The Outlaw Congress in Washington, DC continues to break the law everyday as if there is no U.S. Constitution. Both parties are guilty of driving this republic into financial ruin while talking out of both sides of their mouths. They will say anything for a vote as we’ve seen recently regarding Connecticut’s Attorney General’s race for the U.S. Senate.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, looking to replace outgoing Sen. Christopher Dodd, lied about his military record. He didn’t misspeak; he’s a liar, plain and simple. Not a problem for the morally and ethically bankrupt Democratic Party: “Sen. Bob Menendez, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, told reporters today that he and his committee are sticking by Richard Blumenthal, in the wake of the New York Times’ report that the Democrat running for Connecticut Senate has exaggerated his military record.”

RECALL

Eighteen states of the Union allow recall at the state level. It’s unfortunate more citizens in those states haven’t taken advantage of removing corrupt officials, but in the larger states, it can require hundreds of thousands of signatures; in some cases a million or more. But, I always say if you want something bad enough, you’ll go after it.

This November only 1/3rd of the illegal U.S. Senate is up for reelection. A group of fed up citizens in New Jersey have had it with Sen. Robert Menendez and want him gone. They also don’t want to wait until 2012 to oust him – if even possible. A recall effort began with the petition process. A three judge panel (state appeals court) ruled March 16, 2010, that the petition process could move forward, but also stated: “But noting the absence of case law and precedent, it left the ultimate question of the constitutionality of the state’s recall law and amendment to a higher court.”

This didn’t sit well with Menendez, calling the effort a publicity stunt and issuing this rant: “This is an organization trying to undemocratically and unconstitutionally overturn an election in which more than 2 million New Jerseyans voted,” said Menendez, whose term expires in 2012. “My focus continues to be on job creation legislation and delivering a successful extension of my local property tax relief bill.”

The court also said this: “The court found existing New Jersey law and the state’s constitution both allow U.S. senators to be recalled. For that reason, the appeals court said, the removal effort can proceed. “There are a host of genuine arguments and counterarguments that can be articulated and debated about whether or not the Federal Constitution would permit a United States Senator to be recalled by the voters under state law,” the appellate judges said.

Which brings us to the meat of the issue. Long ago and far away, and like many others, I wrote that the effort to enact term limits on members of Congress would be shot down by the courts. It was in U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v Thornton [5] – U.S. Supreme Court – Decided May 22, 1995.

The U.S. Constitution makes specific reference to the length of time representatives and senators would serve between elections:

Art. 1, Section 2: The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature.

Art. 1, Section 3: The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote.

It doesn’t specifically state a restriction as to how many terms a representative or senator can serve. Of course, back then, the framers could hardly imagine professional political prostitutes would stay in Congress 15, 20, 30 or more years. Rep. Charlie Rangel [D-NY] going into year 40. Sen. Roberty Byrd [D-WVA]: 51 years. Nutty Nancy Pelosi [D-CA]: 23 years. The utterly incompetent, Rep. Wally the Waffle Herger [R-CA]: 23 years. Bumbling Sen. Carl Levin [D-MI]: 31 years. Crook, Sen. Diane Feinstein: 18 years. Kill American jobs Congressman John Boehner [R-OH]: 19 years. Strom Thermond [SC] States Rights Democratic (1948–1954): Democratic (1923–1948, 1954–1964); Republican (1964–2003) stayed 47 years until he died. How absurd.

The non-ratified Seventeenth Amendment destroyed state sovereignty by removing the right of the state to representation in Congress and turning it over to voters to elect a U.S. Senator.

I raised this question in my presentation on the Seventeenth Amendment: “The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose, Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate….

“Since several states were out of session at the time of the vote, have they been deprived of equal Suffrage in the U.S. Senate because they did not participate in the ratification of this amendment? Is fraud (non ratification) enough to allow a state to declare it null and void in their state? No action taken on the ratification: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware. No record for Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington State.”

The framers of the Constitution wanted we the people to have representation in Congress; the U.S. House of Representatives became that body. They desired that the states would receive equal representation; that became the U.S. Senate. Otherwise, why have two bodies in Congress? If they were all to be elected, why not just one – the U.S. House of Representatives? The few and limited legislative areas for the Senate could have easily been rolled into one body if they were all to be elected. But, they weren’t.

