Haven't seen these mentioned yet

[unixronin]

Some interesting documents in this new year:

• Arizona Legislature declares sovereignty, invokes the Tenth Amendment (HCR 2024);
• New Hampshire legislature offers up a States' Rights resolution (HCR 0006).

Some interesting stuff here.  Let's look at those a bit.  First the Arizona resolution:

Whereas, the Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that specifically granted by the Constitution of the United States and no more; and

Whereas, the scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment means that the federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states; and

Whereas, today, in 2009, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government; and

Whereas, many federal laws are directly in violation of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and

[...]

1. That the State of Arizona hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States.
2. That this Resolution serves as notice and demand to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers.
3. That all compulsory federal legislation that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be prohibited or repealed.

And Arizona then goes on to put not only the White House and Congress on notice, but all the other state legislatures as well by way of example.  General summary of the above:  "The Federal government has abused its powers and assumed powers beyond its Constitutional authority, and the State of Arizona isn't going to stand for it any more."  With the Constitution itself and the US Supreme Court cited as justification.

Then along comes New Hampshire.  New Hampshire's resolution goes into considerably greater depth citing justification and authority, as well as setting out in detail the ways in which the Federal government has exceeded its Constitutional authority and construed "words meant by the instrument to be subsidiary only to the execution of limited powers" in such a way as to give unlimited powers.  The language gets rather dense through the middle of the resolution, but it closes with a bang:

[...]

That any Act by the Congress of the United States, Executive Order of the President of the United States of America or Judicial Order by the Judicatories of the United States of America which assumes a power not delegated to the government of United States of America by the Constitution for the United States of America and which serves to diminish the liberty of the any of the several States or their citizens shall constitute a nullification of the Constitution for the United States of America by the government of the United States of America.  Acts which would cause such a nullification include, but are not limited to:

1. Establishing martial law or a state of emergency within one of the States comprising the United States of America without the consent of the legislature of that State.
2. Requiring involuntary servitude, or governmental service other than a draft during a declared war, or pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law.
3. Requiring involuntary servitude or governmental service of persons under the age of 18 other than pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law.
4. Surrendering any power delegated or not delegated to any corporation or foreign government.
5. Any act regarding religion; further limitations on freedom of political speech; or further limitations on freedom of the press.
6. Further infringements on the right to keep and bear arms including prohibitions of type or quantity of arms or ammunition; and

That should any such act of Congress become law or Executive Order or Judicial Order be put into force, all powers previously delegated to the United States of America by the Constitution for the United States shall revert to the several States individually.  Any future government of the United States of America shall require ratification of three quarters of the States seeking to form a government of the United States of America and shall not be binding upon any State not seeking to form such a government; and

That copies of this resolution be transmitted by the house clerk to the President of the United States, each member of the United States Congress, and the presiding officers of each State’s legislature.

In short, this resolution puts the Federal Government on notice in no uncertain terms — "This far, and no further" — and once again, serves notice to the other states as well.

Let's not underestimate what is being said here.  New Hampshire is in many ways being rather more blunt than Arizona.  Arizona's resolution says, "You have exceeded your authority, these laws are null and void, we demand their repeal."  New Hampshire is continuing from there to say "Push this any further, and you're fired"; warning Congress and the President that if they pass any further laws beyond their Constitutional authority, New Hampshire will no longer recognize the authority or Constitutional legitimacy of the Federal Government.

There's no telling whether either of these resolutions will pass.  But if they do, and if enough other states follow suit — these could be the first shots in a second American Revolution.  Whether or not the Feds try to make a fight out of it, there could be a world-changing upheaval on the way.

It was widely said in 2000 that voters elected Bush because they were angry at the Clinton administration.  Then it was widely said in 2008 that voters elected Obama because they were angry at the Bush administration. Perhaps these are the first tangible signs that America has just plain flat-out had enough.

Comments

[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

And I think I may have just seen the first thing that might make me seriously contemplate moving to NH...

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

there's an enrollment fee now... sorry :)

5000 rounds of appropriate ammo !!! ;)

oh, and a FAL 7.62 as well :}

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[lebo-superman.livejournal.com]

I'm hip to the 5K rounds of ammo, but I don't see the reason for the FAL 7.62. Why not a lever-action rifle in .45 LC? Or a .45-110 with an extra-long barrel? I'm thinking of things that can easily be employed for defense, but which no SANE person would ever doubt that a person could use for hunting.

[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

Because the second amendment has fuck all to do with hunting. And if NH tells the rest of the country to go hang, it'll want all the people with battle rifles it can get.

Plus, I'll be taking my FAL wild pig hunting next month. Unless I take the AK.

[lebo-superman.livejournal.com]

I agree that the 2nd Amendment has nothing to do with hunting. Unfortunately, even a large number of NRA members DON'T get that. So, I'm thinking that a large, powerful defense rifle which pretends to be a hunting rifle gives even those who want to pretend to be bleeding-hearts nothing to gripe at, unless they are also anti-hunting.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

well, it's not about hunting... animals. unfortunately, any decent hunting rifle with a scope is also a sniper rifle, right? yah.

AR15 and variants, modular rifles basically, are rather American, and it's patriotic to own one :) dsarms.com make some niced FALs, and if you don't want an evil black rifle, they come in colors :)

also, also, well, NH doesn't have a problem with high capacity mags, black rifles, or other nonsense that the fed gov doesn't really have a business also getting into. so, guess what's on my list when i have funding?

