Excerpts from the March 3, 2010, Campaign For Liberty e-newsletter:
Across the country, Americans who are fed up with the federal government’s abuse of the Constitution are training to more efficiently take action, alerting their fellow countrymen to threats against freedom, passing out materials, contacting Congress, and running for office themselves.
And as more people become fed up with standing by while Washington, D.C. continues to trample on states’ rights, state legislators are fighting back as well.
First introduced by a Ron Paul supporter in Montana, legislation to nullify federal laws and regulations on guns and ammo manufactured in states and staying within state borders has spread all over the country.
The Montana bill was signed by the governor in April 2009, and Tennessee enacted such legislation a few months later.
In February 2010, Utah’s House and Senate passed SB 11, the Utah State-made Firearms Protection Act. And C4L has received word that SB 11 has been signed by Governor Gary Herbert and is now state law!
HB 1285, introduced in New Hampshire, takes Firearms Freedom legislation a step further by mandating criminal penalties for any official who tries to enforce nullified federal laws and regulations in defiance of HB 1285.
Further illustrating the renewed interest across the country in defending our liberties, Virginia C4L Executive Director Donna Holt and her team have started a Tenth Amendment Revolution in Virginia!
In addition to successfully championing the Virginia Firearms Freedom Act through passage in the Virginia House of Delegates with a bipartisan vote of 70–29 (and currently advocating for its passage in the Senate), VA C4L has been closely working with state legislators to pass legislation nullifying any federal health insurance mandate and shielding Virginians from paying any penalties for not purchasing federally-approved health care.
SB 417, the Virginia Healthcare Freedom Act, passed in February with wide bipartisan support, and Governor McDonnell is expected to sign the legislation soon. Meanwhile, newly-elected pro-liberty Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is reportedly chomping at the bit to litigate Virginia’s sovereign rights should Washington pass some form of ObamaCare.
In Arizona, HCR 2014, the Health Care Freedom Act, passed the Arizona Legislature in 2009 and will be on the November 2010 ballot.
On February 17, C4L Vice President of Programs Matt Hawes appeared before the Maryland State Senate Finance Committee to testify on behalf of SB 397, the Health Care Freedom Act of 2010.
As Matt told the Committee, “SB 397 will help contribute to this renewed national discussion over the proper role of government in our lives and, more directly, it may help keep the federal government from continuing to expand its unconstitutional health care agenda. It is not only within the power of the sovereign state of Maryland, but it is its duty to stand between its people and an overreaching federal government.”
These are just some of the states that have taken action to push back against an out of control federal government!
Despite the establishment's best effort to convince you that our movement will be easily contained, our work to spread the message is gaining more supporters every day.
A recent Rasmussen survey revealed that 59% of "likely voters" believe states should have the right to opt out of federal programs with which they don't agree. Such a number would have been unimaginable just a few years ago, but we still have our work cut out for us.