representative

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  Texan Speaker Hopeful Attacks Free Speech

  23 Nov 2010 by Jessica Hughes / 6 Comments

  The race for Texas Speaker of the House is one state-level battle with national importance.  With a stunning sweep by Tea Party candidates, the legislative composition of the Lone Star State has gone overnight from technically-Republican-by-a-nose to overwhelmingly conservative.  With a 99-51 Republican advantage, the small government grass-roots who made this routing possible are not going to accept any excuses come next session.

  Excuses like those they heard all throughout the reign of Speaker Joe Straus.  Elevated to power through a back-room deal that involved eleven rogue RINOs voting with the House Democrats, Straus came through for his opposing party by putting either Democrats or liberal Republicans into virtually all seats of power.  Committees that unanimously favored conservative bills with the exception of the Chair saw that legislation killed by these turncoat Straus appointees.  In the final tally, well over a third of all conservative legislation was killed in committee under Straus while only 3% of liberal legislation suffered this fate.  Either Straus is a liar when he says he is a conservative Republican or he is undeniably the worst Speaker of the House ever to wield the gavel.  Either way, he must go.

  The legislature of Texas is now awash with “radical restorationists” prepared to push legislation to actually defend the citizens of Texas from the unconscionable assault on our liberties that has been waged for generations.  As the second-largest economy in the nation and the 15th in the world, Texas has considerable weight to throw around if only her leadership had the guts to do it.  For example, an interstate compact to address health care in lieu of the abominable Obama-care mess would benefit greatly from Texan participation and the Texas constitution is one of the most favorable in the nation when it comes to assertion of state power.

  Texas State Representative Leo Berman (R – Tyler) has already filed a bill to nullify nationalized health care; and unlike many formats that have been tossed around, this one allows for prosecution and imprisonment of those who attempt to enforce the federal mandates.  The bill isn’t a cure-all and there are many holes that would need to be plugged to make it effective, but it’s a good start and just the sort of example other states may follow if they see a modicum of Lone Star success.

  But that success will never come to fruition under Joe Straus.  In fact, this tyrant has asked that the definition of ‘political speech’ be expanded to include blogs and internet communications.  Effectively this would mean I need to file with the Texas Ethics Commission just to say on my blog “Joe Straus is a fascist RINO.”  Wouldn’t that be convenient for his designs on being Speaker again.

  With the revelation of this assault on the First Amendment, Straus has simply reconfirmed that he cannot be trusted in any position of power.  With him in control nullification and other legislation to reign in Washington will never see the light of day.  Men of his ilk are interested in power for power’s sake and will never tolerate efforts to reduce it.  For the good of the State of Texas and for the national movement toward Liberty and small government Joe Straus must be defeated.

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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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