NULLIFICATION: THE SOLUTION TO FEDERAL TYRANNY

1. NULLIFICATION: THE SOLUTION TO FEDERAL TYRANNY The 10th amendment won’t enforce itself

2. WASHINGTON IS LOST • As of right now, Washington is lost. • Spending time and money trying to fix it by playing the national politics game is futile. • Congress, the Executive (any president), and the Judiciary could care less about limiting or reducing the size of government. This is evident from their actions.

3. WASHINGTON IS LOST • Roughly 90% of what the federal government does is unconstitutional. • Both parties approve. Budgets, when actually proposed, are passed overwhelmingly and contain mostly unconstitutional spending. • Your Congress Critter has a serious problem saying “NO” when it matters.

4. LAWLESS & OUT OF CONTROL

5. LAWLESS & OUT OF CONTROL

6. NO ONE IS SERIOUS • The Super Committee, though a ridiculous idea, was a complete failure. • Democrats won’t cut the welfare state. • Republicans won’t cut the warfare state. • This will not change.

7. VOTE THE BUMS OUT? • Many people believe if we just vote the “bums” out and replace them with people who believe like we do, bad laws can be repealed and government can be limited. • This has not been an effective strategy…EVER. Even the Tea Party class of 2010 has not been a limited government juggernaut.

8. VOTE THE BUMS OUT? • Club For Growth did a study on the TP freshman class of 2010, and many did not live up to their limited government campaign rhetoric. Only one, Justin Amash, scored 100% on their scorecard. Tea Party favorite Allen West scored 64%. • This is only part of the story. How many of these freshmen proposed bills that would decrease the size of government? When I checked last summer, Justin Amash was the only one.

9. VOTE THE BUMS OUT? • The States have forgotten their place. • States allow usurpations of power such that the federal government easily gets away with it without consequences. • States must once again reclaim their reserved powers, and force the federal government into the box we made for it.

10. VOTE THE BUMS OUT? • If we vote the bums out hoping the new crop will repeal unconstitutional laws, we have become part of the problem. An unconstitutional law is an affront to the Constitution, to the Republic, and to basic morality. If such a law stays in place because a vote for repeal fails by ONE, it illustrates the lunacy of our current approach against Obamacare.

11. THE 2012 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION • Obama is driving us toward a cliff at 115 mph. • If Romney had won, he would’ve driven us toward the same cliff at 85 mph. • We’re still going off a cliff, it’s just a matter of when. • Just keep in mind the catch phrase was “Repeal and Replace”.

12. THE MINDSET MUST CHANGE • We exist under a federal government that does everything. • This encourages apathy in state politics, which in turn leads to a loss in state sovereignty. • The States are now nothing more than lines on a map, nothing but a formality.

13. THE MINDSET MUST CHANGE • The States must once again take their place as free, independent states. • Must remember the States created the federal government and gave it just a few powers. • Must remember all power is derived from the People, not TAKEN FROM US.

14. WHAT ABOUT SECESSION? • Since Obama got reelected, suddenly there’s a lot of interest in secession. • Secession is the inherent right of any free, independent state. • Secession is also not the answer.

15. TEXAS SECESSION PETITION • “Peacefully grant the State of Texas to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government.” • For what reason would we want to scrap our current government in Texas? Do we want to abandon republicanism? Replace it with what? • This may not be a completely thought out idea.

16. PROBLEMS THAT COME WITH SECESSION • Lincoln set the standard response to secession: invasion, occupation, death, destruction, and subordination. • States would have to possibly face war. • Must create a currency for the State. Will it be paper? Will it be commodity based?

17. PROBLEMS THAT COME WITH SECESSION • Will trade be impeded by the federal government through blockades and sanctions? • What happens to Texans serving abroad in the US military? • What about the millions of Texans who don’t want to secede but are forced into it anyway? • So many questions remain unasked and unanswered.

18. WHAT IS NULLIFICATON? • Jeffersonian idea that the States of the American Union must judge the constitutionality of the acts of their agent, the federal government, since no impartial arbiter between them exists. • "The several states composing the United States of America are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government“---Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 • "where powers are assumed [by the federal government] which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy: that every State has a natural right in cases not within the compact, to nullify of their own authority all assumptions of power by others within their limits: that without this right, they would be under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of whosoever might exercise this right of judgment for them“ ---Kentucky Resolutions of 1798

19. WHAT IS NULLIFICATION? • Usually involves a bill, which is passed by both houses and is signed by the governor. • It is a refusal on the part of your state government to cooperate with, or enforce a particular federal law or regulation it deems to be unconstitutional.

20. WHAT NULLIFICATION ISN’T • It’s not a petitioning of the federal government to start doing or stop doing anything • It doesn’t depend on any federal law being repealed • It does not require permission from any person or institution outside your own state

21. WHY NULLIFICATION? • The federal government cannot be the final arbiter of the extent and boundaries of its own power. This includes all branches of the federal government. In the law this is known as a “conflict of interest.” • This would be like having your ex wife’s mother as the final judge on the structure of your divorce settlement. • The 10th amendment will not enforce itself!

22. IS NULLIFICATION CONSTITUTIONAL? • If we believe what the 10th amendment says, YES it is constitutional: • The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. THIS IS EITHER TRUE OR NOT TRUE. • The States MUST take up their responsibility to exercise the powers NOT delegated to the United States, and REFUSE to recognize federal laws that usurp those powers.

