Writing for World Net Daily, Bob Unruh reports a refreshing story of how individual sovereign states are beginning to push back against federal overreach. Unruh writes, “State and local officials in surging numbers are telling Washington they simply won’t cooperate with any plans to detain Americans the federal government may choose to describe as ‘belligerents.’

“The issue centers on provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, signed by President Obama, for the indefinite and rights-free detention of those Washington cites as belligerents, whether American citizens or not.

“WND reported when Rep. Daniel P. Gordon Jr. immediately drafted a resolution in the Rhode Island legislature to express opposition to the sections of the NDAA ‘that suspend habeas corpus and civil liberties.’

“Now the Tenth Amendment Center confirms that the resistance to the federal bureaucracy is catching on.”

Unruh continues, “‘Sources close to the Tenth Amendment Center say as many as 10 states will consider legislation or resolutions in response to the detention provisions in section 1021 and 1022 of the NDAA,’ the organization is reporting. ‘Lawmakers in Rhode Island and Washington will likely introduce resolutions authored by the Rhode Island Liberty Coalition within the next week. Additionally, local governments, including Fremont County, Colo. and El Paso County, Colo., have passed resolution condemning the detention provisions.’

“Tenth Amendment Center executive director Michael Boldin commented that ‘federal politicians never seem to repeal federal law.

“‘It’s going to take “We the People” in our states to stand up and say, “No!” to this unconstitutional monster,’ he said.”

Unruh goes on to report, “Already, Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall, R-Manassas, has introduced HB 1160, which would prevent ‘any agency, political subdivision, employee, or member of the military of Virginia from assisting an agency or the armed forces of the United States in the investigation, prosecution, or detainment of a United States citizen in violation of the Constitution of Virginia.’”

“Mike Maharrey, communications director for the TAC, said the fight is shaping up like the conflict in the 1850s when northern states refused to cooperated with fugitive slave laws that required them to capture and return escaping slaves.

“‘It is clear to me, and I am far from alone in this view, that the detention provisions in the NDAA are vague, overbroad and open to interpretation,’ he said. ‘That leaves me to trust in the good character and moral clarity of Barack Obama, Rick Santorum or whoever happens to reside at the White House, to protect me and my fellow Americans from abuse of his power. No thanks.’

“Maharrey noted that during the latter days of slavery, ‘state and local governments in northern states stepped in and thwarted the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Acts, which allowed the federal government to arrest and detain black people, and send them back into slavery with little or no due process.

“‘We laud these men and women as heroes,’ he said. ‘I have no doubt that history will prove equally kind to those standing up for the most basic rights of Americans today.’”

See Bob Unruh’s report at:

http://www.wnd.com:80/2012/02/states-prepare-brakes-on-citizen-detention-option/

As I have said repeatedly in this column, the only hope for the preservation of liberty and freedom in America is for individual sovereign states to do what they were created to do: protect the rights and liberties of the citizens of their states from the overreach and despotic propensities of those miscreants in Washington, D.C. If freedom-loving people in the body politic truly intend to see to it that their rights and liberties are preserved, they will pay much more attention–and be much more attuned–to electing State governors, legislators, attorney generals, etc., than they are electing US congressmen, senators, and even electing the President.

With the exception of Ron Paul, there is not a major party Presidential candidate who will make a dime’s worth of difference in protecting the liberties and freedoms of the American citizenry. Both Republicans and Democrats in Washington, D.C., are all about empire-building, foreign interventionism, and expanding the Welfare and Warfare states. Furthermore, none of them (with the exception of Ron Paul) would do anything to thwart or reverse the burgeoning police state that is currently being rapidly constructed in this country. That means, as Michael Boldin said, “It’s going to take ‘We the People’ in our states to stand up and say, ‘No!’”

And quite frankly, that’s about the only thing that the power-elite in Washington, D.C., are worried about. They aren’t worried about Afghanistan, Iraq, or Iran. Those are all orchestrated conflicts to keep our troops fighting endless wars, to have an excuse to print more and more fiat currency, to satisfy the international bankers who are making trillions of dollars off the military-industrial complex, and to give them an excuse of “national security” in order to strip away more and more freedoms from the American citizenry. But State governors, legislators, and attorney generals who actually believe the Constitution and who have the courage to defend it, now THAT scares them to death! Why? Because they know that the real power in this country rests with “We the People” who, through their state governments, have the ability to actually stop their quest for globalism and feudalism.

America’s Founding Fathers clearly understood that the states are the ultimate guardians of the peoples’ liberties. James Madison (and even Alexander Hamilton) spoke to this eloquently in the Federalist Papers.

In Federalist #46, Madison said, “Were it admitted, however, that the Federal government may feel an equal disposition with the State governments to extend its power beyond the due limits, the [states] would still have the advantage in the means of DEFEATING SUCH ENCROACHMENTS” (emphasis added). By “defeating such encroachments,” Madison included “opposition,” “refusal to cooperate,” “frowns of the [State] executive,” “obstructions,” and “plans of resistance.”

Did you see that? America’s fourth President and Father of the Constitution said that it was the duty of the states to obstruct, oppose, resist, and otherwise refuse to cooperate with any federal policy or mandate that runs counter to the principles of liberty. And, remember, this is from the man who authored the so-called “supremacy clause” of the US Constitution!

In Federalist #45, Madison said, “Thus, each of the principal branches of the federal government will owe its existence more or less to the favor of the State governments, and must consequently feel a dependence, which is much more likely to beget a disposition too obsequious than too overbearing towards them. On the other side, the component parts of the State governments will in no instance be indebted for their appointment to the direct agency of the federal government, and very little, if at all, to the local influence of its members.”

Did you get that? In the mind of America’s founders, the federal government would be dependent upon the State governments, not the other way around! But what do we hear today? Even these so-called “conservative” politicos and talking heads say just the opposite. They keep insisting that the states are dependent upon, and subservient to, the federal government.

Even the colonists’ biggest proponent of central government, Alexander Hamilton, had it right on the power of the states to resist federal encroachment. In Federalist #26, Hamilton said, “Independent of … the national legislature itself … the State legislatures, who will always be not only vigilant but suspicious and jealous guardians of the rights of the citizens against encroachments from the federal government, will constantly have their attention awake to the conduct of the national rulers, and will be ready enough, if any thing improper appears, to sound the alarm to the people, and not only to be the voice, but, if necessary, the arm of their discontent.”