Senators appointed by the state legislatures is no small matter since the Senate ratified treaties (i.e., NAFTA, CAFTA, GATT, WTO, UN) which directly affect the states. Confirmation of cabinet members like the Department of Defense, which directly affects all states of the Union. Confirmation of federal judges and U.S. Supreme Court Justices, whose decisions have a direct impact on the states. That is why the Seventeenth Amendment is so egregious to the suffrage rights of the states of the Union. The state legislatures no longer had the right to appoint their representatives to go to Congress and recall a senator who voted against the interests of their state. Now it would be left to voters — too many who have zero understanding of the cancers eating away at this country; they vote for a name they’ve seen on a sign or who their party tells them to vote for. Special interest voters who have no regard for the U.S. Constitution and illegals voting have contributed to the mess in which we find ourselves.

As we can see, there is also no specific mention of recall in those two sections of the Constitution. While I wished it otherwise, I believe a member of Congress cannot be recalled. It would require a constitutional amendment. There have been numerous attempts over the years, which I have covered in past columns; none successful. If memory serves me correctly, it has been due to lack of money to obtain the required number of signatures.

The term of service for representatives and senators was specific in the Constitution, but no cap was put on how many times they could serve or recall. As I understand the issue, the framers wanted uniformity: A set term between elections for all members of the House – two years. The Senate to serve six years. I believe this was done so there wouldn’t be a hodge-podge from dozens of states.

But! There is a fly in the ointment so to speak. Recall what the court said in its decision to allow the petition process to proceed: “The court found existing New Jersey law and the state’s constitution both allow U.S. senators to be recalled.” This I did not know until I read about this particular recall, so I went and looked at the New Jersey State Constitution. I might add a very politically incorrect Constitution (1947): “We, the people of the State of New Jersey, grateful to Almighty God for the civil and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing upon our endeavors to secure and transmit the same unimpaired to succeeding generations, do ordain and establish this Constitution.”

Art. 1, Section 2(b) reads:

b. “The people reserve unto themselves the power to recall, after at least one year of service, any elected official in this State or representing this State in the United States Congress. The Legislature shall enact laws to provide for such recall elections. Any such laws shall include a provision that a recall election shall be held upon petition of at least 25% of the registered voters in the electoral district of the official sought to be recalled. If legislation to implement this constitutional amendment is not enacted within one year of the adoption of the amendment, the Secretary of State shall, by regulation, implement the constitutional amendment, except that regulations adopted by the Secretary of State shall be superseded by any subsequent legislation consistent with this constitutional amendment governing recall elections. The sufficiency of any statement of reasons or grounds procedurally required shall be a political rather than a judicial question.”

Now, we have a different dog fight. I am on the side of recall, but I don’t believe using the Tenth Amendment is going to win the day for this argument, but I could be wrong. I’ve also been trying since 1993 to get one state to challenge the non ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment. A lot of time and misery could have gone away. In any event, the New Jersey Supreme Court will take arguments on May 25, 2010.

Just one update: “The state of New Jersey has apparently decided it will not join the appeal to stop the Tea Party effort to recall Menendez:

“While the State’s position on federal constitutionality remains the same … it is mindful that the Appellate Division correctly pointed out that a condition precedent to any recall election–obtaining the signatures of approximately 1.3 million registered voters within 320 days–may never come to pass. Repeatedly invoking principles of judicial restraint, the Appellate Division stated that “[t]here is, and there will be, no necessity for our courts to resolve this difficult constitutional issue if the (plaintiff) Committee’s petition drive fails to collect the necessary, approximately 1,300,000 signatures. The State will not seek to overturn this exercise of judicial prudence and restraint.”

The outcome of this case will have a profound impact. While I would like to see all 100 current U.S. Senators tossed out of office, I still believe the original intent of the framers was to see that both the people and the states were represented in Congress. That is why there is a House (for we the people) and Senate (for the states). However, since few care that the Seventeenth Amendment wasn’t ratified by enough states, and not a single state seems to care about their right to representation in Congress, right now it is up to the courts.

