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How to Slash the State
14 ways to dismantle a monstrous government, one program at a time
From the November 2010 issue of Reason Mag.
Like sequels to Saw, the government just keeps coming, growing larger,
more expensive, and more appalling each year. In times of economic distress, even at the increasing risk of default, the size, scope, and cost of federal, state, and local governments continue to
balloon, swallowing everything in their path. For 10 solid years, and especially since September 2008, spending has boomed, the Federal Register has exploded, and Congress altered American life
at an accelerating pace.
Yet loud critics of big government—especially but not only Republican politicians—are often reduced to an awkward stammer when put on the spot by the
all-important question, "So what would you cut?" Well, stammer no more.
Consider the following a Halloween-themed cheat sheet for explaining who, what, where, when, and why whole swaths
of government need to be cut or euthanized outright, so that taxpayer money is spent more productively, the remaining government services perform better, and the United States can finally begin
its long slow climb toward solvency.
We've asked analysts from the nation's capital and around the world to offer tips and tricks for fighting off the cold, cold monster that is the
state. The suggestions below are intended not as a last word but as a starting point: As in any good slasher movie, the savvy viewer will soon see potential victims everywhere.
(read the rest at
http://reason.com/archives/2010/10/05/how-to-slash-the-state/ ) |
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If you will notice, most Conservative articles and website blogs seem committed to exposing the horrors of this current
Administration, while simultaneously pointing out the negative ramifications of their policies. This manner of expression is failing us for 2 glaringly obvious reasons:
1. It is steeped only in negativity, so thereby contributes no positive alternatives, which then serves only to further current societal rifts; and
2. it is reactionary, and as such, it is
always in the 'past'; and while we are looking backwards, they keep machine gun firing new legislation right under our noses. We can never keep pace in this manner.
It seems that many
Conservatives have become "sensation junkies", always reacting to the latest bad news and then committed to re-posting and emailing it around endlessly. We are all frustrated, and by
'identification' with others this momentarily ameliorates our internal unease. But typically what ensues are a bunch of platitudes, false bravado, or a space between the sensationalism that
becomes filled with despair.
Everyone is very busy trying to keep up with policies and keeping other people informed, but it is time to ask: "what am I accomplishing?" With all the time we
dedicate to our distress, bravado, or hysteria, I am suggesting we put that time and effort into some effective arguments or alternatives. Talking ABOUT the problem(s) does not in any way equate
to doing the work necessary to help SOLVE the problem.
excert from...
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/25599 |
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Four States Can Stop Lame Duck Threat -
http://biggovernment.com/pkerpen/2010/07/31/four-states-can-stop-lame-duck-threat/#more-151805 |
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See nullification and 10th Amendment |
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Please send us any ideas you have for solutions to any of our problems and we will post them.
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Food for Thought: Rebecca O'Dell's Plan for Restoring Liberty:
* All states refuse all federal funding.
* All federal funding refused by the states is used to eliminate the federal deficit.
* The
states eliminate the federal income tax and not replace it with any other type of federal tax, allowing Americans to once again fund communities, states, churches and the charities of their
choice.
* The states repeal the 17th Amendment to restore the states' representation in Congress.
* The states' representatives in Congress reduce the
federal government to its constitutional limits, i.e., those few, defined, enumerated powers delegated to it by the states in our Constitution.
* Every state enacts and enforces education laws that ensure that the principles of liberty are taught in all public schools.
An elective despotism was not the
government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits
without being effectually checked and restrained by the others. - James Madison, Federalist No. 48
This balance between the National and State governments ought to be dwelt on with
peculiar attention, as it is of the utmost importance. It forms a double security to the people. If one encroaches on their rights they will find a powerful protection in the other. Indeed, they
will both be prevented from overpassing their constitutional limits by a certain rivalship, which will ever subsist between them. - Alexander Hamilton.
But ambitious encroachments
of the federal government, on the authority of the State governments, would not excite the opposition of a single State, or of a few States only. They would be signals of general alarm... But
what degree of madness could ever drive the federal government to such an extremity? - James Madison. |
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Resist DC: A Step-by-Step Plan for Freedom
February 2010 > Resist DC: A Step-by-Step Plan for Freedom
By State Rep. Matthew Shea (WA-4th)
This summer, legislators from several states met to discuss the steps needed to
restore our Constitutional Republic. The federal government has ignored the many state sovereignty resolutions from 2009 notifying it to cease and desist its current and continued overreach. The
group decided it was time to actively counter the tyranny emanating from Washington, D.C.
From those discussions it became clear three things needed to happen.
1. State Legislatures need to pass 10 key pieces of legislation "with teeth" to put the federal government back in its place.
2. The people must pass the legislation through the Initiative process if any piece of the legislative agenda fails.
3. County Sheriffs must reaffirm and uphold their oaths to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
With the advent of the Tea Party Movement, many people
have been asking how exactly we can make the above reality. What follows is Part I of the outline of that plan regarding state legislation, the action steps any concerned citizen can take to see
this legislation to fruition, and the brief history and justifications behind each.
Step 1: Reclaim State Sovereignty through Key Nullification Legislation
Our Constitutional
Republic is founded on a system of checks and balances known as the "separation of powers." Rarely, however, are the states considered part of this essential principle.
Enter the "doctrine of nullification."
Nullification is based on the simple principle that the federal government cannot be the final arbiter of the extent and boundaries of its
own power. This includes all branches of the federal government. In the law this is known as a "conflict of interest."
