Re-establishing State Sovereignty–while preserving the Union

August 30th, 2009 in Constitution, Freedom, State Sovereignty ~ 118(2) Commentshttp://nonstandardpolitics.com/blog/118Re-establishing+State+Sovereignty--while+preserving+the+Union2009-08-31+04%3A17%3A41Jonathon

What do you do when Congress continuously tramples our God-given, Constitutionally protected freedoms and refuses to listen to the voice of the people?

What do you do?

The 2010 elections are more than a year away. Will America as we know it still exist then? If Barack Obama in his first 6 months in office can spend more than every prior U.S. President combined, what might the next year hold? TARP, the “porkulus” bill, socialized medicine, Cash-for-clunkers, Cap-and-tax… all the while ignoring the real solutions to the problems we face. What will they do next?

Desperate times call for desperate measures. And Americans have had just about all they are willing to take–especially in Texas.

Yesterday (Aug. 29th) “thousands of Texans poured into the capitol and other major cities across the state to demand that their elected officials immediately deliver an ultimatum to Washington: ‘sovereignty or secession’”, according to a report by IL tea party organizer Robert Moon.

This is only the latest evidence of something I’ve been convinced of for weeks now: that secession is not merely a possibility, it is an inevitability, if things do not change. So why not leverage that looming threat to make some real progress, while averting the motivating cause for secession and thus preserving the Union?

I was recently in Austin, TX on the house floor acting as a state Representative in a mock legislature which is part of a conservative training program called Patriot Academy. The bill that I brought, HJR28, addressed this very issue:

1. By sending a clear “cease and desist” warning message to Washington with teeth–Texas means business (this was no ordinary resolution. House Joint Resolutions must be passed by a two-thirds vote in both the House and the senate).
2. By setting forth a specific list of potential violations of state and individual sovereignty, any three of which occurring within a 10-year time frame would trigger an automatic Texas secession.
3. By giving the people of Texas the opportunity to ratify the action.

This is truly a Texas-style way to telling Congress and the President that “we’re drawing a line in the sand and it stops here. We mean business.” (Unfortunately, it did not pass the House at Patriot Academy.)

Is this a bluff? No. Would Congress listen? I think so. But if they don’t start listening soon, I wholeheartedly advocate secession as a last resort to preserve our freedom.

Read the text of HJR28 below:

By: Hill, J. and Gattle, J.                     H.J.R. No. 28

A JOINT RESOLUTION

warning the Federal Government to cease and desist all acts of tyranny or precipitate a Texas Secession from the United States of America.

WHEREAS, the inalienable right of every Citizen of the United States of America to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is endowed by their Creator alone and that to protect these rights “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, – That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,” and

WHEREAS, the people of Texas resent and decry the imperial attitude, profligate spending, and unconstitutional actions of all three branches of the Federal Government, and

WHEREAS, the outcome of the “War between the States” does not preclude the “inalienable right of the people to alter, reform, or abolish their government in such manner as they may think expedient”:

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

That if any three of the following actions are taken before January 1st, 2020 by any branch of the Federal Government, namely:

1. Enacting HB2454 (“Cap and Trade”) or similar legislation, or
2. Creating a Federal public option for providing healthcare,
3. Creation of a new tax or significantly raising the overall tax burden, or
4. Failing to enact H.R. 1207 (“Federal Reserve Transparency Act”) or similar legislation, or
5. Enacting H.R. 1964 (“Freedom of Choice Act”) or similar legislation to completely legalize abortion, or
6. Attempting to confiscate arms or taking any action abridging the right to self-defense, or
7. Passing any future legislation without full reading and adequate deliberation, or
8. Taking any action grossly violating any part of the Bill of Rights, or
9. Exhibiting any further behavior demonstrating no desire to decrease the power of the Federal Government and to increase the power of the States,

That the statehood of Texas shall be rescinded and the Republic of Texas shall have the sole right to govern the affairs of the people of Texas under a republican form of government, effective six months after the aforementioned conditions being met. Be it further resolved that this proposed Joint Resolution be submitted to the voters for ratification on the uniform election date established by the Texas Constitution.

---