American Family News (“AFN”) reported yesterday that Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton introduced legislation to begin discussions leading to the State of Tennessee rejecting the nearly $1.8 billion of federal K-12 education dollars. The AFN report may be viewed HERE.
For decades now, federal tax dollars have influenced and tied the hands of states in the area of education, as grants or other federal funding comes with strings attached. The federal government boldly tries to dictate how states educate their children and threaten to withhold federal funding when states don’t comply with all of the LGBQ(+), Critical Race Theory (“CRT”) or other requirements. In fact, proposals to eliminate the US Department of Education have been discussed or attempted many times over the years.
The US Constitution does not mention education, teaching or schools at all. As many of us learned in school, the 10th Amendment of the US Constitution (part of the Bill of Rights) states that:
“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.”
A transcription of the Bill of Rights, including the 10th Amendment may be viewed HERE.
A transcription of the US Constitution may be viewed HERE.
It seems to this writer that Speaker Sexton’s approach falls more in line with how the US’ founders viewed limited government, because under the concept of federalism, the individual states address all matters not specifically enumerated to the federal government under the US Constitution.
US citizens have given up far too much control to a centralized federal government over the decades. What a wonderful concept it is to have 50 separately-governed and culturally-unique states for our citizens to enjoy and visit during their lifetimes, with the federal government taking the lead with enumerated matters (e.g., treaties, interstate commerce, borders and national defense), but not using its power and taxation as a means to mandate cultural and political ideologies – which seem to often contradict the holy scriptures and the faith of many.
Praise Jesus forevermore!