Additionally, since the states created the federal
government the federal government was an agent of the states; not the other way around. Thus, Thomas Jefferson believed that, by extension, the states had a natural right to nullify (render as of
no effect) any laws they believed were unconstitutional.
In the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 he wrote,
"co-States, recurring to their natural right...will concur in declaring
these acts void, and of no force, and will each take measures of its own for providing that neither these acts, nor any others of the General Government not plainly and intentionally authorized
by the Constitution, shalt be exercised within their respective territories."
Alexander Hamilton echoed this sentiment in Federalist #85 "We may safely rely on the disposition of
the state legislatures to erect barriers against the encroachments of the national authority."
It is clear then that State Legislatures can stop the unconstitutional overreach of the
Obama administration through nullification. Here is a list of proposed nullification legislation to introduce in all 50 States.
1. Nullification of Socialized Health Care
2. Nullification of National Cap and Trade
3. Federal Enumerated Powers Requirement (Blanket Nullification)
4. Establishment of a Federal Tax Escrow Account
If imposed, socialized health care and cap and trade will crush our economy. These programs are both unconstitutional,
creating government powers beyond those enumerated by the Constitution. If those programs are nullified, it will give the individual states a fighting chance to detach from a federal budget in
freefall and save the economies of the individual states.
Next, blanket nullification.
The Federal Government, particularly the House of Representatives, needs to abide by its own
rules. In particular, House Rule XIII 3(d) specifically states that:
"Each report of a committee on a public bill or public joint resolution shall contain the following: (1) A
statement citing the specific powers granted to Congress in the Constitution to enact the law proposed by the bill or resolution."
Needless to say, this rule is generally ignored. The
idea behind blanket nullification is that if the Congress does not specify the enumerated power it is using according to its own rules, or the power specified is not one of the enumerated powers
granted to Congress in the United States Constitution, then the "law" is automatically null and void.
Lastly, the federal government cannot survive without money. I know that
seems obvious but many states are missing the opportunity to use money as an incentive for the federal government to return to its proper role. Most visibly, states help collect the federal
portion of the gasoline tax. That money should be put into an escrow account at the state level and held there. The Escrow Account legislation includes a provision that all consumer, excise, and
income taxes payable to the federal government would go through this account first. This would do two things. First, it would give states the ability to collect interest on that money to help
offset revenue shortfalls. Second, it would allow states to hold that money as long as needed as an incentive for the federal government to return within the enumerated boundaries of its power.
Step 2: Erect an impenetrable wall around the County Sheriff and the 2nd Amendment.
As recently stated in the famous Heller opinion by the United States Supreme Court,
the right to bear arms "is an individual right protecting against both public and private violence" and "when the able-bodied men of a nation are trained in arms and organized they
are better able to resist tyranny."
Thus, it is clear that the 2nd Amendment not only protects the right to self-defense but that right extends to defending oneself against tyranny.
As with any historical attempt to establish a dictatorship weapons must be seized or severely regulated.
Here is a list of legislation to prevent this from happening, some of which has already been introduced in states around the country:
* Sheriff First
* Extension of the Castle Doctrine (right to protection)
* Prohibition of Gun and Ammunition Tracking
* Firearms Freedom Act
The county Sheriff is the senior law enforcement officer both in terms of rank and legal authority in a county. This comes from a tradition of over 1000 years of Anglo-Saxon common law.
Anglo-Saxon communities were typically organized into "shires" consisting of approximately 1000 people.
The chief law enforcement officer of the shire was the "reeve"
or "reef." Hence, the modern combination of the two words, as we know them today, "shire reef" or "Sheriff."
Consequently, the Sheriff's pre-eminent legal
authority is well established. This was confirmed in Printz v. United States. Justice Scalia quotes James Madison who wrote in Federalist 39:
"In the latter, the local or
municipal authorities form distinct and independent portions of the supremacy, no more subject, within their respective spheres, to the general authority, than the general authority is subject to
them, within its own sphere."
Sheriff 1st legislation would formally declare that all federal agents and officers must give notice of, and seek permission before, any arrest, search,
or seizure occurs. Thus, federal agents and officers seeking to enforce unconstitutional laws must go through the county Sheriff first.
Extending the castle doctrine to one's person would
go a long way toward eliminating the arbitrary "no carry" areas. Like Virginia Tech, it is these areas where guns for self-defense are most needed.
Many gun and ammunition
tracking schemes have been, and are still being, attempted. The intended purpose of "reducing gun related" crime is never realized. Instead, law-abiding citizens are punished with
regulatory burdens and fees. Quite simply we need transparency in government not in the people.
Montana started the firearms freedom act to rein in the federal government's use of the
Commerce Clause to regulate everything within the stream of commerce. The original intent of the Commerce Clause was to regulate commerce between states not within states as Professor Rob
Natelson points out in his 2007 Montana Law Review article.
The Montana FFA simply returns to that original understanding regarding firearms made, sold, and kept within a state's borders.
This list is by no means exhaustive. However, it does contain some immediate steps that can be taken toward freedom and restoring our God honoring Constitutional Republic. Hitler's laws
of January 30 and February 14, 1934, should serve as a stark reminder of what happens when state sovereignty is abolished.
In the coming few weeks I will publish the next part of the plan.
_____________________________________________________________
Matthew Shea is a State Representative in Washington's 4th District. He's the author of HJM4009 for State
Sovereignty. Visit his website at http://houserepublicans.wa.gov/members/matt-shea/ .
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