Wow! Did you catch that? Hamilton said that the states held the right and duty to resist federal encroachment with their “voice” and with their “arm.”

Does any of this sound like America’s Founding Fathers expected the states to be lap dogs for federal usurpation of power? They fully recognized that it would take the individual states standing against any potential federal overreach to protect and secure the rights and liberties of the American people.

I will say it again: it is far more important who is elected as your governor than who is elected President. It is far more important who is elected as your State attorney general than who is appointed US attorney general. It is far more important who is elected to your State legislature than who is elected to the US House and Senate. It is far more important who is elected as your sheriff than who is appointed as the Director of the FBI. But if all you watch is FOX News, CNN, NBC, CBS, and ABC, you will be mesmerized with national politics, and you will forget about that which is the most important defender of our liberties: our individual state governments. In fact, in many cases today, our State and local governments are as abusive of our liberties as is the federal government. This is mainly due to the inattention and misunderstanding of the People as to the importance of electing local and State leaders who will accept, as their first responsibility, the maintenance of liberty for the people they represent. And by nature, that means being a faithful watchdog to the incursions of the federal government against our freedoms.

Become a member and support the TAC!

It is encouraging to read that at least ten states are pushing back against the monstrously unconstitutional NDAA. If all fifty states would act as courageously as these tenacious ten–and not just against the NDAA, but also against EVERY assault of the federal government against our liberties–America could be restored to the “land of the free” very quickly. As it is, however, the protectors and guardians of our liberties (our State leaders and county sheriffs) are being bribed, coerced, cajoled, harangued, and intimidated into cowardly submission by these belligerent bullies in Washington, D.C.

Thank you Representative Daniel P. Gordon, Jr. of Rhode Island. Thank you Delegate Bob Marshall of Virginia. Thank you to all of you State legislators, State senators, and county sheriffs across our great land who truly understand the oath you took to the Constitution and who are willing to stand as the watchdogs of our liberties. It is a truism that if your tribe does not increase, our freedoms are surely lost.

(c) Chuck Baldwin

EDITOR’S NOTE: Ed Martin, 2012 candidate for US Senate in Missouri, sent the following letter to the entire state legislature in an effort to enumerate the role of a US Senator in the state’s effort to assert sovereignty.

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Greetings and best wishes to you and the General Assembly as you continue its important work.

I write today with an offer: my offer to assist you and, more saliently, to protect the liberty of “We the people of Missouri.” It is obvious to me that a significant change has taken place in the relationship between the liberty of Missourians and our federal government – a change that is most unwelcome and not in the interest of Missourians or our nation. First, the federal government has far outgrown its intended boundaries. Our federal representatives are cobbling together an ever more intrusive and expensive labyrinth of regulations, laws and mandates by asserting authority never granted to them by the states. Second, our elected officials have, for too long, acquiesced to the federal overreach, either out of self-interest, disinterest, or misunderstanding. The elected officials charged with protecting the sovereignty of Missourians – namely our state elected officials as well as our United States Senators – have not been up to the task.

I believe the time has come to begin the long work to restore balance between the states and the federal government. Toward that end, I offer you my solemn pledge to fight for the liberty of “We the people of Missouri“ and to stop the over-reaching federal government in any way I can. I pledge to assist and advocate for you in your efforts as leaders of our Missouri General Assembly should I be elected as a United States Senator from Missouri in 2012.

Last week marked the first anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. Most Americans now recognize this federal takeover of health care as an unwelcome intrusion and a dramatic overreach by the federal government. Our own state’s clear repudiation of Obamacare, along with the election results in November, ought to have meant the end of this scheme; however, repealing Obamacare seems as remote today as it seemed the day after passage.

I believe that this circumstance calls for a remedy found within the federalist structure of the United States, specifically the assertion of the sovereignty of the State of Missouri in defense of its citizens. I join those calling for Missouri’s elected officials – including our U.S. Senators – to stand between Missouri and the federal government to stop the intrusion of our liberties and interpose on our behalf.

As a matter of general understanding, I offer these observations:

The U.S. Constitution and the sovereignty of the people of Missouri

I understand that the United States Constitution and our founders intended a very specific relationship between the federal government and the states. By ratifying the Constitution, the states were ceding to the federal government a subset of roles or powers that, under normal circumstances, would be the purview of a sovereign nation. For example, states do not go to war, mint currency, or levy tariffs on imported goods. The 10th amendment makes it clear, in any honest reading, that the states have the sovereign authority to manage their affairs for their citizens in all but a limited number of situations as clearly spelled out. That this is poorly understood is a failure in education and a willful disregard of what our nation’s founders and founding documents enacted.

Over the years, and particularly in the first half of the 20th century, the federal government began encroaching upon the states’ sovereign prerogatives, typically in pursuit of a progressive economic agenda (expansion of the Commerce Clause, e.g.). These insults to state sovereignty were great and small, and, it must be admitted, they were advanced under both Republican and Democrat leadership. Nearly every department of the President’s cabinet, for example, creates some measure of havoc at the state level either through regulation or funding offered with a rat’s nest of strings attached. These realities have brought us to this point where we the states and the people are becoming broke and hobbled.

Respective states have a right and duty to stand between the federal government and the state’s citizens in some circumstances. When the federal government – which derives its authority from the states – oversteps its boundaries, the state must interpose itself between the federal government and the people. This is not a time for choosing: interposition is a REQUIREMENT of our system of government.

This defense of the state ought to begin with each United States Senator whose task is to put to rest any encroachment upon his fellow citizens’ rights and sovereignty. That senator should work in consultation and concert with the people’s representatives at home, to keep the Feds tending to Federal tasks and leaving the states to their business. I do not think the role of a U.S. Senator is to be a “super representative” or some sort of associate President to help burden states and their citizens with new programs or regulations.

Obamacare and the Protective Assertion of Sovereignty

In light of this understanding of the relationship between the people of Missouri and the federal government, I believe it is time for significant change in how our state deals with federal encroachments.

How then do we return to a more honest understanding of the sovereign relations between the states and the federal government? Or more simply: how do we undo what has been done to us?