It is likely to go to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in my humble opinion, would be a tragedy considering one of the justices, Sonia Sotomayer, should have been indicted for being a willing participant in a cover-up in concealing assets as part of a judicially run and tolerated bankruptcy fraud scheme. She also lied on the required documentation submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee. She later corrected her lies. That judicially unqualified justice (qualified because of her ethnicity and female plumbing) should have been indicted long ago. The Democrats are determined to get another miserably unqualified (except for being a liberal, activist female) candidate, Elena Kagan, confirmed and on the bench. The Republicans will do their usual and cave as they did with Sotomayer.

Which brings to mind: “At the establishment of our Constitutions, the judiciary bodies were supposed to be the most helpless and harmless members of the government. Experience, however, soon showed in what way they were to become the most dangerous; that the insufficiency of the means provided for their removal gave them a freehold and irresponsibility in office; that their decisions, seeming to concern individual suitors only, pass silent and unheeded by the public at large; that these decisions nevertheless become law by precedent, sapping by little and little the foundations of the Constitution and working its change by construction before any one has perceived that that invisible and helpless worm has been busily employed in consuming its substance. In truth, man is not made to be trusted for life if secured against all liability to account.” –Thomas Jefferson to A. Coray, 1823. ME 15:486

Devvy Kidd authored The Booklets, Why A Bankrupt America and Blind Loyalty: 2 million copies distributed. Devvy appears on radio shows all over the country. She left the Republican Party in 1996 and has been an independent voter ever since. Devvy is a constitutionalist who believes in the supreme law of the land, not some political party. Visit Devvy’s website at: http://www.devvy.com. You can also sign up for her free email alerts. Devvy’s radio show broadcasts Mon-Friday: for details go to Devvy’s site. http://www.renseradio.com/listen.htm

 

WesternFront America

States Distancing Themselves From The Federal Government.

NINTH AMENDMENT to the US Constitution: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

TENTH AMENDMENT to the US Constitution: 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.

As I have observed over the past few months the “State Sovereignty Movement” continues to sweep the nation with well over three-quarters of the fifty states taking action, through their respective state legislatures, re-establishing their “sovereignty”.

It is being reported that there are over 40 states with state sovereignty declarations as of this writing. If true, that is heartening.  There is no doubt the states have been relegated to second-class citizenship in the US.  That is just WRONG and must be corrected!

We found reports on the Internet stating that THERE ARE 12 NEW STATE SOVEREIGNTY DECLARATIONS IN PROGRESS, RIGHT NOW!! THEY INCLUDE ALABAMA. NEBRASKA, Rhode Island, WYOMING, WASHINGTON, INDIANA, KENTUCKY, GEORGIA, KANSAS, MISSOURI, MISSISSIPPI, AND MARYLAND!

WYOMING is the newest constitutionally sovereign state. The bill was signed into law on March 8^th, 2010. Utah did the same on the 25^th of February 2010. The debate continues in my home state of South Carolina, but my guess is it will pass the state legislature and be signed into law by the “Sandlappers” very soon now.

Here in North Carolina, House Bill H849 “supporting the state’s right to claim sovereignty over certain powers under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States” has been filed.

Here’s the full text:

Whereas, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads as follows: “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;” and

Whereas, the Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that specifically granted by the Constitution of the United States and no more; and

Whereas, the scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment means that the federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states; and

Whereas, today, in 2009, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government; and

Whereas, many federal mandates are directly in violation of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and

Whereas, Section 4 of Article IV of the Constitution of the United States says, “The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government,” and the Ninth Amendment states that “The enumeration in the constitution of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people;” and

Whereas, the United States Supreme Court ruled in New York v. United States, 112 S. Ct. 2408 (1992), that Congress may not simply commandeer the legislative and regulatory processes of the states; and

Whereas, a number of proposals from previous administrations and some now pending from the present administration and from Congress may further violate the Constitution of the United States; Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

SECTION 1.  The North Carolina House of Representatives supports the State’s right to claim sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government or reserved to the people by the Constitution of the United States.

SECTION 2.  The North Carolina House of Representatives urges the federal government, as the agent of the State, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of any constitutionally delegated powers.

SECTION 3.  The North Carolina House of Representatives further urges that compulsory federal legislation which directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be prohibited or repealed.

