STATES: A Time for Choosing - A Time for Action
By JB WIlliams
PatriotsUnion.org
By now, it should be clear to everyone that the Obama administration is strategically destroying America. For those who don’t like America, our Constitution and Bill of Rights, our sovereign Representative Republic, this is no problem.
But for the rest of America, those who understand that America is the greatest free nation ever known to mankind, due to its firm foundations in Natural Law and inalienable rights, it’s a huge problem.
What can be done about it?
The Supreme
Law of the Land
Contrary to leftist indoctrination, Barack Obama, congress and the Supreme Court, the federal government, is not the supreme law of this land. That lofty position belongs to the Charters of Freedom, our Declaration, Constitution and Bill of Rights.
The people have no legitimate dispute with the federal government when that government functions within its constitutional authority, in a manner which protects and preserves freedom, liberty and justice for all. The federal government has not done that in decades!
When the federal government acts as it does today, in direct violation of the Charters of Freedom and in a blatant attempt to infringe upon the inalienable rights of the states and/or the people, the people and the states have a right and a duty to place the federal government back in check and balance, peacefully if possible, forcibly if not.
When a dispute over the “unconstitutional” acts of the federal government arises between a state and the federal government -- the U.S. Constitution under Art. III – Sec. II – Clause II gives the U.S. Supreme Court original jurisdiction. No other court in the country has any jurisdictional authority whatsoever.
Original jurisdiction should not be confused with “final authority” which the court has tried to grant itself on numerous occasions. The people are the final authority in America, period!
The Rights of
the People
The inalienable rights of the
people are almost endless under the Charters of
Freedom. They are specifically protected by the
IX Amendment
in the Bill of Rights –
“The
enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights,
shall not be construed to deny or disparage others
retained by the people.”
The Constitution was not written or ratified to govern the people, but rather to restrict and govern the actions of governmental bodies, through a balance of powers.
The Charters of Freedom and every State Constitution begins with a fundamental affirmation that “all power is inherent in the people” and that “all governmental bodies derive their just powers from the people.” It is stated slightly different state-to-state, but all states and the Charters of Freedom are founded on this fundamental premise.
This means that the people are the “final authority” over what is constitutional or unconstitutional in the behaviors of their governments.
“You seem to consider the
judges the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional
questions; a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one
which would place us under the despotism of an
oligarchy. Our judges … and their power [are] the
more dangerous as they are in office for life, and
are not responsible, as the other functionaries are,
to the elective control. The Constitution has
erected no such single tribunal, knowing that to
whatever hands confided, with the corruptions of
time and party, its members would become despots. It
has more wisely made all the departments co-equal
and co-sovereign within themselves … When the
legislative or executive functionaries act
unconstitutionally, they are responsible to the
people in their elective capacity. The exemption of
the judges from that is quite dangerous enough. I
know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of
the society, but the people themselves.” …. —
Jefferson letter to Mr. Jarvis, Sept, 1820
The Rights of
the State
As Madison explains in Federalist 46 – (paraphrased) - All power rests with the people. All free governments derive their power from the people. The government body closest to the people, as-in local and state government, is entrusted with the most political power. The government furthest from the people, as-in the federal government, is entrusted with the least power.
It is the first primary function of every State government to protect and preserve the rights of its people. The States power to keep this oath to its people is protected in the X Amendment – “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.”
Under each State Constitution, the State government has the duty to protect and preserve the inalienable rights of their people, in particular, from a federal government which has become too powerful, acting beyond its constitutional scope and authority, at odds with the people and the states.
The duty of each State government is defined in each State Constitution. The power to check the federal government is protected by the X Amendment.
Because the state assigned the power to provide for the common defense of the people in the Constitution, time would allow that the federal government would eventually develop a Military more powerful than any State military or militia.
It for this reason alone, that the Founders placed the II Amendment in the Bill of Rights – “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Only a State with a fully armed citizenry could protect the Rights of the people, under the X Amendment protections of the State.
When a
Government Becomes Destructive of These Ends
An internal armed conflict only becomes necessary when the people and/or their State governments fail to take appropriate peaceful measures to uphold the Charters of Freedom.
“We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to
secure these rights, Governments are instituted
among Men, deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of
Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is
the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,
and to institute new Government, laying its
foundation on such principles and organizing its
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most
likely to affect their Safety and Happiness.” –
The People’s Declaration of Independence
The proper line of defense for the people of each state is their State government. The State has the power under the X Amendment, and the duty under their State Constitution, to protect their citizens from a federal government that has become tyrannical in its nature.
Unlike federal legislators, State legislators and Governors are State officials, responsible for securing the peace and tranquility of their people. The oath of a State official is first and foremost, to the sovereignty and security of the people of the state. State officials are obligated to their citizens, not the federal government.
Only when State official fail to protect their citizens, must the people take matters into their own hands.
A Balance of
Constitutional Power
In the Unites States, formed of, by and for the people of the United States, all governmental powers are derived from the people, carefully checked and balanced between three independent federal branches, fifty State governments and thousands of local governmental bodies.
Contrary to contemporary propaganda, America is NOT a “democracy” under which 51% is free to infringe upon the rights of the other 49% who stand opposed. America is a “Constitutional Representative Republic” and as such, no majority has constitutional authority to infringe upon the Natural Rights of any minority.
Due to blatant affronts to freedom and liberty, and numerous direct violations of the constitutional balance of powers by the federal government today, it is necessary and proper that each State government take immediate tangible actions to protect their State and the people of the state.
Reactionary measures based upon individual issues are not good enough. Individual pet-issue “nullification” bills are too little, too late. Only a constitutionally grounded broad-based State action can effectively check federal tyranny today and time is short.
A number of states have already introduced The State Balance of Powers Act. Many more are working to introduce the State Legislation over the coming days and weeks. An Introduction to the State Balance of Powers Act is available here.
The Balance of Powers Act does not give states powers they do not already have under the Charters of Freedom. It only makes it possible to swiftly enforce those rights within the state, when the federal government acts beyond its authority.
The Tennessee Legal Office recently issued a memorandum challenging the constitutionality of the Balance of Powers Act. A Rebuttal Memorandum was issued in response, available here.
In short, it is not possible for a piece of State Legislation based entirely upon the provisions of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and State Constitutions, to be “unconstitutional” no matter how many federal authorities wish it to be.
Additional information on the State Bill is available at The North American Law Center.
People seeking the right peaceful solution to federal tyranny should contact their State Legislators and introduce the Balance of Powers Act in every state. States that fail to protect the people of their state will be directly responsible for the people taking matters into their own hands. Pass the Balance of Powers Act NOW! Time is short… The time for choosing, for action, has arrived!