Ending Obamacare: Nullification by the States is Legal and Necessary #nullification #obamacare

My friend Adrienne at Adrienne's Corner has a post and a valuable link up today.  Her post links to a blog about "Understanding the Constitution," in which the author Publius rebuts Mark Levin's "Liberty Amendments" approach.  Publius argues that nullification is the proper and most efficient way to end Obamacare.  This is a must read.

Nullification was discussed by the Founding Fathers as a way that individual states can frustrate unconstitutional federal laws by simply refusing to implement or support those laws.  This is not as radical as it sounds, and it has been used before by certain states in our history (some recently).  South Carolina is on the verge of nullifying a federal law, by refusing to implement Obamacare.  If South Carolina carries it off, you can bet other states will quickly follow her lead.

A year ago, there were four states planning to nullify Obamacare.  See that discussion here.

Wyoming has been considering the possibility of nullifying federal laws on gun control.  See that here.

Further Reading and Study: 
State Nullification:  What Is It? by Thomas Woods
The Tenth Amendment Center (website)
U.S. Constitution and Amendments - Actual Texts
Understanding the Constitution - a Blog by Publius Huldah

South Carolina: First to Secede, First to Outlaw Obamacare?

South Carolina is a beautiful state.  It was the first state to secede in December of 1860; it is now on its way to being the first state to secede from Obamacare.

Well actually, when I say "secede" from Obamacare, I am really describing nullification.  Any state has the right to opt out of any federal law that violates the Constitution, regardless of what the Supreme Court says (screw you John Roberts).  South Carolina may be the first state to nullify the so-called "Affordable Care Act" by exempting all of its citizens and businesses from participating in Obamacare.

South Carolina's House voted in favor of banning Obamacare from its state by a vote of 65-34, and the state  Republican-controlled Senate will vote on the bill (HB3101) in January.

Capitalism Institute reports:

The core of the “South Carolina Freedom of Heath Care Protection Act” (HB3101) outlaws any state employees, officers, or agencies from implementing Obamacare.

The federal government can try to subject South Carolinians to the horrors of the ACA – but they would have no personnel or funds in the state to actually carry it out. Obamacare would be nothing more than a ghost.

Capitalism Institute also cites a Supreme Court case of Printz v. United States:

What the Supreme Court said … is that states are not merely political subdivisions of the federal government to carry out what the federal government does; they are sovereign entities. Congress can pass laws, but it cannot compel the states to utilize either their treasury or personnel to implement those federal laws.

Note that kiddies:  the states are sovereign entities, not merely subdivisions of the federal government.  The latter answers to the former, not the other way around.  May this spirit of states' rights expand and spread.  It is exactly what the Founders intended.

Molon Labe, Bitches

The Fascist Administration is moving ahead with its goal of disarming Americans and castrating the Second Amendment.  Read their disgusting plans here.

I am looking for a Bushmaster rifle.  Anyone know where I can get one?

I will rejoin the NRA this week.  I suggest that you do too, if you aren't already a member.

Wyoming Plan To Nullify Federal Gun Laws

I have been saying for awhile now that we need a few brave states to stand up to Obama's federal government and just say NO.  Wyoming may be the first state to do so.

From K2 Radio, Wyoming:

Several Wyoming lawmakers are proposing legislation designed to protect gun-owners from any potential federal firearm ban. The “Firearms Protection Act” bill, introduced this week, would make any federal law banning semi-automatic firearms or limiting the size of gun magazines unenforceable within the state’s boundaries.

Anyone trying to enforce a federal gun ban could face felony charges under the proposal. It also includes a provision allowing the Wyoming Attorney General’s office to defend any state resident against any federal firearm ban.

 If the bill is passed, it will nullify any federal gun control laws passed after January 1, 2013, making such federal laws unenforceable in the State of Wyoming.

Rep. Kendell Kroeker, the lawmaker that spearheaded the bill, explained that he hoped that the federal government would recognize their constitutional rights based on the Tenth and Second Amendments.

"I think that its necessary when the federal government violates our rights in the Constitution we have to act," he explained.

The Tenth Amendment Center, which I have had linked in my sidebar for sometime, has made Model Legislation available for states wishing to nullify unconstitutional federal gun laws. See The 2nd Amendment Preservation Act.

An Indiana Republican is also studying nullification as a means of beating federal gun laws.  With any luck, the nullification movement will rapidly spread.

