(Lebanon, PA) – The Constitutional Organization Of Liberty (COOL) has announced that it is supporting a resolution currently being circulated in the Pennsylvania legislature that would reassert state sovereignty against an ever-expanding federal government.  

“The time has come for Pennsylvania to stand up to a federal establishment that is usurping state authority on an almost daily basis, often using our own tax dollars to blackmail us into doing what the federal government thinks we should do,” said Laurel Lynn Petolicchio, COOL Chairman for 2009.

“It is time that the Keystone State took a leading role in protecting and preserving the rights of both the state and the citizens of the state,” she said.

The resolution, which calls for a reassertion of state authority under the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, is being sponsored by State Representative Sam Rohrer in the Pennsylvania General Assembly and by State Senator Mike Folmer in the Pennsylvania State Senate.  Both legislators will be holding a rally on Monday, March 16, at noon in the capital rotunda in support of their resolution.

Folmer said that in recent years there has been a role reversal in the relationship between the federal government and the states.

“When our country was founded, our Fathers envisioned a form of government in which the federal government served as an agent of the states – not the states serving as an agent of the federal government,” Folmer said. “Today, federal legislation and funding compel states to serve the federal government, a total reversal of the structure originally intended.”

In a written statement, Rohrer said: “For too long, Congress and the president have been encroaching on policy areas that ought to be decided by the states. This rally is the equivalent of posting a ‘no trespassing’ sign.”

Herb Braden, who serves as a board member on COOL as well as chairman of Lebanon County based Citizen’s Caucus, said it was time to stop the usurpation of power by the federal government.

“Starting in the 1930's, with the New Deal, the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution has been incorrectly used by Congress as a tool to diminish the powers assigned to the States in the 10th Amendment,” Braden said.  “We citizens must prepare to use the ballot box to curtail or stop this arrogant usurpation of State powers.”

Mark Thomas, another COOL board member, observed: "One of the great things about our nation is its unique diversity among the states, but yet remain one nation under God."

"It is time for our federal Government to understand its powers are clearly defined and limited," he said.

Monica Carpenter, treasurer for COOL, said that she supported the resolution “because it reminds us of our rights as a state.”  

According to Petolicchio, Pennsylvania is now among at least twenty states across the nation that have either introduced or issued resolutions reasserting their rights under the Tenth Amendment, and that the movement seems to be growing.

“There is a growing sense among state legislators across the country that there is something terribly wrong with the way business is conducted in Washington and that the federal government does not have the right or authority to bully the states around,” she said.  “In fact, some of the resolutions that have been issued by other states are so strongly worded that they are reminiscent of the Declaration of Independence.”

The Constitutional Organization Of Liberty is a non-partisan, conservative political action committee organized to re-educate the citizens of Pennsylvania about the U.S. Constitution and America’s founding documents.  In the past year COOL has hosted multiple educational courses, including the Institute On The Constitution and A More Perfect Union.

More information about COOL may be found at their website: www.ReclaimLiberty.com.
 

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