First, we must state, publicly and without reservation, the truth of the sovereignty of the state of Missouri as it relates to the state and federal governments. Second, we must join forces – today! – to fight off the encroachments of the federal government starting with Obamacare.

Why begin with Obamacare? First, Obamacare was so recently repudiated by the overwhelming majority of Missourians in passing proposition C. Second, it is a clear and unequivocal assault on the freedom of individual citizens of Missouri and the regulatory prerogatives of the state. Third, even after the landslide drubbing proponents of Obamacare took in the November elections, federal elected officials are not moving to repeal, defund or otherwise stop it.

By engaging in a debate, and ultimately legislation to nullify this most odious federal law, Missouri lawmakers have an opportunity to take the lead where members of Missouri’s executive branch have had feet of clay. Further, Missouri will begin the slow process of restoring the state’s proper position in the pantheon of American political institutions. I am convinced that this is a potent curative to the overreach we have been experiencing these last many years.

Should I prevail in the 2012 election for the United States Senate, you will have an ally in the reassertion of the Great State of Missouri’s sovereignty. I do believe it will be my role to help protect Missouri from federal laws and regulations that overstep the proper role of the federal government.

Toward that end, I make these commitments to you and to your successors in office:

1. Each year, I will meet with you and the General Assembly expressly to discuss any federal actions or contemplated actions that we are concerned constitute an overreach by the federal constitutional authority. (Perhaps the week of March 23rd would be a good time given its significance as an anniversary of Obamacare.)

2. I will support you in any effort to nullify or interpose any law, regulation, or other action that we deem to be an overreach of federal constitutional authority.

3. Finally, I will fight against any action by the federal government to punish the state or Missourians for any expression of their sovereignty. I know that the federal government can use its power to withhold and intrude in our state, and I will fight to stop this abuse.

I am copying this letter to your fellow legislators, and to Governor Nixon and Attorney General Koster, for their information and education. Also, I intend this to be a “circular letter” and will treat it as such. I wish you all the best on this day, Wednesday, March 30, 2011.

Please help the Tenth Amendment Center reach it’s Q1 and Q2 fundraising goal – 65% there already!  Visit this link to invest in freedom and the constitution right now!
http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/donate/

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When Washington D.C. violates the constitution – as it does every single day – the essential question is – “what do we do about it?”

For countless decades, Americans have been responding through protests, lawsuits, and “voting the bums out.”  Yet, year in and year out, federal power always grows.  And it doesn’t matter which political part is in power, or what person occupies the white house either.

But there’s another way – one that people like Thomas Jefferson advised – “Whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers….a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy.”

Since 2006, the Tenth Amendment Center has been the tip of the spear advancing this message – that when states pass laws to reject and nullify unconstitutional federal “laws” regulations and mandates – it’s not rebellion…it’s duty.

Already, 8 states have passed firearms freedom acts to reject some federal gun laws, 15 states – most recently, Arizona – are actively defying D.C. on cannabis laws, 7 states have passed health care freedom acts to reject health care mandates, and in 2011 – already 6 states – Maine, Montana, Oregon, Nebraska, Texas and Wyoming – have introduced the TAC’s model legislation – the federal health care nullification act – to reject not just mandates, the entire national health care bill – every single word of it.

And right now, we need your help to keep this activism and this movement growing.  We’re in the middle of our 2011 q1 and q2 fundraising drive.  Our goal?  For efforts this big – pretty modest – we need just $10,000 to keep the Tenth Amendment Center operational for the next 6 months.  why?  because we’re run almost solely by the dedicated work of volunteers – helping us run our national organization and more than 2 dozen state and local chapters too.

In just our first week alone, we already hit 65% of our goal, and I’m pretty blown away by the quick success.  A huge thanks goes out to the nearly 150 people that have joined us already!   But we’ve still got a little way to go.  Only a few thousand more… and whether you’re donating $3 or $3000, every penny is going to go towards standing up for the constitution – every issue, every time, no exceptions, no excuses.

Won’t you please join us in this effort today?  Please dig deep and help us lead this movement.  Help us reach our goal right now – visit tenthamendmentcenter.com/donate to contribute today

We’re extremely grateful for your support…..thank you.

The Tenth Amendment Center’s announcement of its January 10-11, 2011 fund-raising money bomb effort garnered a fair number of comments.   I want to briefly address some issues.

First, let me disclaim that I am not associated in any official capacity for TAC.  Even if it has a payroll, I am not on it.   I have no financial interest in TAC whatsoever.  My interest is purely intangible.

Is donating to TAC futile?   Well, at least one person thinks so, and I will bet many more believe the same way when it comes time to make a decision as to whether to “pony-up.”  Below was probably one of the best comments to support this view, which I have left exactly as written:

WRONG! This is what we have been brainwashed to do. Throw money at something and EXPECT RESULTS. IT NEVER HAPPENS! This organizations is no different. Did you stop the Health care Bill? S510? NO, YOU AND YOUR ORGANIZATION DID NOT AND IT WON’T! Have you stopped TSA and that violation of our 4th amendment rights? NO, YOU HAVE NOT! How’s that Parental Rights Amendment going? Not a snows balls chance in hell of making it and if it does they will just fly over, go under, go around, parachute in. backroom deals, pass it off to DHS, EPA, CIA, CFR or what ever else it takes to make it happen. NO, because the bottom line is all you are selling is false hope too, and making a buck! If you are not part of the solution, you are part of THE PROBLEM!! How the hell do you think we can compete with George Soros’s money or David Rockefeller’s, Bill Gates, the Bush’s or a multitude of the rest of them? An idiot can do the math and know this organization can’t do squat but make a buck in the process. This is Glenn Beck style of helping “we the people”. More to point, help your self to our pockets just like the rest of them!!!!!!!! Anybody who researches can see this freight train is way too out of control to stop it!!!!! Get George Soros to fund you. We the people are finally figuring it out. We will have to help ourselves!!

Well, I must admit that the writer is probably correct that “[a]nybody who researches can see this freight train is way too out of control to stop it!!!!!”  This clearly seems to be the road down which we are headed.

