Sincerely believing that Progressives must, at long last, be boldly and constitutionally challenged and outmaneuvered, and thinking outside the proverbial box, I think I've come up with a plan worth pursuing. But, like any political action plan worth its salt, so much depends upon the honor, political courage and integrity of our key political players. (Sadly, that requirement could be this plan's Achilles' heel.)
To counter the Progressive tyranny, many States are finally getting a spine and asserting their sovereignty by actually nullifying federal edicts, laws, directives and, some day soon I hope, judicial activist rulings as well. And if rule of law is our goal, then nullification remains an indispensable tool in that effort.
From a historical standpoint, the sheer volume of nullification activities over the last four years exceeds anything this country has seen since before the War of Northern Agression in 1861, misleadingly dubbed the "civil war". A very hopeful trend, indeed, and a trend we should all endorse and encourage. For as Thomas Jefferson asserted, nullification is "the rightful remedy" to federal encroachment. (Note: with the fearless and dedicated efforts of the 10th Amendment Center, I suspect that acts of nullification/interposition will be on the upswing in the years ahead. And thank God for that!)
Of course, there's impeachment to stop the madness. However, impeachment's a fine idea ONLY if we can be assured of conviction and removal as well. Otherwise the political tumult occasioning an impeachment process will, for the most part, be of little consequence. And with the Senate firmly in the hands of the Progressives, I suspect only blatant, incontrovertible acts of outright treason or murder by our putative Chief Executive would convince enough Senators to actually convict and remove. (In truth, however, since the ruthless Progressives have become so brazenly unprincipled, I'm not even sure murder or treason would do the trick these days.) Thus, impeachment alone cannot be relied upon to effectively remedy federal lawlessness.
So, here's what I propose. It's a simple, doable and powerful antidote to dangerous federal excesses. More importantly, this plan, if faithfully implemented, will eliminate the need for outright rebellion or secession, unsettling prospects which, in the absence of effective grassroots resistance and political courage at the top, have become very, very real possibilities.
1. Call for Nullification: Bearing in mind that We the People and our immediate fiduciary agents, the States, creators of this union, are the ultimate arbiters of what is and what is not constitutional, when the White House or any department of the Executive Branch issues an unconstitutional order or directive, or if the Supreme Court issues a ruling which is clearly unconstitutional, and the offending entity refuses to rescind that order, directive or ruling, the Speaker of the House and the Senate Minority Leader must urgently and publically appeal to the several States to nullify those encroachments straightaway. In effect, they must boldly circumvent federal perpetrators of lawlessness and exhort the States and the people to disobey and to apppropriately resist.
If the States refuse to honor and act upon those unlawful orders/rulings/directives, for all practical purposes the federal actions are of no force and the feds will have no choice but to back off in those jurisdictions where nullification has been invoked. Such resistance will also help restore the balance of power between the States and the federal government as envisioned by the Founders and enshrined in the Constitution. Further, this would place us back on the road to constitutional order and dramatically restore public trust in our representatives.
During these appeals, the Speaker and the Minority Ldr must studiously and clearly explain why such resistance is necessary and constitutionally justified, explicating in vivid and understandable detail the natural rights of man, the principles of State sovereignty and the separation/balance of powers doctrine enshrined in our Constitution. And, of course, a concise explanation of the 10th Amendment would be in order.
*And if these key legislative leaders choose not to take such dramatic action, which I suspect might well be the case, then State Senators/Representatives should promptly and unhesitatingly assume this patriotic responsibility for their respective States. Seantors and Congressional members also have bully pulpits. They just need to be used.
2. Appeal to Sheriffs: In the same televised address to the country, and as appropriate to the nature of the federal excess, both the Speaker and the Minority Ldr, or State Senators/Representatives as may be the case, should directly exhort all Sheriffs to uphold their oath of office by refusing to comply with any and all unlawful federal orders within their jurisdiction from wherever those excesses might originate. On the otherhand, the Speaker and Minority Ldr may opt to appeal to State leaders to themselves exhort the sheriffs within their jurisdiction.
3. Impeachment & Withholding of Funds: In parallel, the House should immediately draw up articles of impeachment against the offending federal entity, but also withhold funding to the offending office--not merely a threat to impeach, but fullblown impeachment and removal of responsible parties. This should also include heretofore untouchable, unaccountable Supreme Court justices.
4. Concurrently, take the perpetrators--whomever they may be--to court.
This entirely lawful, assertive and principled 4-pronged approach to remedying Progressive overreach and restoring constitutional order would be both transformative and remedial. It would work. The Progressive contagion will have been stopped cold, and the authority of the People's House, that being the House of Representatives, will have been restored.
In the meantime, patriotic organizations around the country should continue to unite, monitor both federal and State excesses, and, in a solidly united manner, appropriately initiate and support resistance efforts wherever federal or State excesses occur.
For whatever good it does, I shared this proposal with the offices of both the Speaker and the Senate Minority Leader. I also copied in Sen. Lee of Utah and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. How much political courage and boldness in defense of liberty they possess remains to be seen.
As Ben Franklin warned in 1787, we have a Republic, if we can keep it. And on Nov. 6th the Republic took it on the chin big time. As Karl Marx noted, "Democracy is the road to Socialism", and Nov. 6th certainly proved his point.
Only political courage and lawful, boldly fresh, credible and assertive patriotic activism at all levels can avert political and economic disaster and, yes, rebellion. The alternative is, of course, submission, accommodation and appeasement. Which course will we choose?
At long last, ACTION and PATRIOTISM must be more than words.
Comments
Well thought out Mr. Delaney. In light of what is happening tonight (1-15-13) with NY ban on weapons and tomorrow 'executive orders' overriding congress, we must all IMMEDIATELY explore this. I have a website address at the tenthers amendment center http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/wp-content/uploads/documents/tac-ob... , for a toolkit (.pdf) file addressing nullification for the new health care being jammed down our throats, but we can use this for guns also to get us ready for action. If you can offer us anything more on how to proceed, please do. I'm trying to learn as much as possible quickly. Thanks.