Tenth Amendment Center – by Mike Maharrey
The following is an excerpt from Our Lost Hope: Rediscovering the Lost Path to Liberty
We all intuitively understand – we need rules. And we must follow them.
The U.S. Constitution provides a framework, the rulebook, if you will, for the federal government; each clause, each principle, carefully crafted for a specific reason. The entire document aims to define, constrain and control federal power. When we begin to ignore and rewrite various checks and balances written into the Constitution by the framers, we tear at the very fabric of the Republic. And we run the risk of unleashing a torrent of power that will soon wash away the freedoms and liberties the founders cherished.
Thomas Jefferson said, “…in questions of power then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the constitution…”
A football game would degenerate into chaos without set rules and adherence to them. If referees arbitrarily awarded touchdowns, the game would cease to have any real meaning. Can you imagine the ridicule that would pour down on an NFL official claiming to have unlimited power to make up rules on the field, regardless of the rulebook?
Althusius wrote, “All power is limited by definite boundaries and laws. No power is absolute, indefinite, arbitrary and lawless. Every power is bound to laws, right and equity.”
Yet many Americans act as if the president, the Congress, or the Supreme Court possesses unlimited power. They may express frustration with unconstitutional overreach, but ultimately, they shrug and accept it. “The Supreme Court ruled, so that’s just how it is,” they argue. Pundits and average citizens alike react in horror at the mere suggestion that state governments should defy a court ruling, ignore a presidential executive order or nullify an unconstitutional act.
Most Americans, at least tacitly, accept the idea that the federal government wields unlimited, absolute, supreme power- a sort of national political football game not bound by any rules.
The founders never intended such a thing.
Delegation of Power
A referee’s authority to officiate an NFL football game flows from the league. When a candidate meets the criteria set by the NFL, league officials authorize him to don the striped shirt and referee games. He must call the contest according to the rules set by the NFL, rules enumerated in the official rulebook. He can’t just make up rules as he goes. And he can’t willy-nilly insert his own interpretation of the regulations. The referee must call the game according to set and established criteria. He enjoys a delegation of power from the league, but he must exercise it within its prescribed limits. No calling touchdowns because he decides it will make the game more exciting, or because he wants to inject his sense of fairness into the contest.
And it is self-evident that if the NFL hired me to referee football, it wouldn’t give me the authority to umpire a Major League Baseball game, referee an NHL hockey game or arrest a drunk driver. An NFL ref’s authority extends only to a limited arena – the NFL football field.
The NFL official operates within a delegation of power from the league. The referee, in essence, serves as an agent. The league acts as the sovereign. A sovereign can always revoke delegated power. The NFL can revoke the ref’s authority at any time. It can change the rulebook or demand the ref adhere to a given interpretation of the rule. It can even dissolve the league. The referee enjoys no such authority or prerogative. He merely wields the power given to him – he simply refs the game.
The NFL is boss.
In the same way, a government serves as an agent of the people. The people delegate government specific, defined powers. And as we’ve already discussed, the people remain sovereign. The people can revoke a delegation of power at any time. They can even dissolve the government and start over, as the American colonists did in 1776 when they severed political ties with England.
“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 to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” –Declaration of Independence
You and I are the bosses.
Legitimate government must follow the rules – the Constitution. And any power exercised by the federal government beyond those delegated is, by definition, void and of no effect.
Historians generally consider Alexander Hamilton the framer most sympathetic to a strong, national government. Yet even he emphatically argued that the Constitution strictly limited the power of the general government. In Federalist 78, Hamilton wrote:
“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.”
A constitution is nothing but a legal document whereby a sovereign delegates certain powers to a government. Have you ever stopped to think about why the opening words of the U.S. Constitution, We the People appear in large, ornate letters? When an 18th century British king issued a grant, his name always appeared at the top in the same fashion. The framers merely replaced the king’s name with “We the People,” signifying the sovereign authority from which the delegation of power flowed.
The people.
You and I.
The bosses.
Click HERE to order a copy of Our Last Hope: Rediscovering the Lost Path to Liberty. You can also order the Kindle version HERE.
http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2013/07/22/whos-the-boss/#.Ue0qRY3VCSp
Why do people have to be re-taught these 240 year-old lessons?
You would think that Americans would understand the importance of the constitution and it’s protective limits on power, but as long as we’re living in a nation of morons any used car salesman can sell them a reason for abandoning it.
I don’t think the human race can ever advance out of slavery because people never learn anything until it hurts them to not know it. They won’t remember the importance of the constitution until they’re getting their bullet to the head on the edge of the ditch.
It is critical for those in D.C. (or your state capitol) to CONvince the People that the government is the source of power, rather then the servants of the People.
