Nullification is here.  Tentative and inconsistent, but it’s here.

Missouri

Over 2/3 of voters elect to reject Federally mandated health care insurance.

The White House official response was that this is irrelevant.

California

7,000,000 votes negated by 1 politician, masquerading as a judge.  The law had nothing to do with the ruling.

Arizona

Self defense is a basic human right.  Depending on a government that is over 2.000 miles away is suicidal.  They applied Constitutional principles, and another politician masquerading as a judge, ignored the 10th amendment and turned law and common sense upside down.

None of these statist centralized actions are sustainable, even if they are left standing.  People and states are fighting back, within the law, because they know this.  Persevere, states!

This won’t be easy.  Our self-appointed rulers, and those that are vested in a large government, will never, ever give up the keys to the castle willingly.  As I’ve said before, they are fighting for their livelihood and the retention of power over the rest of us.

Big Government.  Collectivism.  Central authority.  Corporatism, fascism, socialism, etc.  Call it what you want, but it’s an overbearing master, operating in the name of we-know-best-and-we’ll-take-care-of-you type of government.

Somewhere around the dawn of civilization, a few people  thought human activity can and should be centrally planned and organized.  They have figured out how to advance the collectivist way of life.

They simply needed to get enough folks to agree to small doses of their plan, now and then, here and there, by teaching them it would be a good idea.

In our country, the plan has been marching forward quite steadily for about 100 years, or so.

The Three Legged stool.

The central authority was built on three legs, some weaker than others.  What are they?  Which is  the weakest?  How do we tip it over?

Media.

Constant bombardment with the message is the name of the game.  When I watch broadcast TV news, I feel I’m part of a very small minority with common sense, that these people live in a very different world than I do.  I tell myself there’s no way these talking heads believe what they’re saying (and don’t believe what they don’t say), but they keep saying it, over and over, night after night.  It’s all an illusion, and purposeful.

Education.

We’ll tell you what the facts are.  Don’t think outside the box.  Don’t ask questions outside a narrow range.  I think back to my school days, and how history and civics were taught to me.  I remember lessons that bear no resemblance to the real, grownup world I inhabit.

Bureaucracy.

We’ll take charge, and never let go.  We’re the government, and we’re here to help.

I have always wanted to start my own business in the aviation world.  Every time I get really motivated, I find myself knocked down by wall of Washington bureaucracy, with no way to get to the other side where I could actually make some money.  Or at least not have my business shut down for violating some super important, but overlooked regulation.

How the collectivists built it.

1. If the key positions in mass media, both news and entertainment, were filled with people that agreed with you that a powerful central government was the way to go, you could convincingly get the word out with a consistent, ever-present message about how good and nice the government is.  Bombard everyone with a coordinated message.

The media dramatize a nasty part of the human condition, tout all the good that the government could do to solve it, with emphasis on how much the officials cares about you.  They tell the audience what they want them to hear, and don’t tell them what you don’t want them to hear.  After a few years (or generations) people would agree because they had heard it, and it alone, so many times that they just accepted it.  Some went along because they thought they were part of a very small minority of the population that though differently, so just went along to get along.

This crazy-train started with the advent of movies.  Talkies, they called them.  TV put it into overdrive.

2. For those who noted that the story didn’t match the facts, the second leg, education, would prop up the stool.  If the facts don’t match the message, change the facts.

After WWI, progressives found some sympathetic PhD candidates in the ivy league education programs.  These folks spread out these new government-friendly PhDs as they matriculated.  Eventually every kindergarten teacher in America would believe and teach the new facts, and disregard the old facts.

3. Since the ratification of the Constitution, the federal government has grown incrementally.  A few small bureaucracies that promote causes most people support get started.  They inevitably grow in size, scope, and power.  They spin off more bureaucracies.  As the media and education influence take hold of the population, more ‘great’ causes get taken up by government, and along with them come more bureaucracies.

Have you ever seen a bureaucracy eliminated?  This last leg is the sturdiest.  It can’t be taken out, because it would take politics to eliminate it, and it’s politically untouchable.  That’s why it’s there in the first place.

Slow Squeeze.

Here we are in the early 21st century, with a government that is demonstrably limiting personal and economic liberties that were protected by the Constitution.  It’s just a piece of paper, though, and knowledge of its contents, and its authors’ intent, are required for it to have enforcers.  Our media and educational institutions have been telling us for almost 100 years that it’s a living, breathing document.  The federal government tells us this in our schools.  The media touts it in the context of current events.

The kicker is that the bureaucracy, education system, and media tell us the federal government is the final arbiter on the Constitution’s ‘current’ meaning.  The outfit that doesn’t want its power limited, interprets for us the one thing that limits its power.  Convenient.

