This week’s episode is made possible in part by the new book, Our Last Hope. The status quo has failed you – voting the bums out is a failure as a strategy. This book offers a new path – one that is already winning. Get it online at tenthamendmentcenter.com/ourlasthope/

States around the country are refusing to implement Health Exchanges as mandated under Obamacare, the so-called Affordable Care Act. Rick Perry has said Texas will not implement. So has Governors Haley in South Carolina, Parnell in Alaska, Deal, Kasich in Ohio – and others.

Maine’s Governor Paul LePage took what appears to be the strongest stand in opposition when he sent a letter that said, “Because the guidance issued in the August 13, 2012 request of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is not legally binding, the State of Maine will not be submitting a Declaration Letter. Instead, this letter serves as the state’s position regarding this issue. Since the ACA was signed into law, the State of Maine, along with several other states, has repeated on a number of occasions and we continue to believe that the law has severe legal problems, is bad policy, and overreaches into the lives and pocketbooks of fellow Americans.”

Some Obamacare opponents still wonder what these steps will actually achieve. While refusing to create an exchange won’t eliminate the Act, it will certainly create heavy logistical and financial difficulties for the federal government. The idea behind the refusal is simple: If the federal government had the resources and the manpower to do all this on its own, it wouldn’t have attempted to mandate the states into covering such massive costs. When enough states refuse to comply, the theory goes, it’ll create a burden that could cause the feds to reconsider, as it has done repeatedly since 2008 over the Bush-Era Real ID act.

At very least, even if not successful in bringing down the Affordable Care Act, resisting implementation at every turn possible holds the high moral ground. As Governor LePage seems to be indicating as well when he said, “Maine will not be complicit in the degradation of our nation’s health care system.”

But make no doubt about it, while this is a good first step, it is only a first step. As Tenth Amendment Center communications director, Mike Maharrey, put it, “Hopefully, mass refusal will not only gum up the system, but set the stage for more aggressive efforts to block this unconstitutional and economically untenable act.”

For information on how to deal with the next step, you can download the TAC’s FREE 18-page organizer’s toolkit at tenthamendmentcenter.com/nullifyobamacare

In other news, Joel Poindexter reports that in the wake of two states – Washington and Colorado – flat out defying the federal government’s war on weed by fully legalizing the plant, more states will be considering legislation to do the same in 2013.

Already legislators in four states, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont, have indicated they will present similar legislation in the coming session to follow Colorado and Washington. It was two years before another state joined California after that state authorized medical marijana, and four years before six states had partially decriminalized marijuana.

Said Robert Capecchi, who works with the Marijuana Policy Project, “With these thoughtful legislators in at least four states planning on introducing sensible proposals to remove criminal penalties and regulate marijuana… it’s clear that ending marijuana prohibition is gaining momentum.” Truly, Joel writes, the dominoes are falling.

In fact, we already see how this is playing out – the federal government simply doesn’t have the manpower to enforce their laws – they require state cooperation to do their deeds.. Already in Washington State, nearly 250 criminal cases have been dropped in response to the people’s passage of Initiative 502 on November 6th – and that law won’t even go into full effect for another year.

And that’s really the blueprint for dealing with any unconstitutional federal act. When enough people stand up and say NO to Washington DC, and enough states pass laws backing those people up, there’s not much the feds can do to slam their unconstitutional laws, regulations and mandates down our throats.

In Texas, Jim Kearney reports that State Representative Lyle Larson has introduced House Bill 149 to nullify the indefinite detention provisions of the NDAA. The bill, if passed, would not only declare indefinite detention to be illegal in the state of Texas, it would also include penalties of up to a $10,000 fine for federal agents attempting to enforce the act on people in the state.

The mainstream media has begun to pick up on the story as well. Reports have surfaced in the Huffington Post and elsewhere. And even Glenn Beck this last week gave his enthusiastic personal support for nullification of the NDAA, when he said – “Make sure your state is passing laws that say we will not comply”

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