But the issue not raised is what ultimately happens to an out-of-control freight train.   It crashes!   This is the process we are witnessing.  The federal government, and for that matter, many state and municipal governments, are in a world of hurt that has been decades in the making.  There is a reasonable likelihood that it could all crash in the not too distant future.   Just the other day in a 60-Minutes interview, Governor Chris Christie and financial analyst, Meredith Whitney, among other noted officials, spoke candidly about the dire straits in which our various governments find themselves.

These are real problems.   Whitney predicts it is probable that 50-100 large municipalities will go into default within the next 12 months.  What happens when the money runs out?   Can our governments raise taxes on broke citizens?   Not likely.   So, what will happen to major infrastructure?   Our water supplies, wastewater systems, road maintenance, etc.?   Once vital services cease, there will be hell to pay.   Communities cannot function effectively and profitably if constituents need to devote large segments of their days bringing home buckets of water, dumping buckets of sewage, etc.   Who would have time to worry about interviewing for jobs when the family needs water and when something needs to be done with the mountain of sewage backing-up?

Hopefully, conditions will not drop to these lows, and maybe the Fed can inflate us out of our misery.   But if inflation is not the cure, then, we need to brace ourselves for some tough times.   When governments fail like that, times become fertile for the rise of new powers.   There is literally no telling what kind of government, if any, might replace our federal government, or conversely, whether our federal government might replace our state and municipal governments.

In times like these, it is important to educate people.   Perhaps we are beyond hope of avoiding collapse, but on the other hand, perhaps something can be done to avoid collapse.   Either way, many people seem to concur that a major restructuring of our governmental systems will be necessary.   Some think the correct direction is to deflate government payrolls and cut benefits.   While this appears laudable on its face, we need to ask ourselves how it is that we can grow back our economy by making millions of people poorer.   This is a real quagmire, regardless of how you feel about government.  The reality is that if we take steps to make millions of people poorer, we can forget about economic growth; we will be facing a depression.

As the debate grows over what to do, more people need to understand the plight that led our founders to revolution.   Were our founders avoiding communism?   Hardly.   Their plight was a feudal aristocracy.   Note how one of the first measures our founders undertook was to repeal titles of nobility?    This ought to be a clue that the nobles of the time were the source of oppression.   Not communists.  Not socialists.  Nobles.

Is there a growing probability we are headed in a reverse course and back into the sort of system our founders overthrew?   Well, when corporate America is realizing record profits at a time of record unemployment, maybe we are.

As the commenter above stated,  “How the hell do you think we can compete with George Soros’s money or David Rockefeller’s, Bill Gates, the Bush’s or a multitude of the rest of them?”  Sadly (or fortunately) the writer understands government better than most Americans.   The government is not an intermediary of the power elite.   The government is the power elite.

Perhaps without a dime in donations to TAC or anyone else, our presently corrupt system will collapse from its own weight.   But who will pay?   The power elite own most of the nation’s debts.   They control the military and the police.  Will they simply write off their treasury bond holdings?   Or will they insist on squeezing every last ounce out of the working class to raise taxes for their demands of repayment, despite the fact that the middle class is facing serious struggles?

My concern is that we might end up like Mexico.   There, the oppressed just take it.   You are either rich or poor.   They know nothing of domestic opportunity.   I have wondered why it has been so long since Mexicans have uprisen into revolution.   Why do they take it?  Is it because they, like the commenter above, feel that all is lost?   Is their attitude, “We should give thanks just to be alive?”  My guess is that it probably is.  When one has never enjoyed the fruits of prosperity, one hardly misses the taste.   Thus, they stick to their basic grains and give thanks for it.

As it stands here in the U.S., this generation has seen at least a fair illusion of opportunity.   Much of that illusion was based on deficit spending, liars’ loans and credit cards, but at least we saw it.   My hope is that we do not collapse into a point where our expectations adjust and we just learn to take it, like most other citizens of third-world countries.

I say, “To hell with that!”  This is not a time to pronounce defeat.   This is a time to muster forces.   Of the 308 million of us, at least 307 million are not among the power elite who are corrupting our social structure and leaving the vast majority of Americans at risk of collapse.  The numbers are clearly on our side, as has been the case in every successful revolution (whether peaceful or violent).

In every society worth its salt, people must specialize.   We cannot individually prosper while having to simultaneously grow our own food, sew our own clothes and supply our own water.  Instead, a few grow a lot of food for many.   A few sew a lot of clothes for many.   In the case of politics and governing, alas, a few must serve the political interests of many.   While I might have some time here and there to “spread the word” and participate in some events, I find myself fairly beholden to my day job.   I am sure most all of us do.

This is where foundations like TAC become important.   Somebody needs to carry our message.   Without our message, we are voiceless.   What TAC does is extremely valuable.   Google TAC and see for yourselves all the press it has received from very prominent media sources.   This exposure is important.

In the end, if our regime falls (and it isn’t looking too good right now), I want it to fall at a point when people are like-minded, can stand united in their recognition of what ails us and can stand united to repave a new age of opportunity for everyone, instead of spoils for the few.  In short, if you cannot oppress your oppressors, you will be oppressed.   Welcome to politics!  Let’s push hard and make this happen.

Jeff Matthews [send him email] is a practicing attorney in Houston. He graduated from the University of Texas, School of Law in 1993 and was licensed that year.

Copyright © 2010 by TenthAmendmentCenter.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit to the author and this website is given.

People ask me all the time to explain nullification.  You hear people go off on historical events about the Fugitive Slave Law, Tariffs of 1828, and other items that mean absolutely nothing to the average person today.  Others still will tell you that nullification is an act of racism, since Martin Luther King, Jr. (the greatest American of the 20th Century in my opinion) put it in his great speech, “I Have a Dream.” 

Let me cut through all of this historical rubbish and explain nullification to the common man.  Nullification is simple, it is a state telling the federal government no!  Many of you are aware that the federal government (in Washington D.C.) and the state government (in Austin) are separate governments.  The federal government is in charge of certain things, while the state is in charge of other things.  When this balance of power is called into question many things can happen. 

Think about our two major governments as a marriage.  The federal government is one spouse the state is the other spouse.  When a spouse crosses a line many things can happen.  The other spouse may simply tell them to stop, explain what they did so they will understand the line they crossed better.  The other spouse can be hurt and bitter causing a fight.  The other spouse can file for divorce, and just walk away. 

