South Carolina to Ban Federal Currency?
Imagine my shock upon opening the Drudge Report this morning and seeing this article from CBSNews.com: South Carolina Rep. Mike Pitts has introduced legislation that would mandate that gold and silver coins replace federal currency as legal tender in his state. In an interview, Pitts told Hotsheet that he believes that “if the federal government [...]
Firearms Freedom Passes VA House
In what must be an unprecedented string of victories for advocates of state sovereignty and the Tenth Amendment in Virginia, HB 69, the Virginia Firearms Freedom Act, passed the House of Delegates today with a bi-partisan vote of 70-29. HB 69: Declares that firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition made in Virginia and retained within the [...]
Virginia Sovereignty Resolution Passes the House
When it rains, it pours. After stalling in committee last year, HJ 125, the Virginia Sovereignty Resolution, has passed the House by a vote of 76-20. The Resolution: Urges Congress to honor state sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and claims sovereignty for the Commonwealth under the Tenth Amendment [...]
Question With(out) Boldness: In Which Glenn Beck Jumps the Shark
Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear. – Thomas Jefferson At the risk of being redundant, I must join Michael in pointing out the sheer hypocrisy of Glenn Beck’s hatchet job of a radio [...]
Health Care Freedom Bill Passes VA House
More good news coming out of the Virginia General Assembly Thursday: Del. Bob Marshall’s health freedom bill, HB 10, passed the House of Delegates 72-26. The Senate bills on this issue, SB 283, SB 311 and SB 417, all passed the House Commerce and Labor committee by 17-5 margins and are headed to the floor. [...]
Nullification, Secession, and the Human Scale of Political Order
For three days last week, on the third floor of the Francis Marion Hotel in downtown Charleston, SC, a group of scholars have been meeting to discuss the history of nullification and secession in American law and politics, and the continued relevance of those concepts today. I had the privilege of joining them for the [...]
VA 5th District GOP Candidates Take the 10th
There’s a horse race afoot in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District. No less than seven candidates are vying to run against vulnerable freshman Democrat Tom Perriello. Six of them because they feel that the GOP’s anointed nominee, State Senator Robert Hurt, lacks the fortitude to champion small government in Washington. Considering that in 2004 Hurt supported [...]
Health Care Freedom Goes 3 for 3 in VA Senate
On Monday afternoon legislators in Richmond demonstrated in a big way that they are finally starting to get it. Well, everyone except Creigh Deeds. After several months of intense lobbying by activists from all over the state, the Virginia Senate passed all three bills (Fred Quayle’s SB 283, Jill Vogel’s SB 417, and Steve Martin’s [...]
Virginia 10th Amendment Rally Draws 2,400 to the Capitol Grounds
Yesterday, I joined a record-breaking Lobby Day crowd of Virginians at the steps of the bell tower on Richmond’s Capitol Grounds. I had the privilege to be one of the speakers who addressed the gathering on topics like the Tenth Amendment and its fundamental importance in our American system of divided sovereignty. They didn’t need [...]
Medical Marijuana and Constitutional Confusion in Virginia
From CBS affiliate WTVR.com in Richmond: Delegate Harvey Morgan, a Republican from the 98th district, is introducing legislation that would give more patients access to medical marijuana, as long as they had a doctor’s prescription. This could be another positive step toward ending decades of incredibly costly and embarrassingly futile prohibition efforts, at least in [...]
Something in the Water? VA House Speaker Co-Sponsors Tenther Bill
BIG NEWS from Richmond just a few short days before the 10th Amendment rally on January 18th. As reported by the Richmond Tea Party via Tertium Quids: Speaker Howell has asked to be a co-sponsor of the Health Care Reform Bill [HB10], one of two 10th Amendment bills we have before the General Assembly… Get [...]
Let Them Eat Health Care
Newsflash: Congressional Democrats don’t care what you think! In fact, they don’t even care what members of their own party think. From a report on USNews.com Democratic Leaders Plan Secret Health Reform Deliberations Despite their claims to the contrary, the way that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have handled the [...]
