If this article doesn’t frighten you, it’s probably because you aren’t doing anything that really threatens to limit big government. As I read this article, a sinking feeling started to develop in the pit of my stomach. Is this what happens when patriotic citizens and state legislators begin to actually challenge entrenched RINOs and upset the statist quo? Frankly, it’s more than a little scary.
In my own state, there are many Republicans in the Arizona State Legislature who have taken bold steps designed to restrain an overreaching federal government. There are huge numbers of citizens and grassroots liberty activists who have their back. I wish I could say there were a few courageous Democrats holding or running for state office standing with them, but at this time I can’t. There are also many Republican, Independent and third party liberty candidates running for state office who are ready to join the fight.
In his recent article, The Plunderbund’s Persecution of Phil Hart, investigative journalist William Norman Grigg gives us a look at how the powerful are seeking to neutralize or destroy one Republican state legislator who rocked the boat by daring to question the constitutionality of some of what the federal government does. I hope it will not happen in Arizona the way it’s happening in Idaho. But if and when steps are taken to introduce Federal Tax Escrow Legislation in Arizona, similar to the bill introduced by Washington state legislator Matthew Shea, who is also mentioned in Will’s article, I suspect it might.
However, one almost has to expect it, prepare for it and call it what it is when it rears its ugly head: A Political Inquisition. The federal government has no need to send in tanks to crush what they might perceive to be an attempt by states to assert their sovereignty through nullification. They have a much more intimidating weapon: The IRS. Will Grigg’s article is a glimpse into the future of an Obama nation. Remember Obama’s request for 16,000 additional I.R.S. agents?
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. But we shouldn’t kid ourselves or be naive. Will’s article gives us a look of what stage 3 of that 4 stage process described by Ghandi might look like in your state, and it can get pretty nasty and scary. Are we prepared?
The signers of the Declaration of Independence pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor in support of the principles of the American Revolution. Are we courageous enough to do the same today in support of the Principles of ’98? Before you answer, just remember that freedom isn’t free and consider, in a metaphorical way of course, what Benjamin Franklin once said about hanging together. I pray that our courage and our unity will not be found wanting.
cross-posted from the Arizona Tenth Amendment Center
- Answering Objections to Nullification - May 20, 2011
- He’s Not Your Commander In Chief, Dennis Miller! - March 24, 2011
- Meet the Founding Fathers of Constitutional Subversion - March 21, 2011