If Tea Partiers directed their snake venom at the creators of a strong American nation-state back then -- the targets would be the likes of Washington, Madison and Franklin. But today's right-wingers simply ignore the historical fact that Madison inserted the crucial Commerce Clause quite deliberately into the Constitution because he felt a national strategy on commerce was vital if the United States was to fend off predatory European competition.
And, the whole point of giving the U.S. central government control over interstate commerce was so the country could implement national solutions to national problems. That was why even a conservative U.S. Appeals Court judge, Laurence Silberman, ruled recently that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was constitutional, because he recognized that Congress has broad powers to devise responses to challenges that impact the nation's commerce.
Citing the intent of the Founders and longstanding legal precedents, Silberman concluded that the law -- even its requirement for individuals to obtain health insurance -- fits within the Constitution (though it's still very possible that the Republican partisans on the U.S. Supreme Court will reverse Silberman's ruling to deal President Barack Obama a political body blow right before the election.)
False Narrative
After all, the Right has spent years now building up its false founding narrative with the same kind of determination and resources that it has invested in many other false narratives. For that reason, many more people know the Right's argument that the Tenth Amendment is determinative on state's rights than understand that it was more a case of closing the barn door after the horse was gone.
The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution states, "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." But the Right's historical revisionists miss the key point here.
The Constitution already had granted broad powers to the federal government -- including regulation of national commerce -- so there were far fewer powers left for the states. The Tenth Amendment amounted to a minor concession to mollify the anti-federalist bloc that unsuccessfully sought to block ratification of the Constitution by the 13 states.
To further appreciate how modest the Tenth Amendment concession was, you also must compare its wording with Article II of the Confederation, which is what it essentially replaced. Remember, Article II says "each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated."
All that language is either eliminated in the Constitution or substantially watered down. In effect, the power relationship between the federal government and the states was reversed by the Founders who convened in Philadelphia in 1787.
The Tea Party's misguided "history" of the Founding is also reflected in how little some of the Right's champions know about real Revolutionary War history. For instance, Texas Gov. Rick Perry told some voters that the Revolution was fought in the 1500s, a couple of centuries off, while Rep. Michele Bachmann claimed the opening shots of the Revolution were fired in New Hampshire, rather than Massachusetts.
But the current irony of the Right's revisionist history on the Constitution is that it comes at a time when the financial crisis in Europe -- and its inability to adopt a comprehensive regional solution -- underscores the wisdom of America's Founders to create a strong national government.
The Right's neo-Confederate assault on the Constitution also comes at a time when innovative national solutions are desperately needed for the American people, both to respond to the economic recession caused by the Wall Street crash of 2008 and to address long-term problems that threaten the welfare of the nation, from the health-care crisis to a decaying infrastructure to cataclysmic climate change.
To take on these pressing national challenges through unified national action would be precisely what George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and James Madison had in mind.
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