In 1798, the John Adams administration signed into law that Alien and Sedition Acts,
which made it
a crime to publish “false, scandalous, and malicious writing” against
the
government or its officials. In practice, it was used to quell the freedom of
speech in dissent against the sitting administration.

In the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, Thomas
Jefferson responded:

“the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the
principle
of unlimited submission to their General Government”

But wait – that’s not all. He went on to say that all undelegated powers exercised by the
federal
government are “unathoritative, void and of no force.” And, that a
“nullification of the act is the rightful remedy.”

NULLIFICATION?

There’s been plenty of people talking about nullification lately, but many people
don’t know
what it really means.

Nullification is not secession or insurrection, but neither is it unconditional or unlimited submission. Nullification is
not
something that requires any decision, statement or action from any
branch of the
federal government. Nullification is not the result of obtaining a
favorable
court ruling. Nullification is not the petitioning of the federal
government to
start doing or to stop doing anything.

Nullification doesn’t depend on any federal law being repealed. Nullification does not require permission from any person or
institution outside of one’s own state.

Nullification is something that’s already happening around the country – and Derek
explains the
process:

Nullification begins with a decision made in your state legislature
to resist a federal law deemed to be unconstitutional. It
usually involves a bill, which is passed by both houses and is signed by
your
governor. In some cases, it might be approved by the voters of your
state
directly, in a referendum. It may change your state’s statutory law or it might
even amend your state
constitution. It is a refusal on the part of your state
government to cooperate with, or enforce any federal law it deems to be
unconstitutional.

At its very core, nullification is mass civil-disobedience to the federal
government with the support of the state apparatus. It’s about “We the
People”
exercising our rights whether the politicians or judges in Washington
D.C want
to give us “permission” to exercise those rights or not.

LOST LIBERTY

In 1775 John Adams wrote, “liberty once lost, is lost forever.” He went on to explain
that
when the People allow government to gain power and restrict liberty, it
will
never voluntarily give that power back. Liberty given up to government
power
will never be returned to the people without a long and difficult
struggle.

The bottom line, is this. When you allow politicians to bend the rules of the Constitution – even
for things you may support – over a long period of time, sooner or later
you’re
going to end up with politicians who feel that the rules don’t apply at
all.
And, if we’re not there right now, we’re pretty darn close.

EVERY ISSUE, EVERY TIME

That’s why we must demand adherence to the Constitution – Every Issue. Every time. No
exceptions. No excuses. That means that much of what the federal
government does
is unconstitutional, including:

The Department of Education, The Patriot Act, Federal Gun Laws and
Regulations, National Health
Care Mandates, and something that’s been going on since 1941,
wars without a
Congressional
declaration of war from Congress.

LIBERTY

From this we can see that the Tenth
Amendment is not about political parties. It’s not about
political ideologies. It’s not even about political candidates. It’s
about
liberty. It was designed to promote your liberty by strictly limiting
the powers
of the federal government..