The marriage analogy is easy to understand, any relationship has its struggles.  The choices that are made define the relationship.  So let’s bring it back to politics.  The federal government does something that is out of line (Obamacare).  The state can react in many ways.  The state can tell them what they did was bad and wrong, fight them, or leave them.  Nullification is the act of telling the federal government what they did was wrong, that the law does not apply to the state, and the federal government ought to now better understand the line that is drawn between the state and federal government.  

When you look at the relationship between federal and state government as a relationship between people, you see that nullification is the sensible option to use first in disagreements.  So now that we see that nullification is a sensible option, how does it work?

Nullification is just telling them no.  The state does this by telling them no in as many possible ways to make sure that they get the message.  Here is how Texas ought to do this with Obamacare.  (I want to point out that we have to take this one issue at a time, there is no fix all, other than taking back the federal government and making them stop passing so many bad laws.)

First, Texas is to sue the federal government for their overreach.  This is being done as we speak, and no major set backs have occurred.

Second, Texas should pass a state law that forbids the carrying out of Obamacare.  That has been filed, HB 297.

Third, Texas should amend the State Constitution to state that the federal government cannot control the healthcare in Texas.  That is yet to be done.

Fourth, Texas should pass a Healthcare Freedom Act, and I have seen several of those floating around and I am sure that this measure will be done.

With all of those actions Texas can nullify Obamacare, and send a message to the federal government that enough is enough.  It takes all four to send this message, anything less and we could be sending a mixed message back to our spouse in Washington. 

Be sure to join the Texas Tenth Amendment Center on January 29th, at the Texas State Capital, as we will sending a message to the Texas Government that they better act!  We are tired of the talk, and we need our state government to stand up and act on our behalf!

John Stacy [send him email] is the Outreach Director for the Texas Tenth Amendment Center. He is also the founder of the Alliance of Texans Against Government Controlled Healthcare.

“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 Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Like a muscle that atrophies when unused, the power of the U.S. Constitution also withers when its meaning is lost on the people.  And, sadly, for many people its meaning most certainly has been lost.

Today, our Federal government illegally conducts; a national take over of our health care, illegal search and seizure at our airports, a seemingly endless use of your tax dollars to prop up failing businesses, and much more.  If people were to view the Constitution properly, as an enumeration of powers delegated to the federal government, one would be hard-pressed to find a day go by without serious Constitutional violations.

However these illegal intrusions are not root of the problem facing our lives today but are instead only symptoms of a much greater sickness of “ignorance” that has infected the American people. The only cure for ignorance is education.

Enter Michael Boldin and the Tenth Amendment Center.

Or, as Chuck Norris put it in his Human Events and TownHall column last year:

“I would encourage you to go to the Tenth Amendment Center and learn more about your 10th Amendment rights”

Established in 2006, the Tenth Amendment Center has been leading the charge to re-educate the American public on the meaning and importance of decentralization as a path to liberty – which is just what the Tenth Amendment affirmed in the U.S. Constitution.

Cited regularly as a resource by media and grassroots sources from the left, right, and center – including Glenn Beck, the Associated Press, Lew Rockwell, Reuters, Campaign for Liberty, and many others – along with having twenty three thousand supporters via facebook, the Tenth Amendment Center is a trusted member of our freedom community.

With more than two dozen State and Local TAC chapters around the country, and many more to come in 2011, the Center also works with state legislatures and grassroots organizations alike to reinvigorate the people’s understanding and practice of the principles held within the Tenth Amendment, it being the greatest check and balance on Federal power that exists.

During the second half of 2010, I had the good fortune to meet and get to know Michael Boldin personally.  After seeing first hand his driven dedication, passion, talent and (perhaps most importantly) his results, I personally rank his efforts and initiatives, via the Tenth Amendment Center, as some of the most important in our movement.

That’s why today I’m writing you to ask for your help – help through your participation in a money bomb of support for this very important cause – our cause, liberty!

On January 10th and 11th, and in commemoration of Thomas Paine’s great work “Common Sense,” we’ll be holding a mass fundraising day to help support and nurture the work of the Tenth Amendment Center. You can pledge to participate directly at the moneybomb website at www.CommonSenseMoneyBomb.com or via the facebook event here.

As Ron Paul has reminded us on many occasions, while elections are important parts of our political process, it is the power of ideas that truly shape and set the foundations of nations. Now that the elections are over, let’s take some time to get back to the fundamentals, let’s bring back the Tenth Amendment!

And, most importantly, lets cure this nation of its ignorance and apathy until the Federal government is penned back into its box and properly muzzled as it should be.

Please take a moment to pledge now directly at the moneybomb website at www.CommonSenseMoneyBomb.com or via the facebook event here. I look forward to participating with you on January 10th and 11th.

Sincerely,

Trevor Lyman

Trevor Lyman [send him email] is a political activist and one of the originators of the Money Bomb concept that broke funraising records in Ron Paul’s 2008 presidential campaign. Visit his websites, breakthematrix.com, trevorlyman.com

“We have it in our power to begin the world over again”

Tom Paine’s powerful words hold just as much meaning today as they did on January 10, 1776 when he first published Common Sense – what historians call “the most popular pamphlet of the entire revolutionary era.”

With a federal government that rarely follows the rules that govern it – the Constitution, that is – there’s a lot of work to do to “begin the world over again.” Our moment is now.

THE ESSENTIAL QUESTION

When the federal government violates the Constitution – what do we do about it? Do we lobby congress and ask federal politicians to limit federal power? Do we go to court and ask federal judges to limit federal power? Do we “vote the bums out” in the hopes that the new bums will give back all that power?

What do we do about it? That’s the question that more and more people are asking every day. Why? Because those three options are what we the people have been employing for nearly a century. In all that time, we the people have been marching and protesting. We the people have sued and voted bums out.

The result? I hate to be the bearer of bad news folks, but all these efforts have been a complete and utter failure. It doesn’t matter what political party is in power in Washington D.C. It doesn’t matter what individual occupies the White House either. Year in and year out, federal power grows and your liberty is reduced.

PARCHMENT

So what DO we do about it?

In Common Sense, Paine answered that question for us – “When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.”

