Over the last few week, I feel like all I’ve done is write bill reports for the Tenth Amendment Center. Lots and lots of bill reports. You can click HERE to see just how many bill reports I’m talking about.

Yet despite spending hours every day churning out reports, I can’t get them all done. The “to write” list grows faster than the “I’m done” list.

As frustrating as this is, it’s really a great problem to have. It means we are making progress. Each bill report represents a step forward in our efforts to take on unconstitutional federal actions.

Last week alone, bills to expand health care freedom, legalize medical and recreational marijuana, allow people access to experimental treatments without FDA permission, establish a state gold depository, encourage “constitutional tender,” reform asset forfeiture laws, limit warrantless drone surveillance, block federal gun control, develop hemp markets without federal permission and reject EPA rules all moved forward in state legislatures across the U.S. Each one of these state actions would, in some small way, block, reduce and/or limit federal power simply by stopping state cooperation and participation. This is the blueprint James Madison gave us to keep the feds in check when he wrote in Federalist #46 that “refusal to cooperate with officers of the Union” would serve to create impediments and obstructions to federal power.

When I started working for the Tenth Amendment Center about five years ago, I could easily keep up with all of the bills introduced across the country. We got really excited when a state legislature passed a non-binding Tenth Amendment resolution. When we talked about nullification, we were generally either ridiculed or ignored. All of that has changed in the last five years. Today, virtually everybody understands that from a legal standpoint, all of these state actions are legitimate under the anti-commandeering doctrine. With the exception of the occasional ignorant political science professor, our work is accepted as at least legit. There is no longer any debate about whether states can take this kind of action. Now it simply centers on whether they should. Today, there are literally hundreds of Tenther bills pending in state legislatures.

It’s easy to get discouraged. It’s easy to feel like were losing the fight. It’s easy to say, “The federal behemoth is unstoppable.” Then I pause and look at how far we’ve come in a relatively short time with meager resources. It’s really pretty amazing.

Be encouraged. We’re making progress. And as American revolutionary John Dickinson wrote, “Concordia res parvae crescunt.”  – Small things grow great by concord.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some bill reports to write.

Mike Maharrey

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