A Federalist Moment: Recent Episodes
Federalist Coalition
"A Federalist Moment" is a collection of short, explicit commentaries designed to not only entertain and inform, but also to inspire listeners to act toward revitalizing the vision of America and returning the power of governing back to the People.
The 17th Amendment redefined how we select our state Senators by taking the authority from the state legislators and giving it to the citizenship. With the balance of power tipped toward the federal government, we may have inadvertently endangered the Constitution.
With federal and state laws often mimicking the Constitution, it can be an easy matter to confuse the two. It is important to understand which laws pertain to whom and how the Constitution plays a role.
It’s not enough to simply recite a term, like Federalism. Understanding which type of federalism the United States employs is vital to understanding the limits on government defined by our Constitution.
Whether the contents of DACA were right or wrong is of no consequence when the order is illegal. This fallout from passing off illegal law exemplifies why we must support and defend the Constitution.
Whether Congress should be subject to term limits is a debate that has stretched from our founding to the present day. There is wisdom in both arguments, but the question remains if such a thing is Constitutional or even necessary.
The vast majority of our elected officials treat their Oath of Office as a mere formality. It is time we understand what these oaths entail and demand our representatives honor them.
Placing our faith in populism means safeguarding our liberty with a subjective term that can be redefined, at will, depending on who is using it.
Hate is a subjective term, yet it we use it to define the words others use and there are some who demand our government step in, regardless of the consequences for abandoning the Constitution.
American federalism differs from traditional federalism in that we do not allow one aspect of government to lord over another. Our Constitution serves as a contract between our states that defines a partnership… a union, which all sides are expected to honor.
The fourth amendment is among the more personally protective of our unalienable rights and it is integral to liberty in America. Allowing the government to ignore the fourth amendment invites the tyranny our founders sought to protect us from.
an integral unalienable right that protects our citizens from government
Politicians conveniently overlook the phrase, “in pursuance thereof,” in the Supremacy Clause because, doing so grants them the illusion of unlimited power. The Supremacy Clause reinforces the restrictions placed on the federal government. It doesn’t ignore them.
Neither our federal, nor state governments have the legal authority to deprive anyone of their unalienable rights, as outlined in our Bill of Rights, without due process of law. Our Constitution protects us all from the government, but only when we enforce it.
The United States Constitution is a contract between the states and federal government. Neither truly live up to their end of the bargain. The success of American Federalism, the premise upon which citizen led government is built, hangs in the balance. We, the citizenry, can change the tide.
We call ourselves Federalists and with good reason. Yet, when it matters most we succumb to distractions, paying attention to one hand while never minding what the other hand is up to. It's time to refocus on the big picture and remember why our Constitution was drafted in the first place.
The flow of power begins with the ordinary citizen. An educated populace gives a representative the confidence to stand up for them. Know the role of government and hold representatives accountable.
The Electoral College is designed around fairness and ensures every vote counts. Americans tend to forget, however, the United States has a federalist government and "every vote" counts in a way some may not expect.
The President is limited by the same Constitution as the rest of government. A "workaround" is just another way of breaking a law. If the Constitution is the law of the land...
Treason has a very specific meaning we must respect lest we weaken the protections of the Constitution. When redefining legal terms with penalties of death, we should be careful what we wish for.
The federal government seems to think it can regulate anything it wants. Even the sounds in the air. Our state representatives are supposed to be holding the federal government accountable to the Constitution... not helping them violate it.
You can't have a tyrannical government unless it's the only government. As we empower a centralized federal government, we potentially hand ourselves over to the tyrannical government our founders warned us about.
Our federal healthcare system has been "retained and renamed," and will result in the same single-payer system. This is the reality of two "opposition" parties working toward the same goal, trampling the Constitution along the way.
The fight for liberty is never over. Not as long as there are those who wish to take it away.
States are bound by the same second amendment as the federal government. It's time to honor the constitution again. Liberty starts local.
Words are important. If we allow state's rights to become responsibilities we turn freedoms into requirements. The Constitution limits government. Let it work as intended.
Many politicians beg for our vote claiming they want to "serve the People," yet once in office, they always seem to push their party agenda instead. All one needs to do is listen to what politicians say... and don't say... to know what's in their agenda.
As some states move toward defying legitimate, federal law, we are reminded that a union is an agreement and all sides must uphold their end of the bargain.