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nullification
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TX Super-Majority has Nowhere to Hide
23 Dec 2010 by Jessica Hughes / 3 Comments
James White (R-Woodville) one of several East Texas legislators setting the bar high in 2011
In politics it’s always the other side’s fault. They wouldn’t go along and so ‘gosh-we-really-wanted-to-do-it-but-look-at-what-we-had-to-contend-with.’ Texas RINOs won’t have this fig leaf to cover their spinelessness in the 2011 session. With a super-majority of over two thirds in the House there will be no excuse to compromise principles. And what principles are being put forth!
Representative-elect James White (R-Woodville) has made clear his intentions to fight unfunded mandates to help close the budget shortfall. The East Texas educator and rancher shocked the Austin elites when he overwhelmingly defeated incumbent Jim McReynolds who had long enjoyed bi-partisan support in his district. While early nay-sayers clucked that an African-American could never win in East Texas let alone against a popular legislator like McReynolds, White upset conventional wisdom with a stunning 16 point victory; and he isn’t wasting any time:
Preparing for the next legislative session, I am working on a number of bills to nullify unconstitutional federal actions that intrude on our freedoms to make health choices, raise cattle, and responsibly use our divinely blessed resources. In particular, I will support legislation, such as State Representative Leo Berman’s (Tyler) bill that nullifies nationalized health care in Texas. Furthermore, my efforts to restore constitutional government will extend to abuses performed by the state government in the form of unfunded mandates on our local governments and school districts. Where liberty flourishes, prosperity thrives and this begins by restraining government within its constitutional bounds. (source)
Speaking of Berman, he is out at the head of the nullification movement as detailed in our earlier post here, and he also happens to be another East Texas legislator. Is there something in the water? As if that weren’t enough, White also campaigned openly- against the advice of numerous Republicans – on abolishing the property tax. “Stop renting our homes from the government” his Issues link proclaims.
East Texas seems to be mounting a revolt against the old guard in Austin. White joined incoming freshman Erwin Cain (R-Como) several weeks ago to announce their support for the underdog Ken Paxton as Speaker of the House. With all indications still pointing to an easy Straus victory, White and Cain stuck to their principles and cast their lot in with the candidate for whom their constituents were clamoring. They are now joined by reps Berman, Hughes, Christian, and Flynn; all also of East Texas.
With freshmen like White and Cain in the midst of veteran legislators Bryan Hughes, Leo Berman, Wayne Christian, and Dan Flynn, East Texas is setting the bar awfully high for the rest of the Lone Star State. Maybe that’s why the goofiest rumor running around Austin this week is that numerous incoming Freshmen including James White are shocked that they don’t receive Congressional-level pay. I can personally attest to the falsity of this claim, having spoken on multiple occasions as far back as a year ago with James White regarding his concerns about making ends meet on the nominal $600 or so per month legislators receive. Combined with the alleged threats by Straus operatives to draw Erwin Cain and others out of a district if they didn’t support the former Speaker, it looks like the machine is gearing up to devour those who refuse to march lock-step with the big-government program.
This may be the session which bursts the Texas Liberty Bubble I previously described and begins the tough work of rolling back government to allow genuine freedom to flourish once again. If it isn’t we will have the GOP Old Guard to blame. There is a fire in the hearts of some veteran legislators which I believe has been stoked by the election of so many strong ideologues for Liberty. Unfortunately there is a tsunami of good ol’ boys determined to extinguish any real reform but this time around they will be easy to identify. Our task will be to pay attention, take note, never forget, and be sure the voters in their districts never forget either.
2010 was just a warm-up. Republicans should be aware that they have been given just enough rope to hang themselves and behave in all things accordingly.
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Victory in Court is Small Indeed
13 Dec 2010 by Jessica Hughes / 1 Comment
Imagine Dr. Frankenstein had created a three-headed beast which, as in the story, turned on its maker. Should he appeal to one head to reason with the other two?
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Know Your Nullification
07 Dec 2010 by Jessica Hughes / 2 Comments
The Ludwig von Mises Institute, for those of you not familiar, is a research and educational center of classical liberalism, libertarian political theory, and the Austrian School of economics. They provide tens of thousands of classical academic works, from books to audio lectures, online for free download. While the philosophy of the LvMI may sometimes advocate even less government than some of us would agree is wise, they are without a doubt the leading provider of materials advocating freedom and proving that Liberty works.Thomas J. Woods, Jr., Senior Fellow in History at the Mises Institute, has appeared numerous times on the Glenn Beck Show as well as Judge Andrew Napolitano’s Freedom Watch on FOX News. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Harvard and his master’s, M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Columbia University. Woods is the New York Times bestselling author of ten books, and his writing has appeared in dozens of popular and scholarly periodicals.