How to knock it over.

This whole thing rests on three legs, so if we take out just one, it topples.

The bureaucracies won’t go away.  In fact, you could probably find a majority of US citizens support a majority of the bureaucracies, if you mention any one by name.  Everyone has their pet project, or special interest, if you will.  If you just ask about nameless ‘bureaucracy,’ however, you’d get almost unanimous disdain.  The political fight to end each one would take years at least, and probably would never be won.  The whole system would collapse under it’s own weight beforehand, and the upheaval from such an event usually has ended up with an authoritarian government firmly in place.

If we could educate everyone the clearly stated ideas the framers of the Constitution put in it, we might eventually have enough people asking the right questions that we elect people to Washington that go to actually roll back the government.  After all, this was the collectivist plan.

That took about 100 years.  We don’t have that long.  Start teaching the meaning of the Constitution–limited government.  Teach states rights, and the 10th amendment, in particular.  Nothing else exists to counter the consolidation of power in one place.

Media is the wobbly leg.

While I think the traditional print and broadcast media spent their last round of credibility promoting, electing, and supporting Obama, I don’t think they’re dead.  The decision makers in the industry are still committed to the Big Government cause, and will continue to transmit the party line even after the last TV gets turned off and the last newspaper rests in the bottom of the birdcage.

People are hungry for some common sense in an easily accessible, mass media type format, though.  It’s out there on the blogs, websites, and once in a while on cable TV.  It’s inexpensive to access, and easy to find.  Print. Audio. Video.  It’s easy to produce, too.

The problem is simply that humans are creatures of habit.  Yes, it’s difficult to un-teach people things they’ve been told their whole life, and to be open-minded to a different point of view, but that’s not what I meant.  Folks that have been watching the CBS evening news since Johnson was president will continue to watch CBS evening news, no matter how bad it gets, until someone they know shows them the alternatives, and asks them to try it.

Action Plan.

Find your family and friends who are still watching dinosaurs.  Show them the alternatives.  Show them how unbelievably similar the mainstream media stories are from outlet to outlet–too similar to be coincidence.

Write on a blog.  Even if it is only once a month. Ask readers how any honest person could read a 16 page document that defines and stipulates a very limited government, but find in it three sentences that allow unlimited authority OVER the creators of said government.  Answer:  No honest person could.  Ask why free men would enslave themselves by voluntarily creating their own master.  Answer:  under no circumstances.

The Tea Party groups have potential to make a difference in politics, and slowly dismantle bureaucracies.  Most of them don’t like what they see in general, but most of their individual members have  particular interests, like Social Security and Medicare.  Mention the unmentionable–talk about entitlements.  The true cost of which is freedom.  Attend their events, and talk about the 10th amendment.  Make sure everyone knows that the states made the federal government, not the other way around.

Find the people that AREN’T going to the TAC Nullify Now tour.

It’s a long road back from the brink.  Find your individual way, and take the first step.

To act, despite danger or disapproval.  Works for me.

Taking action in the public arena and stand by it during the onslaught also displays character and leadership.

The chance that a politician will show courage is remote.  Voter disapproval is death to them.  Put that together with a society that has gradually come to accept a big government that attempts to provide basic needs,  and you get politicians that go along to get along.  See my earlier post, “How did we get here?”

Politicians would never speak out against the dependencies that big government creates.  In fact, most of them prefer it.  The dependencies give them control over the lives of those whose dignity has been taken, and control over the money that has been taken to fund it.

This is our status quo, brought on by the unchecked ambition for power of the central authority.  It’s time to check the power.  This will take courage.

You can tell who thinks they have something to gain in the status quo, by just listening.

Name calling is the easiest, and the most common mode of attack-no facts to back up, no explanation required-just pure emotion.   Invent or reveal irrelevant, but salacious information about those who challenge the status quo. The goal is to get the opponent off-guard and off topic, to prevent the truth from reaching the mainstream.

When people get fed up and take action against this overbearing government, they get attacked.  Notice that it’s never with reasoned counterpoints, but with emotional appeals.  When that doesn’t stop us, the response becomes personal attacks and constant emotional attempts to change the subject.

Courage allows us to stand up against the attacks.  Fortitude keeps us on message, because speaking out on behalf of individual liberty and economic common sense is speaking the truth.  There’s no getting around truth.

Those that stand for the status quo are counting on a lack of courage in those who stand against it.  They believe in big government.  It is their livelihood, and like anyone, they will fight to keep their livelihood going.  Their flaw is that they choose to live off the hard work of others.

