Think Nationally, Act Locally
Varg Freeborn, president of the Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) chapter at Youngstown State University in Ohio, had no idea the levels that his local government would stoop to in order to not only deprive him of his rights but also to silence any public protest. The City of Campbell enacted an ordinance in January [...]
Smearing Oath Keepers
Mother Jones and The New York Times have published substance-free attack pieces on the constitutionalist organization Oath Keepers (OK). And what are Oath Keepers guilty of? Vowing that they will refuse to violate Civil Liberties! Check out their 10 orders they won’t follow. The only one I could see the left getting upset about is [...]
Firearms Freedom Spreading
The Tenth Amendment movement sweeping across the nation has made its way to the Beehive State. The Utah-Made Firearm Act states that all firearms, firearm accessories, and “ammunition that is manufactured commercially or privately in the state to be used or sold within the state [of Utah] is not subject to federal law or federal [...]
Tenther Homework
Professor Krey has an assignment for you tenthers out there. Please check out this video from the Federalist Society regarding “trying suspected terrorists in federal court” and summarize their arguments for me. The Federalist Society, much like the rest of the Beltway Right, is far too cozy with unconstitutional, warmongering neocons for me to ever [...]
Wallbuilders Selective Originalism
David Barton of the organization Wallbuilders takes a firm stance against nullification. How could this be? Does he not profess to believe in the original intent of the U.S. Constitution? I guess that depends on whose intent. Barton, much like others, prefers to focus on the intent of a small faction which favored a super-powerful centralized [...]
Madison’s Flip-Flop
A reader of my Nullification in a Nutshell took issue with my use of Madison as a proponent of state nullification due to the fact that he later wrote against it. Here is what I wrote in response: I was aware that Madison later changed his tune on nullification, Mr. Ressa, as your quotes from [...]
Strategy Discussion
I wrote the following for THE NEW AMERICAN: This is the first FFA in the nation where federal officials could be criminally prosecuted for trying to enforce federal firearms laws. While that might sound good to some, the states need to be cautious about appearing as the aggressor. One false move could tarnish the state [...]
Centralizers vs Tenthers on the Economy
“If only D.C. were more like Bejing!” In an article that could have easily been entitled “Abolish the States,” Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect, laments the ways the states have prevented the bureaucrats in D.C. from centralizing even more power. Why? Because the states aren’t draining wealth from their citizens fast enough as the [...]
Never Forget
One thing that was edited out of my latest cover article from The New American due to space constraints is something we should never forget when it comes to the issue of “federal funding.” Whenever you hear a centralist, whether from the left or the right, telling you that the federal government should cut off [...]
Co-opting the Constitution
My esteemed colleague at THE NEW AMERICAN, Thomas R. Eddlem, does an excellent job dismantling the latest effort by the mainstream, beltway Right to hijack the Tea Party Movement (TPM) and link the Constitution with war and torture. Don’t fall for the latest lies from these establishment neoconservatives, people! Here’s an excerpt of Eddlem’s article: [...]
Nullification in a Nutshell
The “Principles of 98,” as they came to be known, are rarely discussed in modern history lectures even though these are integral to understanding how our federal Constitution was intended to function. These are the principles of state interposition or nullification that assert that if the federal government fails to check itself through one of [...]
Who are the dangerous conspiracy theorists?
The recent Medina debacle on Glenn Beck’s overrated show highlights the obvious hypocrisy of the Beltway Right-wing when it comes to conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories that question government action are shunned while ones that endorse all-out war are to be embraced and repeated. I have one simple question though for anyone free-thinking enough not to [...]
Original Intent on DVD
Here’s an excerpt from a great interview from the Daily Bell with James Jaeger, the award winning director of Original Intent (which makes a great Christmas gift!). Daily Bell: Aren’t those ideals of liberty that you describe, the ones the US was founded on? Jaeger: The U.S. Constitution has adopted certain traditional values to promote [...]
The Spineless Supreme Court
Tenthers are constantly reminded by worshipers of the Judicial Supremacists on the highest Court that we’re re-arguing areas that were settled long ago by those black-robed deities. Yet Tenthers reject the notion that the federal Court can rewrite the Constitution for the entire nation if 5 politically connected lawyers agree. Besides the fact that this [...]
Unconstitutional Tribunals
Judge Napolitano does an excellent job in this op-ed explaining the numerous ways in which using military tribunals on foreign soil to try alleged terrorists violates the Constitution. The casual use of the word “war” has lead to a mentality among the public and even in the government that the rules of war could apply [...]
Neocons vs. The Constitution
As much as it seems like progressives hate the Constitution, we must not forget that it is the neocons – warmongering statists pretending to be conservatives – who continue to be the biggest threat to the U.S. Constitution. After all, if it weren’t for the neocons, Obama most likely wouldn’t be able to get away [...]
Rand Paul and Military Commissions
Ron Paul’s Senate-aspiring son takes some un-libertarian positions which causes controversy among the freedom movement. “Foreign terrorists do not deserve the protections of our Constitution,” said Dr. Paul. “These thugs should stand before military tribunals and be kept off American soil. I will always fight to keep Kentucky safe and that starts with cracking down [...]
Jonathan Bean on Lysander Spooner
Recently, I wrote about Lysander Spooner’s dubious argument that the unamended Constitution as originally ratified prohibited slavery in a book review I did for The New American. Jonathan Bean, Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and professor of history at Southern Illinois University, commented on my review of his book “Race & Liberty in America” [...]
Anti-Constitution Libertarians
This is just the opening salvo in what I hope to be a friendly and cordial debate among liberty enthusiasts regarding what role “constitutionalism” has to play in the future of the movement to fight statism and restore the protection of individual rights. A recurring theme I’ve encountered is the schism between pro-Constitution libertarians and [...]
Race and Liberty in America
My latest book review in THE NEW AMERICAN (of the Independent Institutes Jonathan Bean’s Race & Liberty in America) is online. I’d like to get feedback from you Tenthers out there on my discussion of the great Lysander Spooner’s questional constitutionalism. Here’s an excerpt: In the first area, the book includes writings of Lysander Spooner, [...]
Forget the Supreme Court
On Friday, November 6th 2009, I called into a conference call hosted by The Federalist Society (I’m a member) which featured speakers such as Peter Urbanowicz and David B. Rivkin, Jr on the topic on National Health-care. The speakers really knew their stuff but they and the callers who asked questions basically accepted the notion [...]
A Look at the Heritage Guide to the U.S. Constitution
Here is my latest book review from THE NEW AMERICAN. The Federalist Society has compiled a “Conservative & Libertarian Legal Scholarship: Annotated Bibliography” to collect what they deem to be the best legal analysis of every aspect of American law. Their recommended reading for constitutional law contains the following advice: “The Heritage Foundation has published [...]
Repeal the 17th Amendment!
The fall of constitutional government and the deterioration of state sovereignty can mostly be traced to the disastrous decision to change the election of US Senators from the states to the actual citizens in an effort to make the Constitution “more democratic” via the 17th amendment. Randall Holcombe of The Independent Institute highlights how this [...]
Can the County Sheriff Save the Constitution?
Here is my latest article for THE NEW AMERICAN magazine on a fascinating approach to asserting sovereignty which features a quote from TAC founder, Michael Boldin. Richard Mack, former sheriff of Graham County, Arizona, is not afraid to ruffle some feathers in order to halt what he considers violations of the U.S. Constitution. In 1993, [...]
