If we are to discuss how to restore freedom in regard to State’s rights, we have to make some acknowledgments and qualifications up front. Nevertheless, there is work we can do and which needs to be done. Remember that this project focuses mainly on things average individuals can do to restore freedom in this country. [...]
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An important assault on State’s rights was the Seventeenth Amendment. The product of the time when Populism and Progressivism were sweeping large sections of America, the Seventeenth Amendment jammed a wedge of pure democracy into the Constitution where it was never designed to belong. This upset the Constitutional checks-and-balances system, weakened State rights and power, [...]
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(This article is based on an excerpt from my lecture at the American Vision Worldview Super Conference in 2010, “Europe as a Mirror to America.”) With God out of the picture, and the State established as the new sovereignty, the new god on earth, the question now was: “Who will declare the law in the [...]
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While little discussed in today’s textbooks, Washington held a virtually identical view of government as Hamilton—he was just less outspoken and more elegant about it. Some historians have considered Washington a mere front for Hamilton’s agenda—the public executive counterpart to Marshall’s later judicial back-door. But Washington often expressed views about “strong and energetic” government to [...]
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[To my normal readers: I apologize for the excessive length this time. To the critics: "Ask and ye shall receive" (at least this once).] Criticize Alexander Hamilton these days and about all you’ll hear in response from some quarters is, “Chernow, Chernow Chernow!” By many accounts, Ron Chernow’s 2004 work has cleared away all the [...]
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“Three Christian crosses that stood on state property next to a scenic overlook in north San Diego County for decades were removed by California Department of Transportation workers earlier this week.” Do you see the irony? The County of San Diego, that is, the County of Saint James? We keep hearing how some of the [...]
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4.2 How it was lost We have already covered how decentralization in principle was lost already with the Constitutional settlement. It is not my intention to rehash that same material for the loss of State Rights—though much of it is relevant. But we need to know more of the story, and we need to know [...]
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Restoring America One County at a Time Chapter 4: State’s Rights 4.1 Freedom and State’s Rights: How it used to be The last chapter dealt with the primary issue of decentralizing government. The goal is to decentralize as much as possible, ultimately leaving individuals as free as possible and dealing only with local units of [...]
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You know that the “Age of Reason” has come to a pathetic failure when politicians start over again claiming God on their side. For two generations the American politics – both sides of the political spectrum – fought tooth and claw against God’s interference in politics, invoking instead all kinds of imaginary standards and authorities [...]
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Two news items about religion and civil government caught my attention over the weekend. First, in a 2–1 decision, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., has ruled in favor of two county residents who complained that they were offended at hearing “in Jesus’ name” in a public prayer. The federal decision upholds [...]
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