Courageously point out the failures, ineptitude, mismanagement, irresponsibility, and dysfunction of the central government, and never stop.  When they call you Nazi, Neanderthal, or whatever, don’t stop.  When they ridicule your imperfections (oh, my God! You’re human!), laugh, and politely stay on message.

None of this intimidation affects the truth.  Until Washington, D.C. is back in its proper place, subservient to the states, never stop.

When I feel guilty about something, like hurting someone, I want to fix it.  By making the injured person feel better, I feel better.  That’s the natural reaction to guilt.

Healthy guilt helps us right a wrong we’ve personally done to someone.  It gives back what was taken, but also restores our reputation as honest and trustworthy.  The other person then knows we operate with integrity, even when we make a mistake.

Guilt is also a powerful weapon.  It can be used to compel others to do something they might otherwise not do, all while they’re convinced they’re doing it of their own free will.  Wow!  To get someone to do something for you and make it their idea means you have power.  Applied to a large group of people simultaneously when it goes against their own best interest, means you have immense power.

Unhealthy guilt coerces us to act against our own best interest.  It can result in us giving up something that’s rightly ours, for a reason that has nothing to do with us, to a person who also has nothing to do with the cause.

Similarly, compassion can be an admirable trait when acted upon.  It comes from our inherent understanding of the human condition, and the suffering that is an inextricable part of life.

Most of us want to help others.  When we see someone that has fewer comforts, or is suffering more, we naturally want to help.  So, we come up with  our own ideas of how to do it.  Simple or grand, the ideas result in becoming a volunteer–to volunteer money, time, or equipment, on our own terms.  When we make someone’s life a bit easier, we feel good.

What would happen if a small group of people wanted power over the rest of the people, but knew that overt force wouldn’t work?  What if this small group were to identify an aspect of the human condition–yes, an inextricable part of life on Earth–as an inhuman problem that must be fixed, then quickly identify themselves as able to fix it?

The first thing that would happen is to arouse our compassion for the suffering.  In fact, this particular problem might exist in our own family or circle of friends–all the more motivating.  Someone should do something.

Once enough people are aware of the problem, identify the source of the problem and make it personal.   Hey, it’s YOUR fault!  Remind everyone again that your small group is most compassionate and has a solution.  By the way, our small group doesn’t actually have the means to implement their proposed solution, but if you guilty parties give us your money, we’ll fix it.  You can go on your merry way, minus whatever you voluntarily gave up.

Does this scenario sound plausible?  Likely to succeed?  Familiar?  It is how good intentions turn into bad government. Name a problem with national media exposure, and one can trace its development from either an obscure event or a common human condition to a compulsory part of the federal budget.

Who is this small group, anyway?  It’s individuals elected or appointed to national office.  There are 546 of them.  What happens when the other 99.9% of individuals give up something to the government?  It quickly becomes forever compulsive, if not so at the outset.

What IS the best way to solve problems?  Family, friends and local communities, or government?  If your answer is government, do you prefer locally developed, locally tailored government solutions, or one size fits all solutions?

For those on the collectivist side of the political spectrum, government–big, central government, in particular–has all the answers.  We must all submit to the common good.

My reply is that real problems don’t have neatly packaged solutions that can be centrally planned and managed, and ‘the common good’ is a Trojan horse.  If real problems did have solutions, they would have been solved long ago.  In any case, government doesn’t have anything with which to solve problems that they didn’t first take from the governed.

It’s reasonable to expect authority over your personal property.  If the government just openly took it, there would be riots.  The kinder, gentler tactic is to create guilt.  That way we think it was our idea since we’re fixing a problem for which we’re guilty.  That way we don’t complain…after all, we’re being compassionate.  Right?  Well, the government takes credit for its solution, before the results are in, and after it took your resources to do it.

If you want to help someone, help them directly.  You both win.  The government isn’t helping, and creates winners and losers in the process of not helping.  If you truly think you’re helping by paying taxes or giving up a piece of your liberty, try to identify a problem it has really solved.  For my own efforts, I can’t even find a problem it didn’t create or exacerbate.

The 10th amendment was meant to keep power dispersed.  That way, when a government inevitably tried to solve a problem so it could claim credit, an individual could shop around for another government who’s solution was less detrimental to his well being.  When enough people had left that state, the offending government would ostensibly get the message.  A powerful central government is one from which there is no escape.

Just as your things and your money are your personal property, so is your compassion.  If you let someone else control it with guilt, you allow them to make themselves your better, and they become your ruler.

I can’t think of a better example of coercion.

What follows it my response to a comment about  a previous post.  The comment made me expand on an idea that I had kept brief in the original post.  I’ve bumped it here, since many people don’t read comments.