SECTION 4.  The Principal Clerk shall transmit a certified copy of this resolution to the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and each member of the North Carolina Congressional Delegation.

SECTION 5.  This resolution is effective upon adoption.

Read more on North Carolina’s efforts to re-establish its sovereignty HERE.

I took a look in my crystal ball and, for the life of me; I could see no indication of the effect the sovereignty movement will have on future relations between the states and their “agent”… the federal government. Only time will tell.

However, I must tell you, it does this old southern boy’s heart good to see “State’s Rights” again brought to the fore in the United States.

James Madison, The Founder we refer to as “The Father of the Constitution,” wrote the following: “To preserve the Republic, it is in the hands of the people. We have staked the whole future of American civilization not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments”

As with all Americans we “Southerners” get a lot of things wrong.  But we have been right on the issue of “State’s Rights” all along.  See, southerners had a bit more than just a signature invested in the creation of the Constitution, itself. There was never any doubt, in our minds, about who “the greater” and who “the lesser” was/is in this association of states and federal government.  I must tell you, I am more than a little pleased to find the names of several northern and western states, and even northeastern states, included in the list of the names of the states involved in the State Sovereignty Movement.

Washington would do well to take notice, serious notice, of this movement. The Congress and the President may have forgotten, but it is “the boss” filing this complaint. It is very easy to sit in Washington and spend North Carolina’s money, or the money of the folks from Texas or Oklahoma.  But, believe me when I tell you that we have been paying attention and we do not like having our state’s treasuries looted by a heavy-handed federal government.

The current Congress would also do well to read up on the “Ordinance of Nullification” passed by my home state of South Carolina in 1828.  You can read it for yourself HERE. Suffice it to say State Sovereignty is NOT a NEW issue in this country.  It appears we will have to visit it — yet again.

© J. D. Longstreet

J. D. Longstreet blogs daily at INSIGHT on Freedom at: http://www.csadispatch.blogspot.com/

 

WesternFront America

A strong central government is a nightmare to freedom lovers everywhere, especially here in the United States. The Nightmare has become real, in the US, since President Abraham Lincoln tossed out the Constitution. We have never been able to recover the government our forefathers, the framers of the Constitution, intended.

The Founders and Framers foresaw a limited government subject to the States. Today it is exactly the opposite. Now the states are subject to the federal government. In other words the creation of the States… namely, the Federal Government has become a “Frankenstein” of sorts. This was NOT what the founders and framers intended. Not by a long shot.

Look at the recent ruling by the Supreme Court that medical marijuana use is illegal… even though eleven states have passed laws saying it is legal, in their states, for a doctor to write a prescription for a patient to use marijuana to relieve his, or her pain, on any number of other ailments.

This is raw power. And it is dangerous… dangerous in the extreme.

One of the real shortcomings of this country is its inability to study its past history and learn from its former mistakes. Even our public schools teach so little history, I’m talking about American History now, that the graduates, those schools turn out, are virtually ignorant of their country, and the rights they are granted under the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. As a result, rulings similar to the one, recently, on medical marijuana, is easily passed by a Supreme Court which is obviously out of control and needs to be reined in by the Congress.

Problem is… the Congress is out of control, too. They are handing down laws, which curtail our constitutional freedoms because “the people” are clamoring for security. Sorry, folks, but I don’t hear that clamor! I believe it is imaginary. A figment of minds so used to power they will grasp every chance to expand their controlling reach into our society.

Can we stop it? Can we bring citizen control back to our government? Not in our lifetimes or that of our children. We cannot even begin until we stiffen the spines of the American people. That will not be easy. The Leftist Media is continually feeding their readers the idea that they, as citizens, are helpless and their only hope is in government. And that, Dear Reader, is exactly what got us into this mess in the first place!

Those of us who believe in the original Constitution must be able to reach the populace with this message of truth. Those who would oppose us with their dying breath control the conventional means of communications, in the US.

So, we have gone to the Internet. Soon the Internet will be under attack by the Federal Government. They seek to control our speech out here in cyber space. Their actions smack of fear — raw fear of losing control. You see, if they don’t control us… we might speak the truth. Christ Himself said, “Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free!” Therein lies the problem for our strong central government… the simple truth.

But we have to stand up like the sons and daughters of heroes that we are! Bound together by the common goal of Freedom, we can once again break the bonds of a strong central government and the power it has over our everyday lives. It may take decades. It may take a century, or two, but if we remain in the fight, we can win. But… that is the only way. It will take all of us, in the harness, pulling together to put our Republic back together again. Slackers need not apply.

Here’s something one of our founders and framers, John Adams, said:

“If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”

Mr. Adams sums it up nicely.

We must not tarry. The goal is much too important. Our liberty, our freedom regained. That smoldering ember, down deep in your soul, is calling to you to answer the growing thirst for freedom again.

In November we have the Mid-Term election. This will be an opportunity to let your voice be heard loudly proclaiming that you want your birthright of freedom returned. Tell the government loudly and clearly that we choose liberty over security. We choose our freedom. As an American, it is our right!

*********************************************************

J. D. Longstreet blogs daily at INSIGHT on Freedom at:

http://www.csadispatch.blogspot.com/

longstreet1862@gmail.com

 

WesternFront America

Sometimes, I think most of us get caught up in the great struggle in DC, to the point ignoring other opportunities.  Health care reform seems to be a case in point.  Like so many blog sites, the CH 2.0 has published many posts regarding the health care debate.  All of them have been focused on the debate in DC, and the details of the bills.  But we missed something.

While being caught up in the DC lies and propaganda-fest, we missed something that had been mentioned here, but in a different context, namely, the 10^th Amendment.  For an excellent article on the topic, please take a look at this from Canada Free Press on nullification.

Well, if you believe the only way to protect your rights is by begging federal politicians to do what you want, then these emails are certainly right. The vote went as expected, and so will the next.

So if you think marching on D.C. or calling your Representatives, or threatening to “throw the bums out” in 2010 or 2012 or 20-whatever, is going to further the cause of the Constitution and your liberty—you might as well get your shackles on now. Your last chance has come and gone.

The real way to resist DC is not by begging politicians and judges in Washington to allow us to exercise our rights…it’s to exercise our rights whether they want to give us “permission” to or not.

Nullification—state-level resistance to unconstitutional federal laws—is the way forward.

When a state nullifies a federal law, it is proclaiming that the law in question is void and inoperative, or ’effective,’ within the boundaries of that state; or, in other words, not a law as far as that state is concerned.

It’s peaceful, effective, and has a long history in the American tradition. It’s been invoked in support of free speech, in opposition to war and fugitive slave laws, and more. Read more on this history here.

Regarding nullification and health care, there’s already a growing movement right now. Led by Arizona, voters in a number of states may get a chance to approve State Constitutional Amendments in 2010 that would effectively ban national health care in their states. Our sources here at the Tenth Amendment Center indicate to us that we should expect to see 20-25 states consider such legislation in 2010.

20 States resisting DC can do what calling, marching, yelling, faxing, and emailing has almost never done. Stop the feds dead in their tracks.

Better yet, in the last 2+ years more than 20 states have been able to effectively prevent the Real ID Act of 2005 from being implemented. How did they do that? They passed laws and resolutions refusing to comply with it. And today, it’s effectively null and void without ever being repealed by Congress or challenged in court.

While the Obama administration would like to revive it under a different name, the reality is still there—with massive state-level resistance, the federal government can be pushed back inside its constitutional box. Issue by issue, law by law, the best way to change the federal government is by resisting it on a state level.

That’s nullification at work.

Over the years, wise men and women warned us that the Constitution would never enforce itself. The time is long overdue for people to start recognizing this fact, and bring that enforcement closer to home.

The bottom line? If you want to make real change; if you want to really do something for liberty and for the Constitution…focus on local activism and your state governments.

Thomas Jefferson would be proud!

So, there appears to be some other tools we can use to fight this.  You may want to contact your state representatives to see if they will support such actions.

The author here seems to want the sole focus to be local rather than national.  However, I cannot agree that we should abandon the circus in DC.  We need to protest and “blitz” the Legislative and Executive branches with emails, letters, and calls.  We need them to know where we stand, and that their jobs are in jeopardy if they continue on the course towards slavery.

There does seem, by my estimation, to be some pitfalls to local resistance.  Most obviously, the Democrats will seek to punish any state that resists the health care plan.  Other funding will be threatened.  This is, however, only an issue in that the states have allowed themselves to become dependent on the Federal government.  While it’s too late to avoid this, it is a factor that should be recognized.   Also, the Democrats and their client groups will exert considerable pressure on the present state legislators and governors to change their minds.  The rent-a-mob will be employed, as will every trick in the playbook, including the race card.  State officials will do well to read up on their Alinsky.  There will be a great deal of effort and money spent to replace state officials that resist.  Not only in elections, but also in fake ethics complaints, time consuming lawsuits, and the like.  Ask Sarah Palin how that goes.  None of these, in and of themselves are a reason not to resist, but state officials will have to recognize that they will be marked by the left.  If they cannot find it, they will make it up.

© Matt Ross

Originally posted at Conservative Hideout 2.0

The Liberty Pen

 

WesternFront America

Lawmakers in 20 states are pushing to regain their states sovereignty from the US Government under the ninth and tenth amendments to the US Constitution!

We warned this was coming many months, even years ago, in this very space. Many readers gave me grief saying that I had no idea what I was talking about, that I was blowing smoke, that I was a dumb ole redneck looking to secede from the Union. None of that was, nor is, true. The fact is that I live in the real world where people are not afraid to speak their minds.

Some months (possibly even years) back, I pointed out to readers there was information that indicated there were, at that time, 22 active secessionist movements within the United States. That information was brushed aside. So, we come to today.

Today we have lawmakers, in the state legislatures of at least 20 states, introducing bills to assist their states in re-establishing their constitutional sovereignty from the Federal Government. The federal government has just become entirely too overbearing as strong central governments always do. You might even say… as our current federal government has become.

There is an excellent article on this HERE.

Now, as an amateur historian, very amateurish, I stress, I have spent a good deal of time studying the period in the early to mid 1800′s when the US had reached a point similar to the one we find ourselves at today.

You see, by 1860 the Gross National Product of the southern states of America was three times that of the northern states. The southern states were providing well over 60% of the money necessary to keep the US afloat. The US government was demanding more and more of the southern states and simply would not listen when my southern ancestors complained about it to the Congress. Finally, the southern states threatened to leave the Union and set up their own country. The US Constitution did not; repeat… did not … forbid the secession of any state, at any time, for any reason. (The Articles of Confederation did bar secession unless all the states seceded. Not so, the Constitution which followed.)

Eleven states, plus parts of two more states, left the US and formed the Confederate States of America with a Constitution, a Congress, a President, an Army, a Navy, a Marine Corp, and a land area several times larger than that of the 13 original colonies when they left the Mother Country to form their own nation.

Unfortunately, the history of what happened next, over the next four years of war and then the abomination called reconstruction, has been rewritten to favor the Federal Government’s side of the dispute and it has given a permanent black eye to my region of the country. I maintain that the south would be a separate, prosperous, country today had my ancestors not been dragged back… forced back… into the Union at the point of a bayonet… all quite illegally.

I expect that many of you will be will be surprised to learn that the Federal Government was created by the states to act as a agent of the states, taking direction from the states. That has all been changed today. Today the states take orders from the Federal Government, which was originally meant to be an inferior agency. Some people around the 50 states are beginning to wake up to this fact and when enough get riled up, there will be hell to pay… all over again.

The Ninth Amendment to the US Constitution says:

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

The Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution says:

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.

Now, you can argue this point every which way from Sunday, and it has been. But, when the smoke clears away, the tenth Amendment makes it absolutely clear that the Federal Government is limited only to the powers granted to it in the Constitution. It says so… right there in the tenth amendment!

To see that the Federal Government has exceeded it’s authority all you have to do is look around you.

We, the people, are swamped with rules, and regulations, and laws handed down by the Federal Government that are smothering the states and draining our state treasuries, just as the Federal Governement did before the American Civil War. It is plain to see that the states and the Federal Government are headed for some kind of confrontation … and it won’t be pleasant.

I am convinced that the Congress we have seated today, and the President in the Oval Office today, will do more to bring about the dissolution of the United States than any government since that of Lincoln in 1860. We warned, even before the President was sworn in, that his government would over-reach. They began almost immediately. The so-called “Stimulus Bill” could well be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Eight states have introduced resolutions declaring state sovereignty under the Ninth and Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, including Arizona, Hawaii, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Washington (state). Some analysts expect that in addition, another 20 states may see similar measures introduced this year, including Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Nevada, Maine, and Pennsylvania. We recommend you read an article titled: “State Sovereignty Movement Quietly Growing.” You’ll find it HERE.

No less than James Madison, himself, one of our Founding Fathers, wrote in “The Federalist” the following: “The powers delegated to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the state governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, [such] as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce. The powers reserved to the several states will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people.”

Interestingly, James Madison was one of the chief writers of the US Constitution. I think it is safe to take his word as an authority on what it meant.

The plain fact is… as one state lawmaker has said… the states are tired of being treated as branches of the Federal Government. The profligate spending by the Federal Government and those unfunded mandates dumped on the states are strangling the states… just as they did to the Southern states in the 1800′s.

We Americans don’t know our own history. America has a couple of generations of Americans who believe history started they day they were born. Those of us, who have studied the past, see the warning signs flashing all around us. We are headed for a constitutional crisis, which may tear the country apart. And I am not writing of this recession, which is nowhere near as bad as the current government would have you believe. I am pointing to a power struggle between the “creator”(the states), and the “created” (the federal government).

This Americans, who do know their history, know, all too well, that America is in another situation very similar to the one over which she fought the American Revolution and, approximately 80 years later, the American Civil War.

Am I worried? You’d better believe I am worried!

© J. D. Longstreet

J. D. Longstreet is a conservative Southern American (A native sandlapper and an adopted Tar Heel) with a deep passion for the history, heritage, and culture of the southern states of America. At the same time he is a deeply loyal American believing strongly in “America First”.

J. D. Longstreet blogs daily at INSIGHT on Freedom

 

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Our forefathers wisdom brought together 13 colonies as one for defense and commerce purposes. At any time any of these colonies felt violated of their rights granted at the Constitutional Convention, they had the right to leave the union.

The states were to preserve their power and their identity, but clearly in 2009, that’s not the case. Out government has become a strong centralized government that often walks over the Constitution for partisan legislative and judicial gain. As the Federal Government has left the gold standard, turned control of our money to the Federal Reserve, increased and created unfair taxation, and most recently printed money to bailout private entities, any of the 50 states should have the power to leave the union. Obviously, this is not what our forefathers prescribed.

The southern states secession began in during Abraham Lincoln’s victory over the issue of slavery. Slavery was a driving economic factor in the poorer southern states, and the fear of northern economic superiority drove southern states to fight for the rights of slave owners. I am by no means justifying slavery, but the southern states, realizing a possible economic collapse and the violation of states’ rights, seceded from the union. They were well within their rights.

Once they announced their secession, the United States government needed to extract federal troops from forts in the south, since the south no longer would depend on the federal government for protection. Jefferson Davis attacked Fort Sumter to remove the northern influence and presence from the South. The southern secession added four more states after the attack. When Lincoln organized Union troops to keep the country together, he violated the power of secession, probably denying it forever.

Since the Civil War, the power of the Federal Government has grown at an alarming rate. So far gone is the idea of centralized state governments that rely on a weaker federal government to insure interstate commerce and defense, schools rarely teach this truth to students anymore.

Each year the federal government grows and removes more responsibility from the states. A perfect example of this is education. It was not intended and should not be the federal government’s responsibility to shape education policy, but we know the states have given up their power for federal funding. Now the Department of Education is far too influential in our nation’s schools.

In a Faustian deal, the states have given up their identity and most importantly their ability to stand up to the abuse of power in Washington. We may be 50 different borders, electoral contests, and smaller governments, but we are now one super glued union. To stand up for states’ rights now using the Second Amendment might provoke a scene similar to Tiananmen Square. We don’t like to think of our country like that, but to regain the rights of the states will require defeating firepower not even imagined during the first time the South tried it.

Lincoln abused the power of the Federal Government. Now we have to observe the results. Regardless of whether slavery was right or wrong during the debates of the 1850s, the real tragedy of the Civil War is the loss of states’ rights.

Originally Published at Bungalow Bill’s Conservative Wisdom

 

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