by Eko, March 3, 2025, eko.substack.com
https://tinyurl.com/2mt6pkc9
How the Tenth Amendment guards against tyranny
The classroom door swung shut in 1964.
My dad’s teacher, Mrs. McGilligutty, stood before thirty ninth-graders in Oklahoma dust.
Chalk hit the board like a gunshot.
“The Tenth Amendment,” she said.
“Read it.”
A boy in the back, dirt on his shoes, read aloud:
“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.”
Simple as a prayer.
Strong as stone.
America’s wall.
February 15, 2025
A book lies open on @realDonaldTrump’s West Wing desk, fresh notes in the margins. Outside, marble monuments stand silent while our children forget:
- 70% of eighth graders can’t read well.
- 72% fail basic math.
- 40% of fourth graders stumble over simple words.
But the real tragedy?
They don’t know why America divided power.
They don’t understand their state matters.
They can’t see the shield that once protected them.
This wasn’t an accident. This was theft.
But the Tenth Amendment still stands as America’s backbone.
When thirteen colonies fought for independence, they didn’t create one giant nation. They made thirteen free states, each with its own power to govern itself.
The Founders knew a hard truth: power corrupts.
And distance makes it worse.
So they built a system where states kept most power close to home. Only a few specific powers went to Washington.
Madison put it plainly: dividing power between state and federal governments gives “double security to the rights of the people.”
When states and Washington pull against each other, freedom lives in the space between.
This administration moves with purpose:
- Jan 20: President Trump signs order banning DEI across federal government.
- Jan 29: Executive order ends radical indoctrination in schools.
- Feb 21: Schools told—drop DEI or lose funds, states on the rise.
- Feb 22: @StephenM vows “lies out, truth in” for American education.
- Feb 26: President Trump declares “no federal education”—states will rule.
The machine loses ground. America regaining its memory.
For two centuries, the Supreme Court has attacked and defended the Tenth Amendment:
- 1819: In McCulloch v. Maryland, they expand federal power, claiming “necessary and proper” trumps state sovereignty.
- 1941: In United States v. Darby, they dismiss the Tenth as a mere “truism” with no real power to limit Washington.
- 1995: In United States v. Lopez, a whisper of hope—the Court finally recognizes limits on federal control.
With each ruling against the Tenth, we lost more freedom. With each blow to state power, the DC Machine grew.
Every time the machine expanded, our choices shrunk.
And America faded.
Why does this matter?
Because the Founders weren’t just clever politicians.
They were students of human nature.
But men aren’t angels. Power tempts. And the more power sits in fewer hands, the greater the danger.
One distant ruler makes mistakes that hurt everyone.
But fifty(+) different states can try fifty different solutions.
The math checks out:
Division of power equals wisdom.
Now we look ahead.
Picture a girl in Tennessee reading the Constitution at her kitchen table.
Or boys in Ohio debating why their state should decide local issues.
A mother in Arizona teaching her children about the wall that protects their freedom.
Like Mrs. McGilligutty once did. Like we must do again.
Because no matter what our President does, the machine still fights.
But it fears un-programmed children who ask:
“Where in the Constitution does it say DC controls our schools?”
“Why does a bureaucrat two thousand miles away decide what happens in our town?”
“What if our state has a better idea?”
These small innocuous questions burn.
They spread.
They awaken.
For too long, the light has dimmed. Classrooms went dark. The Tenth Amendment rusted away.
But dawn approaches.
The education order opened a door.
And now millions of young Americans (tomorrow’s generation) just might rediscover their heritage.
Their birthright.
The Tenth Amendment stands as freedom’s spine.
And America’s spine, now being straightened, will stand tall again.
♥EKO