Feinstein's Bill to Destroy the 2nd Amendment: It Is Way Past Time to Openly Defy the Federal Government

The federal government is now the enemy of freedom and the Constitution, and it is time to openly defy it. Diane Feinstein, US Senator from Marxist California, has proposed a federal gun control bill that will make numerous existing handguns and rifles illegal. The bill would create a federal database of gun owners, and require photographing and fingerprinting gun owners. Like hell, bitch.

You can read the details of this Orwellian overreach at Powerline today.

Every day seems to bring a new federal outrage to light. Absolutely nothing that the Party of Treason does surprises me anymore. If this bill ever passes, I will personally defy it. I will neither obey nor recognize such a law. Meanwhile, I will seek to purchase a Glock handgun and a Bushmaster rifle, and begin regular shooting practice with them, at shooting ranges; and I will seek professional instruction on the safe handling and use of such firearms. I will register such weapons with my state, as indeed I have no choice; but I recognize the constitutionality of state law. I will not register any firearms with the federal government. I will rejoin the NRA.

Reasonable gun control laws should be passed by the states; the federal government has no such authority. It is time for "civil disobedience" to the Marxists now in control of the nation, and we must prepare ourselves for civil war in the event the Feds decide to play rough.

Note to state governments: get off your asses and protect the constitutional rights of your citizens. Nullify such laws and arrest any federal officials who attempt to enforce them. Call up state militias if necessary to oppose federal force, e.g. by such agencies as the BATF.

Business as usual is not an option. At the very least, it is time to discuss and plan for such contingencies at the state and local level. It is time to draw a line in the sand.

Four States to Vote on Nullification of Obamacare

The Tenth Amendment Center states that four states are planning to vote on bills that would nullify Obamacare, making the law null and void and unenforceable in those states.  Another ten or so states are mulling over the creation of similar bills.  Nullification, an old American strategy, may yet be the best way to end the so-called Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The principle of nullification is not new, and is described in Thomas E. Wood's book 33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask.  The Virginia Resolutions of 1798 concluded that if the federal government should encroach upon the powers reserved to the states, the states have a right to nullify the offending law and refuse to enforce it—after all, a law that violates the Constitution is no law at all. Taken together, these ideas became known as the “Principles of ’98."

It doesn't matter if a federal court, including the Supreme Court, decides differently.  Ultimately, it is the right of the individual states to determine the constitutionality of any federal laws and choose to obey them or not.

This principle has precedent in American history.  Of course, there is the well-known "Nullification Crisis" of 1833, when South Carolina passed an ordinance of nullification against the 1828 federal Tariff of Abominations that would have greatly increased the tax on imported goods from Britain, resulting in a significant lowering of British demand for Southern cotton.  President Andrew Jackson was prepared to send federal troops to South Carolina to enforce the tariff, but a compromise ended the crisis.

However, that nullification crisis of 1833 wasn't the first time individual states have nullified federal laws.  The first was by Massachusetts, reacting to federal government's Embargo of 1807.  This embargo was designed to punish Britain and France for depredations of American neutrality rights on the seas, and prohibited any American trade with foreign nations whatsoever.  The U.S. Navy was to enforce the embargo by stopping and searching merchant ships -- a clear violation of the 4th Amendment's prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures.  Further, the embargo badly damaged the New England economy.

A federal district court ruled the embargo constitutional, but Massachusetts did not agree, and passed state laws to nullify the federal embargo.  The nullification held.  The important thing to note is that the federal court's decision was not the last word on the matter.   The Massachusetts House explained:

“Were it true, that the measures of government once passed into an act, the constitutionality of that act is stamped with the deal of infallibility, and is no longer a subject for the deliberation or remonstrance of the citizen, to what monstrous lengths might not an arbitrary and tyrannical administration carry its power…. Were such doctrine sound, what species of oppression might not be inflicted on the prostrate liberties of our country? If such a doctrine were true, our Constitution would be nothing but a name—nay, worse, a fatal instrument to sanctify oppression, and legalize the tyranny which inflicts it.”  (Thomas E. Woods, 33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask.)

The Governor of Connecticut, John Trumbull, agreed with the Massachusetts legislature, stating:

“Whenever our national legislature is led to overleap the prescribed bounds of their constitutional powers, on the State Legislatures, in great emergencies, devolves the arduous task—it is their right—it becomes their duty, to interpose their protecting shield between the right and liberty of the people, and the assumed power of the General Government.”  (See Woods Jr., Thomas E. (2007-07-10). 33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask (p. 30). Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition.) 

