By Matthew Holloway |
On Tuesday, the Goldwater Institute announced a new initiative to educate lawmakers and students across the country and advocate for the resurrected concept of “federalism.”
Based upon its newly released report, “Federalism and State Constitutions: Model Language for ‘Tenth Amendments’ in State Constitutions,” Goldwater is launching a civics offensive to rekindle federalism in state governments, urging them to etch the spirit of the 10th Amendment directly into their own constitutions.
Dubbed the “Blueprint for Federalism,” the initiative from the group’s Van Sittert Center for Constitutional Advocacy was introduced with a policy report offering lawmakers a ready-made template: model language mirroring the U.S. Constitution’s reservation of powers to the states and the people. It’s a direct shot at the creeping centralization that’s turned America’s “laboratories of democracy” into mere outposts of Washington bureaucracy.
“America’s founders wisely recognized it from the beginning—the best chance for a sprawling young republic to survive would be for important political decisions to remain close to the people,” the Goldwater Institute declared in unveiling the plan.
Describing civic education as “in decline” and leaving generations adrift on the basics of our constitutional republic, the blueprint calls for states to put the measure on ballots starting in 2026, just ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Matt Beienburg wrote in a post to X, “What if Americans could stop fearing that every 4 years might usher in an over-powered president of the other party who will wreck the country? Whether you’re on the left or right, we already have the blueprint for empowering Americans rather than Washington D.C.”
As federal overreach swelled vastly under the Biden administration, including mandates on everything from education to energy, states like Arizona have already led the charge, making the legislature fertile ground for Goldwater’s initiative. Back in 2014, Arizona voters approved a constitutional tweak affirming the U.S. Constitution’s supremacy and barring state resources from propping up unconstitutional federal acts. It’s one of nearly a dozen states with similar guardrails, from Massachusetts’ 1780 original to Louisiana’s 1998 update.
Co-authors Matt Beienburg, director of education policy at Goldwater, and Sean Beienburg, an associate professor at Arizona State University’s School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, lay out the playbook in the report. The core text proposed for state constitutions is a near-verbatim nod to the U.S. Constitution’s Tenth Amendment: “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.”
In full, the proposed language reads:
“The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land to which all government, state and federal, is subject.
The government of the United States is a government of enumerated powers, and all powers not delegated to it, nor inhibited to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people thereof.
Among the sovereign powers so reserved to the states is the exclusive regulation of their own internal government; but the people’s retained right of local self-government should be exercised in pursuance of law and consistently with the Constitution of the United States.”
The blueprint goes even further, though, pitching add-ons like explicit vows to uphold federal supremacy and rejecting funding for D.C. edicts that trample state sovereignty. It’s nonpartisan ammo, aimed at red strongholds and blue bastions alike, to spark a public awakening on where power truly belongs.
The Goldwater Institute has notched over 400 wins across all 50 states, including more than 50 policy and litigation triumphs in 2024 alone. This latest salvo fits their 2025 battle plan, as reported by AZ Free News: dismantling DEI indoctrination in universities, slashing government meddling in property, water rights, and healthcare, shielding parental rights in schools, and addressing unconstitutional tax hikes.
In the report, the authors push for a 2026 ballot blitz to “recommit legislative bodies to the principle of federalism” and ignite a nationwide conversation on the republic’s blueprint. The Goldwater Institute has the full model language for state constitutions and a deeper dive available online.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
