Do states' rights mean anything in the 21st century? We're about to find out.

More on that in a moment on the Face The State Radio Minute.

If anybody even bothers to read the U.S. Constitution anymore, they'd stumble across a key check on federal power: the Tenth Amendment. Our founding fathers were afraid of powerful central government, and with good reason. Taxation without representation and all that stuff. Fast-forward to modern day, and we're witnessing a renaissance of states' rights. Texas turned down stimulus funding. California might legalize marijuana. And now Colorado might opt out of a proposed federal health care regime. The Indpendence Institute is floating an initiative that would ask voters to say "hell, no" to Washington's new cram-down. But would the feds respect our assertion of sovereignty? Or are we past the point of no return on a core American value? There's only one way to find out.

I'm Brad Jones.