23. IF WE SAY IT ISN’T… • If there is no mechanism by which the States may resist the usurpations of the federal government, we are admitting that revolution is the only answer. We are admitting the Constitution authorized a federal government that could lord usurped power over the States unchecked.

24. TODAY’S VERSION OF THE 10TH • The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution will simply be usurped by the various branches over time, thereby destroying the sovereignty of the States and the People. When the federal government usurps a power, the ignorant people of the States will run directly to the federal government and ask it to pretty please stop. The federal government will 9 times out of 10 tell the States to go pound sand.

25. THE FEDERALIST PAPERS • In Federalist #45, Madison stated: “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government, are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State.”

26. THE FEDERALIST PAPERS • Madison again in Federalist #40: “We have seen that in the new government, as in the old, the general powers are limited; and that the States, in all unenumerated cases, are left in the enjoyment of their sovereign and independent jurisdiction.”

27. THE FEDERALIST PAPERS • Hamilton in Federalist #78: “There is no position which depends on clearer principles, than that every act of a delegated authority, contrary to the tenor of the commission under which it is exercised, is void. No legislative act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid. To deny this, would be to affirm, that the deputy is greater than his principal; that the servant is above his master; that the representatives of the people are superior to the people themselves; that men acting by virtue of powers, may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid.”

28. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE SCOTUS? • We are all taught from grade school onward that the SCOTUS is infallible, and what they say the Constitution means is what it means, and therefore their interpretations are the law of the land • In the dicta of Cooper v. Aaron, the SCOTUS even said its statements have exactly the same status as the text of the Constitution itself. This concept is NOT found in the Constitution.

29. SCOTUS ABSURDITIES • Obamacare decision. Self explanatory. • Wickard v. Filburn: farmer can’t grow wheat for his own consumption (butchering the commerce clause) • Kelo v. City of New London: ruled a redevelopment agency in New London, CT could seize homes of local families and give them to a private developer working with the Pfizer Corporation.

30. SCOTUS ABSURDITIES • Helvering v. Davis: ruled Social Security program was constitutional under general welfare clause and did not violate the 10th amendment. • And what about all the things the federal government is doing that have NEVER been challenged in court?

31. STOP PRETENDING… • That the SCOTUS gets the final say about what’s constitutional • That Congress will abide by anything other than the SCOTUS’ interpretations • That the 10th amendment has any teeth unless the States actually lay claim to the powers that rightfully and constitutionally belong to THEM.

32. WHERE WE START FIGHTING BACK • Obamacare is low hanging fruit. Most people hate it and want it to die a horrible death. • If a nullification movement is going to take root and grow, Obamacare is the perfect catalyst. • Strike while the iron is hot!

33. BUT NULLIFICATION FAILED IN 2011! • Leo Berman had a bill to nullify Obamacare in the last session. • While testifying in front of the State Sovereignty Committee, he was asked what effect his bill would have if SCOTUS ruled Obamacare constitutional. • His response: the bill would go the way of all bad bills and would have no effect

34. EDUCATION IS KEY • Berman didn’t understand the concept of nullification, so he looked foolish, and made that small nullification movement look foolish and ineffective. • We cannot let this happen in the 2013 session! • Do your homework! Study to show yourself approved!

35. THE PLAN • Circulate a petition in your state house district with a resolution that encourages your state rep to support the nullification of Obamacare • Get as many signatures as you can on the petition, and sometime before the session starts (perhaps early January) take the resolution and petition to your representative’s district office or Austin office. • Bring as many people as you can. Hand it over to the staff, and request a short meeting with the rep to discuss nullification further.

36. THE PLAN • The nullification bill proposed in 2011 also failed probably because it was vague on the actual policy needed to carry it out. We aren’t submitting the same bill this time, we’re submitting one that has details. • Must submit a good bill in the beginning, because we know it will be watered down by politicians.

37. OUR BILL • Seeks to aid citizens of Texas in noncompliance with Obamacare. • Primarily focuses on setting up “roadblocks” for the IRS. • Forces IRS to go through the Texas Secretary of State before liens can be filed or levies can be executed.

38. OUR BILL • Amends the Texas Property Code so that federal agents cannot file a notice of federal tax lien or execute any levy unless: • They verify with the Texas SOS that the taxpayer has or has not filed documentation of non liability for ACA related taxes. • Prove to the SOS that part of his tax liability is non ACA related. • Even then, levies are only allowed to be collected for non ACA taxes.

39. OUR BILL • Federal agents are guilty of a class B misdemeanor if they fail to follow our guidelines. • Our bill strives to stay in compliance with the US Constitution at every turn. Congress has power to lay AND collect taxes, but only those arising from a constitutional bill. We are only blocking collection of unconstitutional taxes.

40. OUR BILL • We cannot fight against the “offset power”. This is when you have a refund for a given year, but a tax liability for a previous year, and the refund is garnished in the amount of the liability. • This just means you need to get better at tax planning!

41. IS TEXAS READY? • In 2011, the TSA bill failed because of cowardice on the part of your Governor, Lt. Governor, and Speaker of the House. • A threatening letter from the federal government proved that you can indeed mess with Texas and get away with it.

42. END GAME • The end result of nullification is: • Protection of the Constitution • Protection of Liberty • Protection of State Sovereignty • Prevention of violent revolution

43. END GAME • This effort will require: • Sacrifice • Perseverance • Significant effort • We cannot expect to do something like this and have it cost us nothing. It will have a cost.