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[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. Sorry I jumped you. I'm just so tired of the argument that as long as we've got single shot 12ga goose guns and a changeover barrel to let us put slugs downrange and take down bambi, the second amendment is still standing strong. I get a bit worked up.

[luxobscura.livejournal.com]

Me too. I'm sick and fucking tired of the "Hunter's Rights" line used by half-assed Dems in their half-assed "I support the 2nd Amendment, maybe, kinda" babble.

[lwj2.livejournal.com]

Yes. Makes no sense unless there's an open season on two-legged wolves.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I had a plan at one time to go boar hunting on a nuisance abatement permit out back of Fort Ord, down on the Central Coast, with the Martini-Henry and a friend with a FAL for backup.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

in a long term SHTF having a pistol and rifle that shoots the same would be useful, but you can do that with a carbine too. a modular rifle would be a better field tool i'd expect, than a lever action (breakdown without tools, clean with a knife and a stick)...

for defense... well, a decent shotgun is probably the thing to have. save 12 gauge, which even some walmarts still sell. cheap, and ammo is still cheap. various shot for birds to bigger, unrifled slugs too. hardcore would be a rifled barrel, that would be devastating. unlike a high velocity rifle, you can practice with these at most indoor ranges too.

i need to find an outdoor range this spring/summer that has archery :) yes, i know a couple, it's just a matter of "doing it"

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[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

Conveniently, I have all that.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

oh good. bring it over :)

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[unixronin.livejournal.com]

As cymrullewes reminds me, we can point you at a $100K/year pharmacist job in Portsmouth for Shan. Neither of us can train up as pharmacists in time to take it.

My first thought was, "Wow, Arizona's really sore about McCain losing"

[jmkelly.livejournal.com]

They both seem intemperate to me. Arizona's language forbidding the federal government to impose conditions on receiving federal money looks like an out-and-out loser -- "he who pays the piper calls the tune" is not way it's enshrined in common law, but it might as well be.

And NH's proposal to regard any instance of the six things it lists as cause for "nullification" of the entire Constitution ignores the traditional idea of severability, which I think is specifically included in the Constitution.

I will point out that most of the country thought it was a good idea when Lyndon Johnson sent Federal marshals to Mississippi to protect the rights of African-American students there. Fortunately Mississippi did not declare that Johnson's action nullified the Constitution.

Re: My first thought was, "Wow, Arizona's really sore about McCain losing"

[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

he who pays the piper calls the tune"

Generally an agreeable statement, but not when the guy paying the piper took the piper's wallet at gunpoint in the first place.

I will point out that most of the country thought it was a good idea when Lyndon Johnson sent Federal marshals to Mississippi to protect the rights of African-American students there. Fortunately Mississippi did not declare that Johnson's action nullified the Constitution.

If nothing else, that would be because the FedGov sending in marshals at that point was explicitly to enforce provisions of the Constitution.

Re: My first thought was, "Wow, Arizona's really sore about McCain losing"

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Well, the thing is, it's not so much the government saying "Do this, or we'll stop giving you money for that", though that's bad enough in itself. It's the government saying, "Do this, or we'll stop giving you back some of this money that we took from you in the first place."

This tends back to something Curt Howland once said:
"When a bully demands $10, meets resistance, and presents a compromise of $8, only in government is the paying of the $8 considered a savings of $2."

[lebo-superman.livejournal.com]

There may be cause for hope after all. . . . .

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Well, if Nude Hamster declares its independence, Maine gets free without lifting a finger. After all, that leaves us detached and at the mercy of Canada. We'll have to raise an army and recommission Fort Kent . . .

(Don't invoke Alaska and Hawaii as rebuttal -- they started out detached.)

[lizzibabe.livejournal.com]

This scares the hell out of me.

[genuine-snark.livejournal.com]

Probably less of an American Revolution and more of a Civil War, if it got that far. Then we can finally have one we say is about state's rights with a straight face. :)

[lwj2.livejournal.com]

Some of us have relatives that made that statement before with a perfectly straight face.

Not all of us owned plantations.

[genuine-snark.livejournal.com]

Sure--and to be clear, I was raised in the Deep South--but nobody else seems to buy it, however truthful it may be.

[lwj2.livejournal.com]

Apologies if I gave the impression I was jumping you, it's a sort of hot button with me, I've gotten rather weary of hearing "it was just slavery" from the younger/Yankee set.

FWIW, one grandmother was from the Aiken area, one from the Gulf area.

[luxobscura.livejournal.com]

Whereabouts in the Gulf area, if you don't mind me asking. I've been back and forth between Gulfport and Ocean Springs several times in the last year.

[lwj2.livejournal.com]

Grandma moved betwixt Mobile and Biloxi. Several of the aunts and my mother were born in Biloxi, several in Mobile.

[luxobscura.livejournal.com]

Bay St. Louis is lovely. I think the furthest east on 90 I've been is to The Shed, past Ocean Springs a way.

My girlfriend's parents live in Long Beach, just west of Gulfport.

[fatcook.livejournal.com]

Considering the current mood of the state and the people we elect to run it, they are serious. As to the statements about armament : can you own a Ferret with in New Hampshire? Legally?

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

The mustelid, or the armored scout car? ;)

[fatcook.livejournal.com]

The armored scout car, with the 7.62.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Well, you'd need to have a Class III license for the .30, I assume, but other than that.......
Personally, I'd prefer a Fox, with the 30mm RARDEN gun.

[fatcook.livejournal.com]

The two guys I know that have them, have FFL type 3's. And special registration from DMV for them. Tony likes to drive around town in his (minus the guns.) :)