Thread by @TenthAmendment

"Voting the bums out" was never the proper strategy for dealing with a federal government that doesn't stay within the bounds of the Constitution.

And it never will be.

Resist. Refuse to comply. Nullify.

“The truth is, all might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they ought.”
-Samuel Adams

For Thomas Jefferson, voting the bums out is for misadministration of the delegated powers, not usurpation:

"in cases of an abuse of the delegated powers the members of the general government, being chosen by the people, a change by the people would be the constitutional remedy"

When government goes beyond the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson told us to nullify. Not just a mere good idea, but THE rightful remedy.

"but, where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy"

Even Alexander Hamilton understood this. In Federalist 33, describing acts not "pursuant to" the delegated powers of the Constitution.

"These will be merely acts of usurpation, and will deserve to be treated as such."

In Fabius IV, John Dickinson told us that the answer to a "bad administration" was to be "instantly found...before the supreme sovereignty of the people."

And no, it's not about asking government to stop doing things the government wasn't supposed to do in the first place.

Dickinson told us - in ALL CAPS - that defending the #constitution is up to the people.

"IT IS THEIR DUTY TO WATCH, AND THEIR RIGHT TO TAKE CARE, THAT THE CONSTITUTION BE PRESERVED; Or in the Roman phrase on perilous occasions - TO PROVIDE, THAT THE REPUBLIC RECEIVE NO DAMAGE."

James Iredell - who went on to become a Supreme Court Justice - told us that the people should "resist if the government usurp powers not delegated to it."

Mercy Otis Warren advised us to "resist the first approaches of tyranny."

Not "vote the bums out" in the face of tyranny.

In Federalist 46, James Madison told us that states and individuals should use a "refusal to cooperate with officers of the Union" to stop federal programs that are "unwarrantable" or just bad policy.

And he said "Plans of resistance" should be made between the states.

Ultimately, it's up to the people to protect and defend their own constitution and their own liberty - whether the government wants them to, or not.

blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2022/01/who-is…

Lysander Spooner may have summed it up best:

"The right of the people, therefore, to resist an unconstitutional law, is absolute and unqualified, from the moment the law is enacted."

blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2022/01/compli…