A DARK SIDE OF "ORIGINAL INTENT"

Mark Levin, Glenda Beck and various Bagger spokespersons never bother to point out how much power the individual states had under the brand-new Constitution:

Broadly speaking, the powers that the states retained fell under the rubric "internal police," or simply the police power: the states had the powers of the polls. These included not only the definition and punishment of crimes and the administration of justice but also all matters concerning the health, manners, morals, safety, and welfare of the citizenry. Despite the assertions of some anti-Federalists, the states retained the police powers exclusively. These powers were nearly unlimited, and they were not affected by the subsequent adoption of the bill of rights. For example, the states could still, in the interest of public morality, establish the mode and manner of religious worship and instruction, and they could levy taxes for the support of religion—as Connecticut and Massachusetts continued to do for many years. They could stifle dissent, stifle freedom of the press, of speech, of inquiry. They could regulate food, drink, and clothing. They could do all these things and more, in the name of the common weal. They were, in sum, the American republics in the traditional meaning of that term.

SOURCE: Forrest McDonald, Novus Ordo Seclorum, p. 288