While the ratification of the Constitution created a system of government to decentralize power and create fertile ground for liberty – if we’re relying on the federal government to police and limit itself, that power will always grow. In fact, other great founders like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison warned us that if the federal government ever became the sole and exclusive arbiter of the extent of its own powers, those powers would never be limited – regardless of elections, courts, separations of powers or any of the other vaunted parts of the American system.

As Paine warned us – “virtue is not hereditary.” So even if we were to have a perfect constitutionalist president. Or a Congress full of the same, there’s no guarantee that it would last, and sooner or later those that seek power for evil purposes would get in control. The history of the United States is all the proof we should ever need to understand this stark reality.

DUTY

The existence of the Constitution itself will never protect liberty. You need to. I need to. Our friends and family need to. It’s up to us.

Where does that leave us?

Well, it’s quite simple: We the People need to learn to exercise our rights whether they the government want us to or not!

ACTION FOR TODAY

Since 2006, the Tenth Amendment Center has been championing this message and consistently promoting liberty through decentralization. While the task may seem insurmountable at times – no matter how much the odds seem stacked against freedom, it’s essential to do what’s right. And for the Tenth Amendment Center, doing what’s right is pretty straightforward:

We demand adherence to the Constitution. Every issue, every time. No exceptions, no excuses.

But we need your help to continue these efforts. On January 10th, 2011, in commemoration of Thomas Paine’s historic work, we defend the philosophy held within his writings by holding a mass donation day in support of this revolutionary effort for the cause of liberty, The Tenth Amendment Center.

If you agree that an unconstitutional “law” is no law at all – stand up for the constitution and pledge to support the center in our work right now.

Only with your help can we being the world over again. So if you believe in the constitution and the message of the Tenth Amendment Center – the time to act is now. Not next year, not next month, and not next week. Today. Not tomorrow. Now.

Help us celebrate the anniversary of Common Sense. Help is what we need and help is what you can give us today. Click the banner below and pledge to support this movement now!

Introduction

The Tenth Amendment Center’s numerous national, state and local web sites have written voluminously about the principles of ’98, when the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions laid down a framework for nullification and interposition by the states. Additionally, we have often referenced Thomas Woods’ Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century. Barrels upon barrels of physical and virtual ink have been spent justifying the idea that was, once upon a time, common knowledge. Augustine of Hippo said,

“an unjust law is no law at all”.

And John Locke said,

“”Whenever the legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience”

This shouldn’t be controversial. The fact that it is controversial only shows how reckless our society has become towards the defense of Liberty. As if we could trust a far off city of elites to safeguard our precious Liberty for us! Do we really need yet another lengthy argument to demonstrate that the obvious is true, that Martin Luther King, Jr. was correct when he said,

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

Centuries of philosophers from Ancient Greece until the American Civil Rights movement have all reached the same inescapable conclusion, as (reportedly) said by Thomas Jefferson,

“When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty”

I say the shoe is on the other foot. If someone wants to attempt to dispute centuries, even millenia of Western thinkers, the burden of proof is theirs, not ours! So let us now look at modern America taking the obvious to be fact and look at tactics, strategies and goals of resistance through the prism of some historical events.

Alien And Sedition Acts

First, the Alien and Sedition Acts – these are the acts which prompted the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in 1798. Interestingly, although these acts led to the resolutions which establish the theoretical basis for nullification and interposition, the ultimate remedy to these acts came when the people changed the power-brokers in Washington, DC and the acts were repealed in 1802. As earlyamerica.com says,

Indeed, public opposition to the Alien and Sedition Acts was so great that they were in part responsible for the election of Thomas Jefferson, a Republican, to the presidency in 1800. Once in office, Jefferson pardoned all those convicted under the Sedition Act, while Congress restored all fines paid with interest.

Whiskey Rebellion

Around the same time, as we covered previously, was the Whiskey Rebellion. According to the National Park Service,

“The Whiskey Rebellion took place throughout the western frontier. There was not one state south of New York whose western counties did not protest the new excise with some sort of violence.”

And Murray Rothbard writes,

Rather than the whiskey tax rebellion being localized and swiftly put down, the true story turns out to be very different. The entire American back-country was gripped by a non-violent, civil disobedient refusal to pay the hated tax on whiskey. No local juries could be found to convict tax delinquents. The Whiskey Rebellion was actually widespread and successful, for it eventually forced the federal government to repeal the excise tax.

The unpopular whiskey tax was repealed in 1802 and its end was overseen by Albert Gallatin, a man who had been arrested as a whiskey rebel in 1794. The resistance tactics we see in play from the whiskey rebellion are 1.) civil disobedience; 2.) jury nullification; and 3.) voters responding to an unpopular tax by changing the power-base in Washington, DC.

Fugitive Slave Laws, the Underground Railroad and Personal Freedom Laws

From the signing of the Constitution until the Civil War, the people, the states and the federal government were in continuous competition about slavery and freedom for blacks. We’ve written about Pennsylvania’s role in that contest, here. In short, many of the northern states used various degrees of nullification and interposition to protect the freedom of escaped slaves inside of their boundaries. Additionally, many citizens, north and south, participated in the underground railroad, helping escapees find their way north. The ultimate remedy to this injustice came in the form of a Constitutional Amendment, which resulted from the Civil War. As with the whiskey rebellion, we see multiple forms of resistance to the injustice of slavery. These included 1.) civil disobedience; 2.) jury nullification; 3.) nullification and interposition by the states and 4.) war (yes, there were other, probably more influential, reasons for the war, but it is also true that many who fought and died in that war were motivated by the issue of slavery).

Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938

In 1938, in violation of the clear language of the Constitution, congress set limits on how much grain a farmer may grow on his own farm, even if it never leaves his property. Ohio farmer Roscoe Filburn challenged this limit in the precedent setting case, Wickard vs. Filburn, but unsurprisingly, the federal government found in favor of the federal government (and “big Agriculture”) against that Ohio farmer. Pennsylvania’s own Joseph Blattner also challenged this limit and lost. It is noteworthy that I have found no record of either Ohio or Pennsylvania governments making any effort to defend their besieged citizens. The only tactic of resistance attempted by anyone was the courageous, but futile, act of two individual citizens attempting to go mano a mano with the federal government in the federal government’s own courts. To date, there has been no remedy to these injustices. In fact, the scope of the Constitutional power grab has continued to grow.