Health Care Rationing in Virginia: A “Success” Story
From the business section of the New York Times comes this profile of medical care in Richmond since 1996. Since 1996, the Richmond area has lost more than 600 of its hospital beds, mostly because of state regulations on capacity. Several hospitals have closed, and others have shrunk. In 1996, the region had 4.8 hospital [...]
NYTimes: 10th Amendment Really Just a Plot By Big Health Insurance
As it so often does, the New York Times gave much-deserved credit to its readership’s intelligence Monday, with an article describing the brewing battle over health care “reform” at the state level as the work of insidious insurance lobbyists, who have apparently been plotting for years to derail the ever-shifting corporatist giveaway known as ObamaCare. [...]
The Supremacy Clause Vs. the 10th Amendment: Who Has the Power?
The feds do, according to an article at Nolan Chart on Monday, which specifically takes issue with the idea that nullification is a power left to the states by virtue of its having never been surrendered: In order to advocate their belief nullification or Tenth Amendment advocates ignore the specific language of the Constitution prohibiting [...]
Nullification at Work: California to Legalize Marijuana?
An initiative to legalize marijuana in California has garnered enough signatures for placement on the 2010 ballot, according to its supporters. From NBC: The [regrettably titled] Tax and Regulate Initiative has far more than the nearly 434,000 signatures needed to make the statewide ballot, said Richard Lee, well-known Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur and the initiative’s [...]
Turning Medicaid Against the Feds: Withdraw!
As if we needed another example of how poorly conceived the federal health care “reform” plans are, there’s some very interesting food for thought from two senior fellows at the Heritage Foundation. According to them, if the health care legislation passes Congress in anything like its current form, states would be better off ending the [...]
Ignorance From the Left: The Gift That Keeps On Giving
If you ever wondered what the other side is saying about you, observe this post from The Elliptical Press. According to the author, states’ rights is: “[R]eally an ideology of convenience; most of these so-called libertarians were not in favor of states’ rights trumping federal law when Bush was President. Rather, its a situation of [...]
States’ Rights Republicans?
It looks like some members of the Republican establishment are starting to fear primary challenges by the Tea Party folks. The Wall Street Journal reports that Colorado Republicans have adopted a “Platform for Prosperity,” intended to placate populist outrage, and are strongly encouraging all candidates for state office in 2010 to get on board. The [...]
Welcome to the (10th Amendment) Revolution
To support upcoming state legislation designed to nullify federal health care mandates, the Virginia Campaign for Liberty has created a website dedicated to the fight for Virginians’ Tenth Amendment rights. VA10thAmendment.org is a great place for Virginia voters and activists to keep up with the latest on initiatives and events surrounding what has been dubbed [...]
Glenn Beck Misses the Point (Again)
After weeks of teasing his audience with cryptic allusions to “The Plan,” on Saturday, Glenn Beck revealed key aspects of a new strategy he believes will help to restore constitutional sanity to American government. It won’t. Given a perfect opportunity to embrace the concept of Jeffersonian federalism and state sovereignty as a check against the [...]
Health Care Freedom in Virginia
The Campaign for Liberty has stepped to the plate big time in Virginia, getting out ahead of the feds and finding a sponsor for the Virginia Health Care Freedom Act, to be introduced in 2010. The Act reads, in part: Neither the Governor nor the Department of Health, the Department of Public Welfare or any [...]
220-215: The Tyranny of the Majority
I had just returned to Washington, D.C. from Montpelier, James Madison’s family home, when it was announced that the House passed ObamaCare late Saturday night. From our Constitution’s cradle to its grave in one day. What a journey.
Pelosi Dispels Tenth Amendment “Myths”
This email from Nancy Pelosi to her supporters is the definition of Congressional doublespeak, rife with misleading statements like: “Rather than creating a ‘government takeover of health care,’…America’s Affordable Health Choices Act…will expand enrollment in private insurance by an estimated 6 million Americans.” Um, Nancy, mandating that all Americans buy a certain kind of insurance [...]
