3rd Letter to the Entire Maine State Legislature (Federalism or Death)

3rd Letter to the Entire Maine State Legislature
(Give Me Federalism, or Give Me Death) PDF

“Encroachments from a government, whose organization cannot be maintained without the co-operation of the states (which created it), furnish the strongest excitements upon THE STATE LEGISLATURES to watchfulness, and IMPOSE UPON THEM the strongest obligation TO PRESERVE UNIMPAIRED THE LINE OF PARTITION” (which is embodied in the 10th Amendment) - James Madison, Virginia Ratification Debates

I accuse State governments nationwide, without exception (though some belatedly awaken), of being criminal in their negligence. Negligence in what, creating Social Justice, the Equality of Man supposedly embodied the Declaration? Negligence in bringing to fruition The American Dream? You are negligent in “PRESERVING UNIMPAIRED THE LINE OF PARTITION”, of being the counter-balance to a centralizing general government of a system of federalism. I accuse you of criminal inaction, “STATE LEGISLATURES NOT BEING WATCHFUL” of “Encroachments from a (general) government.” I accuse you of criminal inaction for not (as is the OBLIGATION imposed upon you) “IMPOSING UPON” the general-national government their limitations. It has been YOU all along whose DUTY it has been since 1787 onward to do so, and no one else’s DUTY.

What is the result of your criminal negligence? Has not all manner of the loss, and misery, and suffering, and even death come to the people of your respective states? Has this not been the result of your criminal negligence?

If you were to come upon an individual being threatened, beaten, and robbed by a group of more powerful men, and you passed by without a word, who would be more negligent in the suffering of the individual? Those who inflicted the blows, or those who passed by with silent complicity? But the analogy is much worse than this. State Legislatures not being “watchful”, not “preserving”, not “imposing”, not “maintaining” that which is their ABSOLUTE DUTY to carry out, and to do so as the most vital part of the system of federalism they created, is more akin to the following analogy:

    A man has a bit of wealth and some thoughts of what he’d like to do with it for the benefit of himself and his family. A group of men have no wealth of their own, and have many thoughts as to what they would like to do to benefit themselves, if only they had wealth. But they have weaponry to use to seize wealth. Another group of men, their fathers, know well of the wealth of the man. This group of men also have no wealth of their own, but also have ideas (not too dissimilar to the first group’s ideas) of what they would do with wealth if they had some. They don’t have quite the stock of weaponry of the first group of men, their children, nor do they feel inclined to the deed because they must continue to live in the same community with the man afterward. So the second group of men makes a deal with the first group of men. They say, “We know exactly where the man of wealth lives, not to far from us. We will lead you to him, and ignore his cries for help, if only we receive from you a share of his wealth.”

YOU, criminally negligent State Legislators, are the second group of men in this analogy, the creators of the children, the general government. I accuse YOU, and I am not alone.

You have by now received a letter from the Tennessee State Legislature. If you have not, it is attached below, and now you have. You will join your sister states in being “watchful”, in “preserving”, in “imposing”, in “maintaining” that which is YOUR ABSOLUTE DUTY to do…or you will, ALL OF YOU WHO REFUSE, be swept aside like the refuse you have shown yourselves to be. Revolution’s on kids, time to get on the right side of it, and “GIVE US FEDERALISM, OR GIVE US DEATH” is its battle cry.

Let’s entirely clear the tables of all legislative bullcrap, I have a suggestion for you. Submit a 10th Amendment Resolution (which I’ve attached below) for a vote. Alongside of it submit a resolution to begin the process of a states-generated Constitutional amendment proposal (as outlined in Article 5) to your sister states. This proposal is to begin an amendment convention to repeal the 10th Amendment, so to rid the nation of federalism. To rid the nation of reserved-states rights and delegated-general government powers limitations. To clear the way for the full implementation of a centralized socialist D.C. regime. The “Repeal The 10th Amendment Resolution” can read very simply as such:

WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads as follows:

    "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."; and

WHEREAS it is the desire of the people of Maine, as is symbolically embodied in the voice of its elected State Legislature, to;

    1) Cast aside the anachronistic system of federalism and republicanism of our Constitutional framers:
    2) To erect in its place a centralized national government based on socialist theory

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND THE SENATE OF THE MAINE LEGISLATURE:

THAT the legislatures of the 49 sister states call for a convention to REPEAL OF THE 9TH AND 10TH AMENDMENTS, as is outlined in ARTICLE V of the U.S. Constitution:

    The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments…

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If this is what is desired of Augusta, let the criminally negligent Maine State Legislature vote on it. Let the people of Maine see who votes for which, and how they vote.

