn you may have at your home. If you were to hold a "bean supper" to raise money for your local church, it now comes under federal regulation because even though the beans were grown in New Hampshire, the event is being held in New Hampshire and all the people involved live in New Hampshire, the good judges will find that the event comes under the interstate commerce clause because persons attending the bean supper would not be attending a "fish fry" on Cape Cod and thus the event affects interstate commerce. On the plus side however we can now do away with 50 state legislatures and save a ton of money. God bless America. RICHARD DRISCOLL Plaistow, N.H. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh