Moore TEA Citizens
 
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Many, if not most, Americans are unaware that the nation is composed of separate republics with their own constitutions.  They are, of course, the individual states.

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved respectively, or to the people.” – Tenth Amendment

By tying compliance with federal laws and regulation to receiving funds, the states have been coerced to accept programs that limit freedoms enumerated in the Constitution and the passage of Obamacare is but one example.  Some twenty states have refused to set up the mandated insurance exchanges.  Obamacare grants the government complete control over the provision of medical care that every American has formerly received from the free market health system that it destroyed.  It gives the federal government control over our lives in terms of who lives or dies.

As noted on the website of the Tenth Amendment Center:  "The Founding Fathers had good reason to pen the Tenth Amendment."

“The issue of power – and especially the great potential for a power struggle between the federal and the state governments – was extremely important to the America’s founders.  They deeply distrusted government power, and their goal was to prevent the growth of the type of government that the British has exercised over the colonies.”


“Adoption of the Constitution of 1787 was opposed by a number of well-known patriots including Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and others.  They passionately argued that the Constitution would eventually lead to a strong, centralized state power which would destroy the individual liberty of the People.  Many in this movement were given the poorly-named tag ‘Anti-Federalists.’”

“The Tenth Amendment was added to the Constitution of 1787 largely because of the intellectual influence and personal persistence of the Anti-Federalists and their allies.”

Their worst fears are coming true as the nation heads into 2013.  In just four years, the Obama administration, through its profligate borrowing and spending, has brought the nation to the brink of financial collapse and, as we have seen, the refusal of the President to negotiate anything than the current Band-Aid to avoid the “fiscal cliff” for another two months, has brought the nation to a point where the collapse of the U.S. dollar is not just imminent, but likely.

When that occurs, the individual states may elect to secede in order to avoid having the federal government nationalize their National Guard units or take control of their state police to enforce whatever measures it might take to control the population.  Individual state law enforcement authorities in cities and towns would need similar protection.  Reportedly, massive amounts of funding have been directed to them to ensure their cooperation.

It would be a means to protect their citizens insofar as state constitutions grant the same rights as found in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights.  It would not surprise me to see Texas lead the way.  Others would follow.

You know things are bad when historians like Arthur Herman, writing on the January 3 Fox News, says that “Washington’s Republicans and Democrats alike have become the toll collectors on the road to serfdom.”  Citing recent riots in Argentina, Herman said that “Argentina reveals who really suffers when those who create a nation’s wealth get mugged by those who spend it — as just happened this week in Washington.”

If the private sector manages to rally this year, it may buy some time before the midterm elections in 2014.  A letter to the editor in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune summed up the problem neatly.  “Let's look at what we have learned from this election: Twenty-one of 22 incumbent senators were re-elected, and 353 of 373 incumbent members of the House were re-elected.  The American people have re-elected 94 percent of the incumbents who were running for re-election to an institution that has an approval rating of about 9 percent.  This indicates, as an electorate, we are a nation of idiots.  We're now stuck with the useless, dysfunctional government that we deserve.”

The U.S. Constitution was written in the wake of the failure of the Articles of Confederation, the first attempt to unite the states for the common good of the growing nation.  It is the product of some of the finest minds, the most dedicated advocates of liberty, to gather in one place at one time.  It is the oldest, living Constitution in the world.  It was adopted on September 17, 1787, and ratified in June of 1788.

On December 17, 1791, the first ten amendments — the Bill of Rights — were ratified.  It is a list of immunities from interference by the federal government, and the fears of the Founders are now being borne out by a government that is too large, borrows and spends too much money, and has departments such as the Homeland Security that threaten the rights of free speech, travel, and other freedoms.  Every U.S. citizen is now subject to government surveillance more typical of a totalitarian government than one that respects and protects their personal security and rights.

This is why the United States could find itself in a rebellion that will rival the causes of the Civil War, itself a state’s rights conflict in addition to the issue of slavery that had hung over the Constitution since its ratification; an effort to “kick the can down the road” the Founders agreed to in order to get it ratified.

It is not beyond the imagination that a deliberately created crisis would prompt individual states to withdraw from the Union to protect themselves and their citizens, otherwise known as “the people.”


Alan Caruba

 
 
Abortion is not a right.
Abortion is not a right.
Arguments used in this year's primary debates have revealed, even among candidates who would like you to believe they are Constitutional conservatives, even by those who try to sound like they understand the Constitution, that few politicians bother to understand the Constitution.  Perhaps this is why they do not take their sacred oaths of office very seriously, either.

The candidates this year have made a big issue of the Tenth Amendment and States' Rights.  In a time when the Tea Party movement and growing fear of Big Government Statism has heightened a desire for the States to exercise more control over the division of powers, most people really do not understand the Tenth Amendment nor States' Rights.

A prime example is in the "Pro-Life" versus "Pro Choice" ongoing struggle.  I urge you to read "The Inalienable Right to Life" by KrisAnne Hall.  The lesson herein is not only about abortion, but about a more fundamental understanding of the Constitution and about the protection of our God-given rights.  About the delegation of powers to the Federal Government and the States by the People.  An understanding of this Constitutional principle is vital for the preservation of Liberty and Justice in this nation.


Bill Cochrane

 
 
The following is a treatise on these subjects which is very well researched, thought out, and written.  It is lenghty.  Take the time to read it, if in installments.  You will find it thought provoking and worth your time.

SECESSION: DOES A STATE HAVE THE RIGHT TO SECEDE FROM THE UNION?
 
 
We love Sheriff Dever of Cochise County, AZ, and Sheriff Babeu of Pinal County, AZ, for their heroic work on the problem of Illegal Immigration.  And we love Sheriff Arpaio of Maricopa County, AZ, for his heroic work and stands on equal justice under the Law.  Well, there is another heroic sheriff who deserves equal attention and support but who hasn't received anywhere near as much of either.

Sheriff Tony DeMeo of Nye County, NV, has a long history of protecting property rights against onslaught of illegal property rights, water rights, and livestock seizures by the Bureau of Land Management.  He is a staunch defender of the Constitution.  You can learn much from the linked article below, and there is much more to learn ― not only about good Sheriff DeMeo and his fight, but about the intent of the Federal Government (and many local governments under the United Nations Agenda 21 program) to erode and ultimately eliminate personal property rights in the U.S.

Constitutional Sheriff Tony DeMeo

Bill Cochrane
 
 
Here's some good news excerpted from the Liberty Legal Foundation:

Two weeks ago a Senior District Judge, sitting for the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, explained what is wrong with Obamacare.  He said:

"The ultimate issue in this case is this:   Does the notion of federalism still have vitality?  To approve the exercise of  power would arm Congress with the authority to force individuals to do whatever it sees fit, as long as the regulation concerns an activity or decision that, when aggregated, can be said to have some loose, but-for type of economic   connection, which nearly all human activity does.  Such a power feels very much like the general police power that the Tenth Amendment reserves to the States and the people.  A structural shift of that magnitude can be accomplished  legitimately only through Constitutional amendment."

If Obamacare is Constitutional, then NOTHING is outside of the power of Congress.  This clearly goes against the clear meaning of the Constitution.  To have a sitting Federal Court judge write that Obamacare can only be legitimized through a Constitutional amendment, proves that we can win.  A month ago Supreme Court Justice Kennedy wrote, “When government acts in excess of its lawful powers, individual liberty is at stake.”

It is incredibly encouraging to see Federal judges and the Supreme Court reacting to these issues in this way at this time.  I believe we are headed for a perfect storm that will roll back bad Supreme Court precedent from the 1940s.  In the 1940s the Supreme Court failed in its role to be an active check on the legislative and executive branches of government.  All of the problems we are suffering though today had their start in the 1940’s Supreme Court’s failures. 
If we want to fix America,  we one thing we must do is revive our Supreme Court.  If they have the courage to do what their oaths demand, we can save our Constitutional Republic.
Van Irion
, LLF

Bill Cochrane