Conclusions:  Nullification of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, is both legal and constitutional, and is undoubtedly the most expedient way to dispose of this unconstitutional and oppressive federal law.  However, each state will have to pass its own separate nullification laws.  Which state will be the first to do so?  Once one does, others will quickly follow.

Gov Rick Perry Refuses to Set Up Obamacare Health Insurance Exchange in Texas!

Another red state governor, Rick Perry of Texas, has refused to set up a heath insurance exchange required by Obamacare.  Technically, the [misnamed] Affordable Care Act allows the Federal Government to do it if the states will not.  So it is not clear how this refusal will affect the implementation of this execrable act.

I am hoping that these red states will block ALL implementation of Obamacare, essentially nullifying the law and preventing its taking effect.

Read about it here.

Resistance Begins: Alabama Just Says "NO" to Obamacare

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley said yesterday that Alabama will not be setting up a state insurance exchange to implement the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare").  The Governor stated that the tax increase that this act imposes on Alabama's citizens is unacceptable.  He also stated that his conversations with other governors indicate that many of them feel the same way.

This is what I have been advocating for some time:  the states must NULLIFY unconstitutional edicts by the federal government and simply REFUSE to go along.  Further, the nullifying states should communicate and coordinate resistance to federal tyranny imposed by Barack Obama.

I am proud to say that my Confederate ancestors were Alabamans.

Read more about it at Moonbattery here.

Your Lives Are About to Get Much Worse, Americans

Monty Pelerin at American Thinker has a very depressing analysis of what Obama's re-election means to Americans (hat tip Donald Douglas at American Power).  Pelerin, like others, is predicting an economic collapse.  He writes:

His election ensures the continuing shift away from the Rule of Law, property rights, free men, and free markets. Obama's vision of how the world works ensures a dire economy until an economic collapse resets everything.

And this:

The United States and Europe have abandoned the fundamentals necessary for progress. Both are hopelessly committed to the failed ideas of Socialism. Both are headed for great catastrophe. The catastrophe extends beyond economic well-being and touches the foundations of society and civilization itself.

We are headed into an economic dark age, where standards of living will continue to decline and may collapse. Societies and civilizations will also regress.

Read the whole depressing article here.

Another article at Doug Ross Journal portrays a similar scenario, "We Have Lost" by Casey.  Casey writes:

The most productive people, the small business owners, the entrepreneurs and the honest wage earners of America are so demoralized right now I am not sure we will recover as a country. We have lost the most important election of our lifetime and did so after giving our best effort, spent the most money ever and working the hardest we have ever worked. The very people that America needs the most to generate a real recovery now have the least motivation to do so and worse, lack the confidence necessary to even justify the effort.

On polarization, he writes:

As a country we are hopelessly divided by a malignant polarization approaching that which divided us prior to the Civil War....The American can-do spirit, our optimism, our traditional dependence on our own ingenuity is now mere kindling on the advancing flame of an insidious yet steadily advancing socialism.

On the feeling of despair many now have:

Those of us who create real jobs, invest our capital, our fortunes and take the risks to build America, feel betrayed. The fundamentals of honest effort and hard work rendering the rewards associated with capitalism seem now like a cruel joke. We are now a targeted enemy not to be governed but coerced into submission by a lazy, corrupt, vindictive, arrogant government that is out for revenge, redistribution -- and to add a final insult -- one we believe is too morally bankrupt to lead.

Do read it all here.

Politics as usual is unlikely to turn the tide in time to avoid financial disaster and societal collapse.  Radical action may be necessary at some point, like the fledgling secession movements now underway.  Political protests of Obama's re-election are said to be proliferating -- that remains to be seen.  We must encourage their growth.  The legislatures of the red states must discuss and coordinate a unified refusal to cooperate with the radical regime now in Washington, including nullification of unconstitutional laws like Obamacare, open defiance of the Supreme Court's unconstitutional edicts, and suspension of the taxing authority of the federal government if that becomes necessary.  Note:  this is NOT a call for violence.  Our actions must proceed mainly through our state and local representatives.  Individual protests should proceed in peaceful ways, like this one.

We will not go gently into the dark night that looms before us.  We have not yet begun to fight.

