Symbolism is fine but what is needed is a bit more substance in the effort to resist Federal tyranny:
Gov. Rick Perry apparently isn’t the only one fed up with Washington.
More than a half-dozen state lawmakers have filed measures to try to limit the federal government’s ability to dictate what happens in Texas.
These bills “represent the growing sentiment that the federal government has continued to overreach in its power and spending,” said Rep. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, who has filed several resolutions. “Each one sends an individual message that our nation is a union of individual and sovereign states that expect sound fiscal policy.”
Some proposals declare Texas’ sovereignty over all powers not specifically granted to the federal government; others call on Congress to pass a balanced budget. Still more call for a nationwide constitutional convention to adopt a “repeal amendment,” which could allow for federal measures to be overturned if enough states join together.
Some political observers aren’t surprised that state lawmakers are taking target practice at Washington. But they say lawmakers have work of their own that needs to be addressed in the legislative session that starts in January.
“Most of this is symbolic,” said Jim Riddlesberger, a political science professor at Texas Christian University. “It’s a reaction based upon the election…. It’s clear most voters were dissatisfied this year and the primary target of that dissatisfaction was Washington.
What alot of folks dont seem to realize is that the Constitution wasnt written so there could be a “balance of power between the Federal and State governments”. It was written to destroy the soverenty of the States and create a Mercantalist empire modeled after Great Britain. The Constitution set up a Supreme Government Court that decides for itself if the government is obeying the Constitution. The Bill of Rights says “Congress shall make no law…”. But the Constitution gave the Executive Branch the power to create all these new departments such as the CIA,FBI,DHS,TSA,DEA, ect ect. which subvert the Congress. Today the Executive Branch is the largest branch, it thumbs its nose at the Congress and the Judicial Branch(full of justices chosen by the Executive) says its all “legal”.
If these folks really want “freedom” and ‘government of the people’ they will need to secede from this corrupt empire and focus on the “balance of power” between State, county, city, and town governments.
Walnut,
I don’t think that the Constitution was written to destroy the power of the states. I’ll point out that when Alexander Hamilton spoke at the Constitutional convention in favor of doing just that, he was treated like a nut, James Madison had some very bad things to say about Hamilton in his convention notes, so I don’t think many people at the convention had the intention of taking all the power away from the states.
Hamilton, and his followers hijacked the Constitution after it was adopted. I think the real question is whether a document like the Constitution can be implemented without it being hijacked. To ironically borrow from stink’n Lincoln, it’s a question of, “whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.”
It can be, but the wording has to be more specific than we have in the current US Constitution.
To some degree I think this is the discussion Michael really wants to have on this site. Please correct me if I’m wrong, Michael. I believe he wants a governmental structure that abandons any attempt at any type of Union outside the South, and even the Union within the South would be extremely limited, perhaps even more limited than the Articles of Confederation.
Personally, I’m willing to go with a lot of possibilities. I’m certainly interested in preserving Southern culture in or out of the Union, but I’m willing to discuss any number of governmental structures so long as whatever we get preserves little r republican government.
The waking conservatives throughout the country are currently trying to restore the Constitution to what it was intended to be. That’s where the Tea Party is at the moment. If they manage this or not, I think that it’s currently important for them to try.
I can see a large number of possible outcomes. I’ll point out that even if the Constitution is restored it what it’s supposed to be, there is the possibility that extremely liberal states will secede. You may well end up with a Southern oriented country even if the Tea Party gets what it wants.