On Saturday, January 29, the Nullify Now! 2011 tour began with a bang in Phoenix, Arizona. Hundreds of people gathered at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Phoenix as the Tenth Amendment Center promoted nullification of unconstitutional acts by the federal government. With an array of reputable speakers like Arizona’s State Senator Sylvia Tenney Allen and The John Birch Society’s CEO, Art Thompson, the event proved to be an educational success.
A national tour sponsored by WeRefuse.com and the Tenth Amendment Center, Nullify Now! focuses on the Founding principles of the United States Constitution and educates attendees about the Tenth Amendment, as well as the powers of the state including that of nullification, and a variety of issues that can be resolved by state nullification.
On Saturday, a number of speakers bemoaned the dwindling authority of the states as the federal government continues to grow, and promoted the philosophies of America’s Founding Fathers like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, who heavily supported powerful states over a powerful central government.
Tenth Amendment Center’s Derek Sheriff quoted James Madison, who said, “There can be no tribunal above the states.” According to Sheriff, proof that the states should be the highest authority is in the fact that the Constitution is a compact between the states. Likewise, the powers delegated to the federal government by the Constitution are limited. Furthermore, the states’ right to nullify unconstitutional laws indicates that the states are the final judge of constitutionality.
Speaker Bryce Shonka celebrated examples of the states reclaiming their authority, specifically as they are challenging Obamacare.
Most speakers emphasized the importance of reclaiming states’ rights. Stewart Rodes of The Oathkeepers declared the importance of recreating county militias, and Sheriff Richard Mack observed that state nullification was the peaceful solution to the federal government’s overreach. Jason Rink, Executive Director of the Foundation for a Free Society, proposed reclaiming the right to place the government under surveillance rather than continuing to allow the government to do so to the American people.
Art Thompson of the John Birch Society outlined the path that led the American people to this place in history, where the powers of the individual, the states, and the federal government have been inverted. It begins with rewriting history and distorting the truth, educating Americans to believe that the United States is a democracy rather than a republic, and a power struggle between elitist progressives and the American spirit.
According to Thompson, the war on America is deceptive and subversive. For example, Marxists in America have used semantics to deceive the American people, like subtly replacing the term “republic” with “democracy,” “a system of government that is the first step toward a communist state.” Thompson said, “We have had a war of words that have been used to tear down our republic.”
Much of the progressives’ success can be traced to the power they have attained in the field of education. There, they can rewrite and change history so that America’s youth no longer knows the story behind the founding of our nation. Without knowing American history, America’s future is doomed and the way to America’s transformation is paved.
Thompson declared, “We have to understand where we started in order to understand what we must do in the long term, to return to the system our Founders gave us. It is not enough to simply nullify certain onerous laws, we must educate the American people to a firm understanding of the basic principles on which our system is based.”
Also at Saturday’s event, speakers challenged the elitism of today’s lawmakers, who contend that they are better equipped to make choices pertaining to the individual than the American people are.
For example, radio host Robert Scott Bell discussed the Food and Drug Administration and its emphasis on licensed medical doctors versus homeopathic doctors, whom Bell contends can often offer better alternatives to health care.
Similarly, Gary Johnson, former Governor of New Mexico, promoted the decriminalization of marijuana, asserting that 90 percent of the problem with the drug is caused by “prohibition” and not by abuse of the drug.
Arizona State Senator Sylvia Tenney Allen discussed the overreaching powers of federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, which she contends had a negative impact on her family’s timber business and on Arizona’s timber business as a whole, by seeking to protect endangered species like the Mexican Spotted Owl at the expense of Arizona businesses. Allen asserted that the EPA is now targeting Arizona’s coal plants in much the same way they did Arizona’s timber mills. Overall, Allen emphasized the importance of nullifying unconstitutional federal laws and regulations like those instituted by the EPA.
Overall, the speakers stressed the necessity of reclaiming the authority of the states, and view the nullification of unconstitutional laws as a viable start. State nullification has already begun to gain popularity as it has been addressed as a solution to many of America’s problems on prominent television shows like Judge Andrew Napolitano’s Freedom Watch, which airs on the Fox Business Channel 8pm daily. As a prime example of this movement towards state sovereignty, as of January 31, at least one dozen states have introduced bills to nullify the entire ObamaCare law! (See: “12 States Have Bills to Nullify ObamaCare Entirely.”)
Nullify Now! 2010 proved to be largely successful, having made its way through Forth Worth, Texas, Chattanooga, Tenn., and Orlando, Florida, and featured a number of prominent speakers including New York Times best-selling author Thomas E. Woods, author of Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21 Century, and Joe Wolverton II, a constitutional lawyer and professor of American government who writes for The New American.
With a number of scheduled tours nationwide, it looks as through 2011 will reveal continuing success for the Nullify Now! tour.
Those interested in attending any of the upcoming events should visit www.nullifynow.com.