Jim Crow and Civil Rights

I have to admit to a glaring lack of knowledge on these events, and I don’t have time to research them for this essay, so I’ll only mention that the tactics of resistance included civil disobedience and organizing to influence national elections.

Real ID, Medical Marijuana and Modern Nullification

Two of the most successful nullification initiatives have been nullification of the federal Real ID and Medical Marijuana laws. At this time, fourteen states are nullifying federal laws against medical marijuana use and twenty-five states are nullifying the Real ID act. The thing to remember, however, is that nullification is a tactic, or a tool. It is not a goal. Does anyone doubt that if a massive terrorist attack takes place, the state support for nullifying the Real ID act will dry up? Likewise, nullification of medical marijuana laws is only good for as long as a state can maintain internal support. It may not be permanent. If the federal law stays on the books, it is likely only a matter of time before the state’s will to resist is exhausted. The states need help in the form of “voter revolt”, jury nullification and possibly civil disobedience (depending upon the abuse) in order to achieve a permanent remedy, usually in the form of repeal.

Conclusion

“Should the general government in any of its departments violate the provisions of the constitution, it rests with the states, and with the people, to apply suitable remedies.”, Pennsylvania General Assembly, 1811

We have seen that resistance to injustice has been a part of American civic life since the ratification of the Constitution. We have seen a number of tactics which can be employed and we have seen that resistance has been most effective when a combination of tactics have been employed. These tactics have included civil disobedience, jury nullification, state nullification and interposition and “voter revolt”.

Hopefully, this article made it clear that tactics are not goals. The tactics of resistance are used, continuously, until the goals of resistance are met. In most historical cases, the goal has been the repeal of an unconstitutional federal law. Occaisonally, the goal has been a Constitutional Amendment.

An interesting new tool has also been proposed, the repeal amendment. In the highly unlikely event that an Article V convention is called and this amendment makes it through the convention unchanged and it finally gets ratified by 3/4 of the states, the amendment would allow a 2/3 majority of the states to demand repeal of a federal law. The Tenth Amendment Center has posted on this amendment here and here. One opinion of mine is that this represents another tactic which could be usefully added to our resistance tool kit, as long as it is clearly understood to be an addition, not a replacement. Another opinion of mine is that this will never ever ever ever (ever!) get ratified by 3/4 of the states, so it’s not worth spending much time thinking about it.

Steve Palmer [send him email] is the State Chapter Coordinator for the Pennsylvania Tenth Amendment Center.

The following is based off a speech given at Nullify Now! in Orlando, FL on 10-10-10.
Watch the video here: Part 1, Part 2

We don’t need no stinkin’ permission to exercise our rights. We need to exercise our rights whether they the government want us to or not.

Ok, so let’s start out with the easy stuff, here… I’m a proud tenther. That means I believe that the federal government is authorized to exercise only those powers that we the people delegated to it in the constitution – and nothing more.

The founders created a system, unique in history, where the most difficult and most divisive issues would be kept close to home in our states and our communities. And, there’s a good reason for such a system – it’s the only kind that can allow people of widely varying political, religious, and economic viewpoints living together in peace. I’m from California. In Florida, you likely don’t want California’s policies. We shouldn’t be required to have Florida’s. Maine should be different from Montana, Texas should be different from South Carolina, and so on. This is the system that best advances freedom.

Unfortunately, though, for a long long time, there’s been very little that the federal government does that actually IS authorized by the constitution.

QUESTION: WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT IT?

- Do we lobby congress or march on DC and ask that federal politicians limit their own power?
- Do we sue them in court and ask federal judges to limit federal power?
- Do we vote the bums out – and hope that the new bums will reject their own power?

Thomas Jefferson and James Madison both warned us that if the federal government ever became the sole and exclusive arbiter of the extent of its own powers – that power would endlessly grow…regardless of elections, separation of powers, courts, or other vaunted parts of our system.

They were right. For over a century, we the people have been suing, and marching, and lobbying, and voting the bums out. But yet…year in and year out, government continues to grow and your liberty continues to diminish. And, it doesn’t matter who is the president, or what political party controls congress – the growth of power in the federal government never stops.

Power – the problem we face today is about power – and until we address the absolute fact that the federal government has too much power, and going to the federal government to fix problems caused by federal power – things will never change.

John Adams once gave us a warning that “liberty once lost, is lost forever.” He wasn’t necessarily saying that there’s no hope whatsoever. But instead, it was an important lesson. Whenever government tells us they need more power to deal with an “emergency” – and they always have them for both foreign and domestic issues – that same government will never voluntarily give that power back. They’ll never just decide that the newfound power is something they don’t want, and that liberty will never be regained without a long, difficult struggle by the people.

WHAT WOULD JEFFERSON DO?

How do we fix this mess? Well, I think I’m in pretty good company if i go with Thomas Jefferson’s advice that “whensoever” the federal government exercises “undelegated powers” … “a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy.”

Reading this, you’ll notice that Jefferson didn’t say that a nullification of the act is a pretty decent remedy. He didn’t say that nullification is just a rightful remedy, or even a good idea to try after voting bums out or going to court. He told us that when the feds exercise powers they’re not supposed to exercise, We’re not supposed to wait for the federal government to correct itself. Jefferson’s advice is that we must resist violations of our rights on a state level – every time it happens.

Around the country, there’s a lot of talk about nullification – but what is it, really? I can think of no better way to define it than how Tenth Amendment Center research analyst Derek Sheriff has done – by describing what it is not:

Nullification is not secession or insurrection, but neither is it unconditional or unlimited submission. Nullification is not something that requires any decision, statement or action from any branch of the federal government. Nullification is not the result of obtaining a favorable court ruling. Nullification is not the petitioning of the federal government to start doing or to stop doing anything. Nullification doesn’t depend on any federal law being repealed. Nullification does not require permission from any person or institution outside of one’s own state.

Nullification is something that’s already happening around the country – and Derek explains the process:

Nullification begins with a decision made in your state legislature to resist a federal law deemed to be unconstitutional. It usually involves a bill, which is passed by both houses and is signed by your governor. In some cases, it might be approved by the voters of your state directly, in a referendum. It may change your state’s statutory law or it might even amend your state constitution. It is a refusal on the part of your state government to cooperate with, or enforce any federal law it deems to be unconstitutional.