Our current political situation has been a long time coming, and will take a long time to fix, but politics in America has reached an historical turning point. The old rules as national politicians understood them were that they were going to DC to bring home the bacon, and somehow at the same time stem the tide of government intrusion.

Party politics evolved with these rules such that once elected, the new member of Congress was protected by the party, and even back home he was “Our guy.” As the years went by, the incumbents began to feel safer, and they stopped listening.

We’ve had a watershed of new spending, regulations, and laws in the past three to four years that have enough voters finally speaking up. In the past, folks got angry, but soon forgot. Now they’re saying, “listen to us!” months-or years-after a particular event.

The response from elected officials is simply a case of “We know best.” When politicians stop acting like representatives and start spending money that isn’t theirs, that we don’t have, on things we don’t want, with the result of increased power over our lives, they become self-appointed rulers. With few exceptions, the 537 elected officials in Washington, DC have stepped outside the limits set by the Constitution-the contract with the states and the people. They ACT like rulers, so I’m calling a spade a spade.

But not on anything you would expect from a government adhering to the Constitution.  Healthcare, financial markets, petroleum exploration and extraction, economic activity, immigration, national ID cards, cap and trade, smoking, transfats & salt, CAFE; gun control, taxes, price controls on labor, electricity, and banking.  The list goes on.

No matter how well intentioned, there are two things to point out about this.  The first is that none of it fits in the 17 enumerated powers of Congress.  The second is that even if it were, there is no way that body of men and women could ever hope to efficiently run all those areas of our lives.  The breadth of control required dooms it from the start.  They could not possible know everything to know about the extremely large, complex, and fast moving America we live in today.  Every attempt to do so only gives us a legacy of bloated bureaucracies that are expensive to maintain, and expensive for us to comply with and respond to.

Don’t expect an overnight change.  Things are this way because of elected officials that we elected.  The power to inhibit liberty has reached a critical mass, and the only way to turn the tide is to move the power somewhere else, and disperse it.

That’s where the 10th amendment comes in.  In language as clear today as it was in the 18th century, the 10th amendment ensures that states are under no obligation to bend to the whim of the central government.  When states across the nation begin to push back, as we are now seeing with the Health Care law with nullification, power is naturally devolved away from where it has pooled.  No one group or individual can have a lot of power when every group has some.

What’s the action plan?  Talk to STATE elected officials, watch their voting record, ask them of their plans for nullification of federal laws.  Hold them to their word, and remember.  Remember what they said and what they did when they come up for reelection.  Find the candidate who most closely matches your values, not the political party that most closely (or least distant) matches them.

This will put them on edge.  When they feel safe in their official capacity, they vote with their party or their ego.  When they feel the heat from back home, and have a healthy fear for their job their priorities will be our priorities.

Our priority must be liberty.  Without it, there can be nothing else.

Late last year, Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) was asked about the constitutionality of the pending Obamacare legislation.   He answered that “most of the stuff we do is not authorized by the Constitution.”  Not a surprise to anyone paying attention, and a bit of a lowball estimate, IMHO.  The extraordinary thing about this was that it was the first time I’d heard an elected official admit, in public, that the Congress doesn’t care what the Constitution says.  Since then, it’s been openly stated at an ever increasing frequency.

We have crossed a line.  They no longer fear the people.

Politicians have always liked spending other people’s money.  It’s the easy way to get votes.  They are also masters at creating novel, stealthy ways to skirt fiscal, monetary, or Constitutional limits and to keep their actions out of the limelight.   In the past, however, they were afraid of popular sentiment, and would back off when the complaints and protests got to a certain point, or as a last resort, when elections got near.  Not any more.

Boondoggles like TARP, financial gerrymandering of Wall Street, takeovers of the auto industry, takeover of the medical industry, troops in over 100 countries with open ended missions.  The list goes on, but the point is they just do it, without any legitimate authority, because they can.  And because they’ve always gotten away with it by playing on our compassion, “We have to help (fill in the blank).”

The constant barrage of guilt trips on the middle class, personal attacks, and derogatory labels have made common sense people retreat in fear rather than speak up.

Our self-appointed rulers will never stop.  Getting angry and voting every other November isn’t often enough, and every bad batch is just replaced with another.  In fact, our rulers count on our short memories.

The check on their power grab lies with the states, and fortunately, the Constitution was set up for just this eventuality.  We must reacquaint ourselves with the pecking order so clearly spelled out in the 10th amendment and work at the local and state level to return power where it belongs.

States can act immediately when DC oversteps and nullify their antics.  South Carolina, among others, is directly challenging the health care reform law.  It’s an attack on personal liberty, state sovereignty, the entire medical profession, and serves only to continue the power and influence of the elites.

Our freedom depends on it.