Last year he released Nullification, a historical and educational guide to how Nullification has worked in the past, what are the justifications for it, and how exactly can it be implemented today. Now he is running a four-week lecture series online to educate us in this invaluable tool for defending our rights. I have posted below the first week’s lecture, which was provided for free by LvMI. It runs about one hour and gives an excellent overview of the history of Nullification. Learn how our Founders ratified the Constitution and what they said in those conventions about its limits and the remedies left to the states in the event of tyranny.
If you want to be able to speak knowledgeably about this path and to defend against accusations that you are a racist or a radical because you believe in States’ Rights, you need to make time for this video! If you wish to participate in the remainder of the course information is available online here.
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Giving States’ Rights Real Teeth
30 Nov 2010 by Jessica Hughes / 4 Comments
Can you imagine if the United Nations decided to send its ‘blue helmets’ into the U.S. to the home of a citizen and arrest them
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Nullification on the Table in Texas
21 Nov 2010 by Jessica Hughes / 18 Comments
When the Secret Service came to my home in 2008, one of the most frustrating aspects of the visit was the lack of accountability. While they didn’t throw me into a gulag, the response of my state and local officials left me wondering who exactly would have objected if they had. My Sheriff claimed he did not have the jurisdiction to even send a Deputy to my home to witness the proceedings. No elected official from Congressman to Senator, to Attorney General felt they had the right to intercede on my behalf when all I wanted was my record purged of a baseless and anonymous accusation.
Plunging into the words of our Founders, desperate to know whether a central government with such distant and intrusive tentacles and neutered local officials was really what they intended, I found that I could not reconcile this world with the one I had been raised to believe I lived in. Reading Rothbard’s unparalleled history series Conceived in Liberty I discovered an ancestry who (among other things) had revolted against even the notion of providing a description of what land they owned to local officials; and I questioned what they would see in a progeny such as ourselves. The words of Butler Shaffer seemed to sum it up best:
Because we fear the responsibility for our actions, we have allowed ourselves to develop the mentality of slaves. Contrary to the stirring sentiments of the Declaration of Independence, we now pledge “our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor” not to one another for our mutual protection, but to the state, whose actions continue to exploit, despoil, and destroy us.
Examining The Federalist I realized our states had been rendered vestigial appendages; their only purpose to regulate and legislate those few areas of freedom left to us by the leviathan Washington Bureaucracy. I recalled my public school lessons, learning about the all-important ‘balance of powers’ between the Judicial, Legislative, and Executive branches, which kept us free; and I realized I had never learned of the intended balance between state and federal power.
It seems now like Divine Providence that my own awakening so closely preceded the massive nationwide revolt we have come to call the Tea Party. Before I knew what it was called I was advocating for “Nullification.” It seemed like common sense. It is the highest duty of our State officials. If your state capital is relegated to simply passing along orders from D.C. then you may as well fire them all, sell the Capitol building and save some tax money. The purpose of the state is to provide a balance and a line of defense to its people. We don’t need another legislative body, closer to home, robbing us of what little liberty remains, through regulation and taxation. What we need is someone on the side of our rights, and we just may have it.
This week Texas State Representative Leo Berman (R-Tyler) filed HB 297, an act to nullify Obama-care. The bill contains the strongest provisions yet discussed among the many states considering such action. It declares:
[T]he assumption of power by the federal government in enacting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act … interferes with the right of the people of this state to regulate health care as they determine is appropriate, and makes a mockery of James Madison’s assurance in Federalist Paper Number 45 that the powers delegated to the federal government are “few and defined” while those that remain in the state governments are “numerous and indefinite.”
The bill goes on to say that the federal act is invalid in [Texas], is not recognized by [Texas], is specifically rejected by [Texas], and is “null and void and of no effect in [Texas]”
Nullification is a tricky thing though. It is not a panacea. It is essentially the State asking the people not to comply because the State is saying you don’t have to. But that will be of little comfort when the feds show up at your door the way they did mine. One of the biggest criticisms of nullification coming from limited government supporters has been that it has no teeth.
Until now.
The most important part of the bill provides punishment for any official, state or federal, attempting to enforce any aspect of the nullified legislation within the Lone Star State. Indeed it specifies that any person can bring suit against any party they believe has violated the law. Punishment consists of up to 5 years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Now that’s a balance of power.
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