I have attached a 10th Amendment Pledge for the awakened among you. Sign it and return it to me, and I will see to it that it is distributed as far and wide as I possibly can. It will be like the blood of the Lamb upon your door posts, that will ward of the angel of destruction that now hovers above this nation.

Just steps away from having no alternative but to gather together
with a great multitude of reluctant armed citizens,
“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a FREE STATE,
the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”

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In the Kentucky Resolution of 1798, Thomas Jefferson wrote:

    “Resolved, that the several states composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their General Government, but that by compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government for special purposes, delegated to that Government certain definite powers, reserving each state to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self Government; and that whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force: That to this compact each state acceded as a state, and is an integral party, its co-states forming as to itself, the other party: That the Government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the constitu- tion, the measure of its powers; but that as in all other cases of compact among parties having no common Judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress.”

James Madison wrote in the Virginia Resolution of 1798:

    “In case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of other powers by the general government, 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.”

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An Official Letter from Tennessee
To The Other 49 State Legislatures
by State Rep. Susan Lynn (TN-57th)

We send greetings from the Tennessee General Assembly. On June 23, 2009, House Joint Resolution 108, the State Sovereignty Resolution, was signed by Governor Phil Bredesen. The Resolution created a committee which has as its charge to:

    - Communicate the resolution to the legislatures of the several states,
    - Assure them that this State continues in the same esteem of their friendship,
    - Call for a joint working group between the states to enumerate the abuses of authority by the federal government, and
    - Seek repeal of the assumption of powers and the imposed mandates.

It is for those purposes that this letter addresses your honorable body. In 1776, our founding fathers declared our freedom in the magnificent Declaration of Independence; our guide to governance. They established a nation of free and independent states. Declaring that the purpose of our political system is to secure for its citizens’ their natural rights. The Constitution authorizes the national government to carry out seventeen enumerated powers in Article 1, Section 8 and the powers of several of the ensuing amendments.

At the time of the Constitutional ratification process James Madison drafted the “Virginia Plan” to give Congress general legislative authority and to empower the national judiciary to hear any case that might cause friction among the states, to give the congress a veto over state laws, to empower the national government to use the military against the states, and to eliminate the states’ accustomed role in selecting members of Congress. Each one of these proposals was soundly defeated. In fact, Madison made many more attempts to authorize a national veto over state laws, and these were repeatedly defeated as well.

There are clear limits to the power of the federal government and clear realms of power for the states. However, the simple and clear expression of purpose, to secure our natural rights, has evolved into the modern expectation that the national government has an obligation to ensure our life, to create our liberty, and fund our pursuit of happiness.

The national government has become a complex system of programs whose purposes lie outside of the responsibilities of the enumerated powers and of securing our natural rights; programs that benefit some while others must pay.

Today, the federal government seeks to control the salaries of those employed by private business, to change the provisions of private of contracts, to nationalize banks, insurers and auto manufacturers, and to dictate to every person in the land what his or her medical choices will be.

Forcing property from employers to provide healthcare, legislating what individuals are and are not entitled to, and using the labor of some so that others can receive money that they did not earn goes far beyond securing natural rights, and the enumerated powers in the Constitution.

The role of our American government has been blurred, bent, and breached. The rights endowed to us by our creator must be restored.

To be sure, the People created the federal government to be their agent for certain enumerated purposes only. The Constitutional ratifying structure was created so it would be clear that it was the People, and not the States, that were doing the ratifying.

The Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that which has been delegated by the people to the federal government, and also that which is absolutely necessary to advancing those powers specifically enumerated in the Constitution of the United States. The rest is to be handled by the state governments, or locally, by the people themselves.

The Constitution does not include a congressional power to override state laws. It does not give the judicial branch unlimited jurisdiction over all matters. It does not provide Congress with the power to legislate over everything. This is verified by the simple fact that attempts to make these principles part of the Constitution were soundly rejected by its signers.

With this in mind, any federal attempt to legislate beyond the Constitutional limits of Congress’ authority is a usurpation of state sovereignty – and unconstitutional.

Governments and political leaders are best held accountable to the will of the people when government is local. The people of a state know what is best for them; authorities, potentially thousands of miles away, governing their lives is opposed to the very notion of freedom.

We invite your state to join with us to form a joint working group between the states to enumerate the abuses of authority by the federal government and to seek repeal of the assumption of powers and the imposed mandates.

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mike@focusonthetenth.net