Wednesday, July 24, 2013

I have had it wrong. Probably you have too!

This is simple but I think Michael Boldin (and James Madison and Andrew Napolitano) has it right.  I have long thought that the ballot box and raising our voices with elected officials at the federal level were the best tools we as citizens had as a means to cause government to yield to the will of the people.  I was wrong - those actions mean little and do not fundamentally affect anything.  Just review the aggressive actions the federal government has been taking especially over the past 40-50 years to control and mandate its will on the nation.  The will of the people be damned.  The below link authored by Boldin makes the point very clearly that respective States refusal to comply with unconstitutional or unpopular federal legislation is the proper remedy.  Consider this one quote and then read the entire article.  It will open your eyes.  We should have been doing this all along.

Boldin points out that James Madison never said that the people should "vote the bums out."  That was not his proposed remedy when government sought its own course.  Instead - 

"He did, however, point to methods which are 'powerful and at hand.' Two prominent examples that you should be doing today:
  - 'refusal to cooperate with officers of the Union'
  - use 'legislative devices' to create 'very serious impediments'
Madison also told us that if several adjoining States would do the same it make things extremely difficult for the feds to deal with.
Judge Andrew Napolitano has said virtually the same recently – that a state refusing to comply would make federal laws 'nearly impossible to enforce.'”

The calls for an end to the wrangling and a move to more bipartisanship at the federal level is a waste of time.  It has not and will not make a difference. 

That means our focus should not be at the federal level but at the local and state levels.  Our job it to become activists in our communities, educating our family, friends and neighbors and petitioning our local and state level officials.  Voting and weilding our influence at those levels will be a much more powerful tool than trying to influence the lobbiest/money controlled federal aparatus.  Getting our state officials to reject federal government attempts to impose their will on the people is, indeed, the right thing to do.  Let's change tactics and do as the father of our Constitution, James Madison, told us to do.

 George Burns

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