At its very core, nullification is any action on a state level that results in some federal law being null and void – and of no effect. It’s about “We the People” exercising our rights whether the politicians or judges in Washington D.C want to give us “permission” to exercise those rights or not. We don’t need no stinkin’ permission.

HEMPCON

I recently went to an event called Hemp Con down in my part of the state – Los Angeles. This is a big event at the LA convention center – with loads of vendors and businesses from every angle you can think of in support of the marijuana industry.

There were home security companies to help protect your weed, solar power companies to help you grow your weed, doctors giving out medical marijuana cards to virtually anyone with $80 and an hour of time. There were even delivery services – you can get your marijuana delivered to you 24 hours a day…in 30 minutes or less. The pizza companies have nothing on these guys! It was amazing if you think about it from an economic standpoint – this was capitalism, the free market – working its wonders around an industry.

What’s the point?

Virtually every single one of those businesses was either directly violating federal law, or aiding someone else in doing so because marijuana is illegal, according to the feds – but not the constitution – in all situations. And guess what – no ATF or DEA thugs shut the place down. Business functioned, people did what they wanted to in freedom, and that was that.

In fact, in 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that state medical marijuana laws were illegal. At that time there were 10 states that had such laws. Since that court ruling came down, not one single state has repealed their law. And today, there’s even more adding on – there’s now 15 states defying Washington DC on marijuana, and they’re getting away with it.

THE BLUEPRINT

When enough people say no to unconstitutional laws, regulations, and mandates…and enough states pass laws to back those people up, there’s not much the federal government can do, but slowly and consistently back off. There’s no tanks rolling into Los Angeles to shut down the dispensaries. This is far from perfect, but it can work, and it is working right now.

Get the New Book Today!

Whether it’s gun rights, or health freedom, or maybe someone should start rejecting the Department of Education because we’re sick of the federal government controlling our schools…the solution to our problems does not lie with the federal government. It lies in our states, and with ourselves.

THE BIG QUESTION

So here’s the final question – and my big challenge to you today. When it happens some day, and it will, that the federal government tells you that you have to purchase some healthcare plan, and you start thinking about penalties for violating that “law” – ask yourself this…do you have as much courage as the pot smokers?

I sure hope you do. Because we need to exercise our rights whether they give us “permission” to or not!

On the night of April 18, 1775, the lantern’s alarm sent Revere, William Dawes and other riders on the road to spread the news. The messengers cried out the alarm, awakening every house, warning of the British column making its way towards Lexington. In the rider’s wake there erupted the peeling of church bells, the beating of drums and the roar of gun shots – all announcing the danger and calling the local militias to action.

After that first successful skirmish, our founders endured unimaginable hardships, lost battles, emotional despair, and a debilitating winter at Valley Forge, until Washington’s final victory at Yorktown. The battles of Lexington and Concord were just the beginning of America’s struggle for freedom.

November 2, 2010, was our Battle of Lexington Green, our “shot heard ‘round the world.” Will we have the courage and determination to fight on to win total victory?

The forces of Progressive Socialism will not spend much time licking their wounds. I have no doubt, nor should any of you, that they will double their efforts to take control our government and continue their assault on our Constitution. Armed with massive funding from their puppet masters, they will use misdirection and prevarication to convince the American people that the administration’s spending spree was only in response to the crisis they inherited from their perennial scapegoat, George Bush. The President’s response to his party’s electoral drubbing was to lament not having done a better job explaining his program to the people. After all, who wouldn’t be in favor of a socialist takeover of General Motors, the home mortgage industry, the banking industry, the student loan program, the healthcare industry, and our nation’s energy resources by the Federal Government? Haven’t they been willing to compromise and work across the aisle for the past two years even though they held a majority in both houses of congress? If we all weren’t so dumb, we could stop clinging to our guns and our religion long enough to trust the self-anointed smartest people on earth to tell us all how to eat and live.

It’s not the message, Mr. President. It’s the agenda.

As grassroots patriots, however, we must also realize that our inside allies, the Republican members of Congress, are not all as dedicated to constitutional principles as we. Without our constant observation, many will be tempted by the party establishment to stray from the promises made to get elected. They will be co-opted by the trappings of power, threats of ostracism, and the obscene amount of lobbyist and PAC money needed for re-election.

Let me be clear to those newly elected and those re-elected members of Congress.

I will accept no compromise with the principles of limited government, individual freedom, personal responsibility, fiscal restraint, and free market economy.

I will accept no compromise with those who deny the supremacy of the individual states and the people, as specified by Article I, Section 8 (the enumerated powers) and the Ninth and Tenth Amendments that limit the size and scope of the Federal Government.

I will accept no compromise with those who would abuse any portion of the Constitution, specifically the Commerce Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment, to expand the size and power of the Federal Government beyond what was envisioned by our founders and that which is constitutionally permitted.

I will accept no compromise with those who deny that our Rights are Natural Law Rights, derived from our creator, ours by dint of our humanity and that it is the duty and obligation of all governments to protect and secure those rights, not to abridge, amend, or restrict them.

I will accept no attempt to compromise in repealing legislation, rules, and regulations that serve to enlarge the size and power of the Federal Government at the cost of fiscal responsibility, free market economic principles, and personal freedom.

I will accept no attempt to compromise in the elimination of earmarks and special exemptions from taxes and laws used to reward political contributions, to favor one group over another, and to buy votes.

I will accept no compromise in efforts to decrease the size and cost of government, to balance the budget, and to prevent the use taxpayer dollars as a bail out for corporations and states that are deemed “too big to fail”.

Congress, we are watching you.

The election of 2010 is the first battle in our revolutionary war to regain the freedoms stolen from us by oppressively intrusive federal and state governments and to restore in our nation the constitutional republic that is our heritage.

That is the lesson of Lexington, 1775. The future of our nation and our children’s freedom can only be assured by our vigilance.

Dr. Dan Eichenbaum is a practicing ophthalmologist in Murphy, North Carolina, and a founder of the Cherokee County 9-12 Project. Visit his website at http://drdansfreedomforum.com/

Copyright 2010 Dan Eichenbaum