For or Against the Constitution? ... J. D. Longstreet

For or Against the Constitution?
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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Before we Americans put forth a new slate of candidates for upcoming elections -- and I refer to ALL elections from the city council to the county commissioners, to the state legislature, to the US House and Senate,  and finally, to the office of the President of the United States -- we must come up with a new, er, qualification, ah,  litmus test, if you will.

We must determine -- and insist -- that candidates swear (or affirm) that they support the constitution.  Here,  let me make it clear when I say "the constitution," I mean the original document as written by the Founding Fathers.  

It seems our politicians just mutter the words of the oaths they take, when being sworn into office, and never actually examine the words they speak -- and swear to -- before God.

It has become abundantly clear that NOT ALL our representatives actually support the US constitution.  It has ALSO become clear that our President does not support the constitution.

It is high time we make darn sure the lawmakers representing us DO support it, or are considered disqualified to hold office ... period.

Now.  On to "state's rights!"

Much is being made, especially in the leftist media (I realize "leftist" and "media" is redundant!), concerning so many states passing nullification laws which seek to neutralize a great many overreaching federal laws affecting the states.

Students of history -- and there are precious few of them left -- understand that these nullification laws are not just jabs in the eye of the federal government. They are, in fact, the first step(s) a state takes before it secedes.  But there is more here than immediately meets the eye.

It is becoming clear that if Obamacare is not repealed the secession movement in America will ramp up -- and ramp up quickly.  These nullification laws are, at the moment, a safety valve to release some of the building pressure within the states to reclaim their sovereignty, or, at least -- SOME of it.

Only the weak-minded believe the members of the state legislatures passing nullification laws do not know that, constitutionally, federal law supersedes state law.  They KNOW that! 

So why, then are they passing worthless nullification laws?  Well, they are hoping for the safety valve effect we mentioned above and ... they are trying, desperately, to stave off full blown rebellion down the road aways.

Look:  Nullification by the states today is the right of states to choose to not enforce any federal act that fails to conform to the limits on the authority of the federal government set by the constitution, itself!    That, dear reader, is perfectly legal.


Does this surprise you?  If we had a mainstream media, a national press corp,  that was doing its job, rather than sniffing after Obama like dogs in heat, you'd already know that the sovereignty movement is alive and well across the country. 

Consider this little quoted remark made by James Madison in "The Federalist:"  "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."

It is said that state sovereignty died at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, in April of 1865 when Lee surrendered to Grant.

The people of the states are, again,  longing for their own government -- sans external control from Washington.

"On May 3-4, 2013, Rasmussen Reports polled the opinions of 1,000 likely voters. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points."  Here is a snippet from that report:  " ... What is even less favorable to the administration’s program to exalt the federal government above the states is the poll’s finding that 44 percent of those who participated in the survey believe states retain the right to nullify any act of the federal government they deem constitutionally invalid."  SOURCE: http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/item/15333-rasmussen-poll-reports-majority-of-u-s-support-nullification

The state sovereignty movement has been quietly gaining momentum over the past few years all across the US.  "... Almost half of the state legislatures are considering or have representatives preparing to introduce resolutions which reassert the principles of the 9th and 10th Amendments to the Constitution and the idea that federal power is strictly limited to specific areas detailed in the Constitution and that all other governmental authority rests with the states."  SOURCE:  http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2009/02/09/state-sovereignty-movement-quietly-growing/#.Ufk2YKwpiRQ

As Michael Boldin says in his article entitled: "Some Good News For A Change:"  "A government that claims the power to collect and monitor anything and everything you say or do, use drones to spy on people without a warrant, require millions to pay a fine for doing nothing – and so much more – that’s not the government of a “free country.”  It’s not even close."  SOURCE:  http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/

Americans ARE waking up, albeit, slowly.  Hopefully, it isn't TOO slow.

Eventually, there will be a showdown.  When it comes, it will either be in the courts -- or the streets -- or BOTH.  But it IS coming.

Finally:  In the Virginia Resolution of 1798, James Madison wrote the following:

"In case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of other powers, not granted by the said compact, the states who are parties thereto, have the right, and are in duty bound, to interpose for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining within their respective limits, the authorities, rights and liberties appertaining to them."

And Madison went on to say:

" ... that a spirit has in sundry instances, been manifested by the federal government, to enlarge its powers by forced constructions of the constitutional charter which defines them; and that implications have appeared of a design to expound certain general phrases… so as to destroy the meaning and effect, of the particular enumeration which necessarily explains and limits the general phrases; and so as to consolidate the states by degrees, into one sovereignty, the obvious tendency and inevitable consequence of which would be, to transform the present republican system of the United States, into an absolute, or at best a mixed monarchy."

The time has come for the people of the United States to decide if they are for or against the Constitution.  May Providence guide our decision.

© J. D. Longstreet