In America, our Freedoms and Liberties can not be taken away from us, unless we allow it to happen. We can not be defeated, but must surrender.
A great illustration of the People, via their states, putting an end to federal government usurpation of powers is the waivers to get out of the No Child Left Behind federal education mandate (passed into federal law in 2005)
In 2011, 5 states simply notified the federal government that they were no longer going to administer and apply the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) provisions of the federal “law”.
The only recourse the federal government had was to threaten to remove the federal education funds to these states. Upon receiving this threat, these states further informed the federal government they would further review ALL of the federal education mandates, and likely stop administering those as well.
Not wanting to lose control over the education systems of the states, the feds offered a compromise of pro-rating their education funds, to only exclude those funds which the feds attributed to the NCLB mandate. The states simply refused, stating they see the potential to implement a better education system, without the federal funds and mandates.
In a matter of just a couple of months, in 2011, the federal government surrendered and offered to “grant waivers” to these states, to “allow” them to NOT administer the NCLB mandate, and they would not lose any federal funds. What is lost in this “grant” of waiver is the fact that the states were NOT going to continue with NCLB under any conditions. So this “grant of waiver” by the feds granted nothing, but allowed them to continue the facade of being in control.
As an aside, and a great illustration of just how quickly Liberty can spread in this country, counter to the “all powerful” federal government, after seeing these initial 5 states getting out of the NCLB mess, many other states demanded the “waivers” as well.
Most of the 50 states have been “granted” waivers. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/no-child-left-behind-waiver_n_1684504.html
However, if you read the story, the federal government is back at the process of usurping powers, and attaching “strings” to the grants of waivers, to some states. The lesson to be learned here is to follow the example of the initial 5 states and simply say, “NO THANKS” to the conditions which the feds wish to put on them.
The number of states saying, “No Thank You” to federal mandates/usurpations, is ever growing, and the number of issues and programs being ignored is ever increasing. This is the model demonstrated by Jefferson and Madison in the Kentucky/Virginia Resolutions of 1788, and it is one of the tools for Liberty which our Framers passed on to us to halt the abuse and usurpation of powers from the federal government.
Regarding rules:
[1a1] Citizen sovereignty
In all cases where the private citizen is confronted by matters of law, his sovereignty shall take precedence where his actions, or lack thereof, shall have caused no real and/or measurable harm to any other, and no person shall seek to pursue whatever course of legal action against him, regardless.
[1a2] Sovereign immunity
In no case —regardless— shall elected, and/or appointed officials, or their assigns declare immunity from prosecution by dint of the false theory of sovereign immunity. No such immunity shall exist in whatever case when criminal or civil charges are brought to bear. Any person, or group thereof, who shall have sworn an oath of office, or who shall have volunteered/contacted their services under the aegis of whatever sworn office of another, shall be deemed to have relinquished any claim to sovereignty, or whatever immunity otherwise.
Yes, legitimate government must follow the rules. That legitimate government was the Republic. The Republic government was vacated (un-seated) decades ago. What we have in place now, ruling by statute, is a foreign-owned corporation named “United States”, masquerading as the government. If you claim the status of “US citizen”, Corp US is your Boss. You don’t have rights. You have privileges granted to you, by your boss, that can be revoked at any time.
“The Republic government was vacated (un-seated) decades ago. What we have in place now, ruling by statute, is a foreign-owned corporation named “United States”, masquerading as the government.”
Says who?
Just who in the H3LL are the owners of this country?
I will tell you, just so we can cut through the mustard of it all, it is We the People.
Not because it is the first three words of the Constitution. Not because it says so on the 1783 Treaty of Paris. Not because King George surrendered to the Colonials. Not because some twits in D.C. say so.
It is our country because We say it is. We the People, are the same “consent of the governed” which is spoken of in the Declaration of Independence.
Those who would have you believe that some how, through flim-flam, silly financial and legal maneuvers, or even via debt laws, We the People have some how “vacated” our ownership of this country, well, they are simply engaged in a con job.
We the People can not have our country taken from us, we can ONLY surrender it. And those who wish you to surrender her, are the very same who wish you to believe you have “lost” your country through silly notions.
There is no magic to reclaiming our rightful position of ownership of our country. We do not need to hold our mouths just right, say just the right words, sign our names in some special manner, to claim our rightful positions of owners.
Do you have to hold your mouth just right, or say the right words to put on your pants, and to wear your shoes? H3LL NO, you OWN them.
Those who wish you to forgo your ownership position, are the very ones who claim that you must follow their rules in exercising your ownership position….now does that make any sense at all?
Just spend a little time looking at the Declaration, the Constitution, and the ratification recordings. It is very clearly laid out just exactly who the owners of this country are. No amount of con-job, flim-flam, or silly legalize will “vacate” that.
