The Senate? No. Try the States

In the wake of the terrible Supreme Court decision on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare, ACA), many politicians have been telling us "We must retake the senate!"  In fact, you could probably add some more exclamation marks and an "eleventy" or two in, just to get the feeling.  The Senate, we are told, is the key to overturning Obamacare.

With all due respect, I call bull.  The last time I can find that a law was just repealed was in the 1920s.  Prohibition was repealed in the '30s, which did require the senate, but it had the force of the American people so far behind it that they were able to pass a Constitutional Amendment to repeal a previous Constitutional Amendment.  I don't think we have that level of outrage; there are just too many people who don't mind being slaves to the State, as long as the State "takes care of" them.

The problem with anyone running for national office is that they want to hold national office.  They want the power that august office brings, and they want to wield it.  The possibility that the Senate would repeal the entirety of Obamacare is remote at best.  Even House Republicans keep talking about "Repeal and Replace," when the only Conservative option is "Repeal and Remand(to the states)."

If we truly want to stop the ever growing behemoth that is the Federal Government, we must use the Federalist System put in place by the Founders of the Constitution.  The States must wrest their authority back from the Federal Government.  And "wrest" is the correct word; it will be a fight of epic, perhaps cataclysmic proportions.

Three essential steps that the States must take to begin taking their authority back:

1) Declare that any resident of the state is exempt from the requirements of ACA.  This will require the refusal of any state resources (money or personnel) for enforcement, as well as refusal to allow Federal Officials to enforce the law.

2) Begin weaning themselves off the governmental cocaine that is "Federal Matching Funds."  From Medicaid to Highway funds, the Federal Government exerts too much influence because of these funds.  Texas has already begun leading the way here, with our refusal to provide State Funds to Planned Parenthood, and finding a way to continue to fund women's services without Federal funds.

3) Repeat steps 1 & 2 with all Federal Laws which overreach Federal Authority.  From "Environmental Laws" to Abortion law, and, in fact, almost every facet of life, the Federal Government is reaching where it has no authority, whatever the Supreme Court has said.  The States must decide to take that authority back.

Bear this in mind: the cost must be counted.  The term "Constitutional Crisis" is not an exaggeration.  Of course, I would argue we're already in one.  This would be a violent upheaval, at least in the political sense.  It might cause a violent upheaval in the physical violence sense

While it is, indeed, vital that we retake the Senate, far more important are your State and Local races.  It is your States which must stand up to the Federal Government, and it is your cities which must then stand up to your State.  The Senate will not, cannot, save us from Federal Expansion.  As part of the Federal Government, it is an intrinsic part of the problem.  The Founders of our Nation were wise enough to see this, and so they instituted a Federalist system of government.  We need to return to that system.

 Two hundred and 26 years ago, on Wednesday, our Forefathers swore to each other their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to defeat tyranny.  I don't think it's too much to ask that we swear our convenience, our baubles, and our luxuries to do the same.