Roanoke Tea Party

We have been using this design on our website for a while…and now we have bumper stickers with the same theme….

So what is the plan?

First of all lets start with our basic principles….it’s very simple.

1. Our rights come from God and cannot be taken away by any government
2. That government’s primary role is to ensure each individual these God given rights.
3. Individuals cannot delegate to government, authorities they do not have themselves. (I.E. if you can’t force your neighbor to “share the wealth”  individuals cannot vest government with that right.)
4. When government fails to ensure these rights, it is the right and the duty of the people to fix the government so it does.
We have seen repeated evidence that our Federal government does not not understand these basic principles. This is evidenced by…

1. The dominance of our Federal Reserve system by bankers and individuals that are not elected by the people. No one knows how much money has been paid to these individuals and how much influence they have had on economic policies, since our own government has refused an audit of this organization for decades.

2. The complete dominance of unelected government agencies. Every year we are faced  more invasive regulations by organizations like the EPA, the FDA and the Department of Education. Not only are these regulations coming from unelected and unaccountable government agencies, they are coming from federal agencies that are unconstitutional and outside the powers vested to the federal government in Article 1 Section 8 of the United States Constitution.

3. The complete lack of responsiveness of Federal Officials. Seen as a microcosm of the national situation, Senator’s Webb and Warner  have voted for items like bailouts, health care reform, the Dream Act, and a host of other things that the majority of their constituents adamantly oppose.  Inquiries to these officials are often ignored. When a response is given, it is in the form of a generic form letter that often does not address the actual issue.

4. The complete lack of accountability: Our elected Federal officials take an oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution. Yet almost all of these officials continue to vote to fund unconstitutional agencies, compromise principles and continue to spend the nation into oblivion. With a crushing debt of close to $14 trillion, there is no hope to repay this money and we will soon be faced with a debt crisis based on fiscal policies set by unelected officials,  irresponsible spending by our elected officials, and the general apathy of the voting public across the country that has allowed this to occur for decades. The fact that officials like  Barney Frank and Harry Reid continue to get elected says more about the people than it does about those officials.

5. The Federal Government seems to think they can convey rights. This may be the most subtle, yet most dangerous trend. The concept that government is there to do things for us, versus to protect our individual rights is philosophically incompatible with the basic tenets of our founders. Government’s role is not to ensure the wealth is spread around. It’s designed to ensure that liberty is equal for all. Social justice is just a simple code word for socialism.

Can the Federal Government be fixed? We have serious doubts. With the looming debt crisis, the coming social security crisis and the implementation of Obamacare exacerbating the pending Medicare/Medicaid crisis, there are too many waves hitting this ship of state. Yet many people cling to the notion that after awhile, this will all straighten itself out? The most used phrase I hear about the economy is:

“When things get better…

I would put a big IF at the beginning of that sentence. Our nation is fiscally bankrupt and honestly, morally bankrupt as well. The fact that individuals, responsible for this nightmare,  continue to win reelection. The fact that Barney Frank is a member of Congress instead of in jail for his actions on the Fannie Mae debacle speaks to the complete lack of moral standing in many communities.  States so corrupted that they will elect this man to any office deserve their fate.

So what to do? We believe that the only pathway for Virginians is to start standing up as Virginians. We are part of the United States but our founders created the Federal Government to handle certain tasks that needed to be done by a Federal government. The Federal government has overreached so spectacularly over the past few decades, that no one even questions their Constitutional right to do what they do.

You don’t need to be a lawyer to understand the founders intent.

Look in Article 1 Section 8 of the United States Constitution. These are the contractual obligations given to the Federal Government.

Now look at the 10th Amendment. If it’s not written down in the Constitution for the Feds to do, those duties belong to the states and people.

It’s really that simple.

But the 10th Amendment is violated, seemingly with every law and regulation that comes from DC.

What to do.

James Madison, author of the Constitution and Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence believed that the the states were an equal partner in the contractual obligations that are the Constitution. They articulated these in the Kentucky Resolution and the Virginia Resolutions in 1798 and 1799.

We need to get back to the concept of nullification. But to do that, we need legislators in Richmond who are courageous enough to stand up to the Federal Government.

So the plan is very simple. Elect true Constitutional Conservatives

Then Enact the Freedom For Virginians Act

Freedom For Virginians Act (FFVA)

What Is It? The Freedom For Virginians Act (FFVA) is a proposed piece of state legislation that makes the Commonwealth of Virginia  a bastion of freedom and protects the citizens of this Commonwealth from unconstitutional Federal activity.

How Does It Work? The Constitution lays out what exactly the role of the Federal Government is. Its responsibilities are called enumerated powers and listed in Article 1 Section 8. If the Constitution doesn’t designate powers to the Federal Government, the states and the people retain them (under the 9th and 10th Amendments to the Constitution.) With the FFVA enacted, Virginians can feel safe exercising completely their rights as protected by the U.S. Constitution because both state and local government will be required to stop the enforcement of anything unconstitutional by the Federal Government.

The sovereign states of this union set up the Federal Government as their agent to handle certain items that could not be efficiently handled by the 13 states separately. They specifically wrote in the document and agreed that the states retained their rights, specifically under the 10th Amendment.

So who determines whether a law is outside the scope of these enumerated powers? Americans have been led to believe that the U.S. Supreme Court makes that determination. They have been misled. The Supreme Court, according to our founders, is only “supreme” regarding cases that stem from the enumerated powers of the Constitution. The Supreme Court does not have jurisdiction in cases where the Federal government is acting outside the Federal Government’s powers as stated in the Constitution. Don’t take our word for it. Read what Thomas Jefferson says in the Kentucky Resolutions.

The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia is very clear on two key points: Virginia is a sovereign Republic and that the Commonwealth has a duty to protect its citizens from oppression. This gives the state the right to intercede on behalf of Virginians when the Federal Government oversteps its Constitutional powers and the duty to act to protect the citizens from the Federal government attempting to exercise unconstitutional authority.

The FFVA, in part states:

As a Sovereign state, the Commonwealth of Virginia reserves the right to determine whether any law, regulation, executive order or Judicial Ruling goes beyond the powers vested to the Federal Government by Virginia and the several states that created the United States Constitution. Any laws, regulations, executive orders, Treaties or Judicial Rulings from the United States that the Commonwealth of Virginia deems not within said enumerated powers shall be considered moot and unenforceable within its borders.

Does this mean secession?Absolutely not! The FFVA does not say nor is it intended to mean the Commonwealth of Virginia is leaving the union. That would be secession. The FFVA says that, in Virginia, the Constitution will be followed as written. That adherence to the supreme law of our land is what every citizen should demand and what every public official takes an oath to do. Unfortunately, no one has been doing it for a long time and that is the reason for the problems we are experiencing today. We intend for Virginia to start enforcing the Constitution again. It isn’t just our right. It is our responsibility.

This is the Civil Rights Movement of the 21^st Century. In the 1960s, the Federal Government rightly stepped into the Civil Rights movement on issues like Brown vs. the Board of Education. Segregated schools and other evils of the Jim Crow South were clear violations of the Equal Protection Clause which gave the Federal Government the right, and more importantly the duty, to step in an protect it’s citizens.

As in the 60’s there is a need for a Civil Rights Movement. Today the villain is not the states, but the Federal Regime that is instituting laws in clear violation of the Constitution and with the express purpose of exercising authority it wants, but does not constitutionally have. Our state officials not only have the right, but the duty, to step up and protect us from that tyranny.