Illinois Congressional District 5 challenger signs Tenth Amendment Center Pledge
David Ratowitz, candidate for U.S. Congress to represent Illinois’ 5th Congressional District, today signed the Tenth Amendment Center’s 10-point pledge for prospective and current federal officeholders. The pledge aims to bolster support for the 1791 Bill of Rights component that affirms the U.S. Constitution’s principle of federalism, stating 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.”
“The reason that our founding fathers signed the Constitution and deliberately limited the power of the central government was to prevent just the sort of government-induced breakdown that we face today,” explains Ratowitz. “As a nation of free and independent citizens, we must choose elected officials who pledge to uphold the established laws of the land and honor local authority.”
Central to the Tenth Amendment pledge is the promise to introduce, sponsor and support legislation designed to adhere to the Tenth Amendment and to preserve the inherent powers of state legislators and local citizens. A companion point has signers pledge to repeal laws and regulations that are outside the scope of the powers delegated by the people to the federal government.
“Now more than ever we recognize that an outsized federal government erodes accountability,” continues Ratowitz. “It is a certainty that the current economic crisis, for example, would have been prevented had Congress practiced fiscal restraint and operated within its intended boundaries.”
Entrepreneur, Army veteran and conservative activist David Ratowitz is running for U.S. Congress in Illinois’ 5th Congressional District. He is seeking the Republican nomination in the February 2, 2010, primary election. The Ratowitz for Congress campaign platform supports limited government, fiscal discipline and accountability, free markets and individual liberty.