The People of this country are the final arbiters of who the owners of this country are. We are the final arbiters of just how this country will run. Not D.C., the Supreme Court, the President, not international banks, not the Federal Reserve. None of these have any authority in America, unless We the People allow them to have it.
So it really is up to US to determine our course. The People of this country are the owners, and we are responsible for the course this country is on. We are responsible for the damage done to this country, and we are responsible for getting her out of the trouble she is in.
Read the 14th amendment or The Red Amendment by LB Bork. If 25% of Americans could understand that book’s information and then implement the actions to de-slave themselves, we could slow down NWO. I know of one who is almost done …no driver’s license, no consent, etc and still runs a successful business. I am only 1/4th the book, and have a large fb page/website that keeps me busy. That’s why we are slaves and here’s some other interesting information about the ILLEGAL IRS (from what I could gather from it….check it out and you’ll be amazed): http://www.supremelaw.org/authors/cooper/cooper.htm
Look up USUFRUCT. That’s what THEY’VE done and now we know why most politicians are attorneys. Know what the BAR stands for? (BAR = British Accreditation Registry) and that should tell ya something.
This is purely flim-flam to make the People of America believe they are “enslaved”.
It matters little if some group/agency holds up a piece of paper, claiming some legal right to oppress the People of this country. It matters little if 9 judges in D.C. say it is “OK” to oppress the People of this country.
The People of this country can only be oppressed if that is what they accept, and this whole notion of some past NWO “they” who slipped in some special language in a bill, amendment, or such, which nullifies the Constitution is poppycock, and just a device to distract.
There is no such thing as a “14th Amendment” person, or a non-14th Amendment person. It is a scam, coming and going.
The politicians want you to believe it, so they can keep you distracted. Those pushing such malarky want you to believe it, either to bilk you out of your money, or to stroke their egos because they “cracked the code”.
The reality is that it is much more simple that that. This is what really scares people. If it is so simple, then why is it not getting fixed? The real reason is because the People of this country have collectively grown soft and lazy. If the fix is actually simple (not to imply simply applied) then there is no good excuse to NOT take action to fix it.
However, if the “fix” if a complicated, legalize based, nearly mythical process, well, who could blame a guy for simply wanting to go bass fishing and drink beer?
Ask yourself this one simple question. Those of the Founding generation, those who suffered under King George for 10+ years, those who suffered and bled through 8 years of the Revolutionary War, those who further suffered through nearly 20 years of post war depression, followed by another war….these people set things up so their Posterity could be so easily enslaved? I guess I just have too much understanding and respect for the Founding generation to think this is so.
Perhaps another tact for you to consider.
Let’s say a state, better yet, let’s say 30 states, pass laws banning an unConstitutional federal law, like Obama Care? Now what does your “NWO” oppressors do? I guess there is always nuclear intervention, but that is ALWAYS an option for oppressors. (it is called war, and we will always have that as a threat.)
The People of the various states can very simply say, “No Thank You” to any of the silliness which is being shoved down their throats. There are more armed people in nearly every given state, than there are federal law enforcement. There are more armed people in most any 3-4 states, than all of the US military. There are more armed people in America than the top 20 militaries in the world, combined.
The People are oppressed by the terms they ACCEPT, not what is imposed upon them. There are many, many Constitutional, non-violent, practical and EFFECTIVE measures available to the American People to stop the current abuses and stave off future abuses.
It really is not that complicated.
Keep in mind, complication, confusion and ignorance are all the friend of the oppressor. It is they who wish you to believe that Freedom and Liberty is complicated. It is they who want to you think that you have to “crack the code” to fix this country.
If “they” were so smart, so effective at working legal actions and wording to enslave the whole of America….do you really think they would leave “loopholes” for the common man to step through and enable you to shake off the shackles which they so dearly want you in?
Don’t allow yourself to be fooled, you are the Posterity of great men, of a great generation, the heir of a great country, bought for you by the precious blood of Patriots.
Another consideration.
Let’s assume you are correct, that through legal smoke and mirrors, and twisted language, America has been surrendered over to (insert your favorite oppressors, Bankers, NWO, Jews, Bildeburgers, etc.)
Now, let’s assume that they have embarked on the goal of stealing and oppressing the People of America.
What happens if the People just simply said, “NO”? (goodness, look at what has happened in a pathetic country like Egypt….twice in one year…and they are not even Americans. They are not as heavily armed, nor as populated as America.)
No oppressor, regardless of how powerful they are, can oppress the People of America, unless those People consent to the oppression.
There is no force great enough to force submission upon the People of America.
So even if all of the silliness of a back-door, back-room “takeover” of America were true, then the People can simply reverse it by saying “NO”.
If the oppressors can not enforce their will, they are not really oppressors now, are they?