The Sickening Reality of the Obamacare Decision

I really wasn't surprised by the Supreme Court's decision on Obamacare.  I generally expect the worst while hoping for the best.  When I turned on the radio Thursday morning on the way to work, and learned of Justice John Roberts' utterly asinine position, it was mere confirmation of what I already knew:  America is over.  America was over when Americans elected Barack Obama to be President of the United States.

Now that we can finally acknowledge the death of America, perhaps we can move on to finding a way to resurrect her, or, if not all of her, perhaps part of her, through an association or even secession of like-minded states (like Arizona and Texas).  I know it sounds bizarre, like something out of a cheap novel, but it's way past time to realize that the federal government (including and especially the Supreme Court) is the enemy of freedom -- at least in its present form.

It's time to realize that our Constitution and Bill of Rights are dead letters.  The statists will enforce them when convenient, or when they can twist their original meaning and purpose to somehow increase federal power over the individual.  They will not enforce them merely to protect the individual from an overweening federal government.

One of the immediate acts that can be taken is nullification.  Nullification is when individual states refuse to implement or obey federal laws that violate the Constitution.  This is not "rebellion against law," because unconstitutional enactments are not law.  Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Kentucky Resolutions that “whensoever the [federal] government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force…”

Let the peaceful revolution begin.

Related post:  The Republic of the United States of America is Dead

Missouri Vote Rejects Federal Mandate on Health Insurance

As I have long advocated, states must refuse to go along with Obama's federal government and its unconstitutional laws.  Through the process of nullification or by other means, the individual states should just say NO and tell the feds to stuff it.  That goes for nationalized health care, carbon cap and trade, the planned seizure of pension funds and outrageous increases in taxes (via a national sales tax or other).

The people of Missouri struck a first blow to the Obama Leviathan by voting overwhelmingly to reject the feds mandate on the forced buying of health insurance.

From the St. Louis Today Website:

ST. LOUIS • Missouri voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a federal mandate to purchase health insurance, rebuking President Barack Obama's administration and giving Republicans their first political victory in a national campaign to overturn the controversial health care law passed by Congress in March.

"The citizens of the Show-Me State don't want Washington involved in their health care decisions," said Sen. Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield, one of the sponsors of the legislation that put Proposition C on the August ballot. She credited a grass-roots campaign involving Tea Party and patriot groups with building support for the anti-Washington proposition.

With most of the vote counted, Proposition C was winning by a ratio of nearly 3 to 1. The measure, which seeks to exempt Missouri from the insurance mandate in the new health care law, includes a provision that would change how insurance companies that go out of business in Missouri liquidate their assets.

Read it all here.

Incredible! Health Care Bill Forbids Any Amendment or Repeal

A section of the health care bill reads:

"It shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment, or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection."

In other words, the authors of this monstrosity seek to make it illegal to amend it or repeal it.  They want to force it on an unwilling public and make it impossible for them to escape.  Jim DeMint of South Carolina said that he found that "particularly troubling."  He added:

"We will be passing a new law and at the same time creating a Senate rule that makes it out of order to amend or even repeal the law. I'm not even sure that it's constitutional."

Fox News reports that numerous legal challenges to the bill are already being written.  The bill may be dead on arrival as soon as it is passed.  Of course, that assumes the Supreme Court will properly interpret and defend the Constitution, something they don't always do.

If the bill does indeed pass the legal challenges, it will be time to consider radical action, e.g. state nullification of the new law, a mass march on Washington, a general strike, mass civil disobedience, even secession of the red states if necessary.

The GOP's Last Stand Against Obamacare

Senator John McCain told Chris Wallace of Fox News that Republicans will make a last stand against Obamacare, but they most likely will not be able to stop it.  He said:

“We will fight until the last vote.  We owe that to our constituents, because we must do everything – we must look back and say we did everything to prevent this terrible mistake from taking place.” 

The first order of business of the new Republican majority in 2010 is to repeal the massive governmental intervention into health care.  If they cannot, then individual states should simply refuse to go along, nullifying the federal government's illegal and unconstitutional invasion of the private sector.

Here's McCain's interview with Fox News:

State Nullification of Unconstitutional Federal Laws

Landshark 5150 has an interesting post today on state nullification of unconstitutional federal laws.  He gives some history and some examples.  In the past states have sometimes simply refused to go along with federal power grabs.  I have been saying for a long time that states should again take up the doctrine of nullification if the Obama administration pushes through universal health care, cap and trade and other economically-ruinous schemes.

Read Landshark's article here.