What can We the People do, as individuals, to rein in our runaway federal government?
One option is to call in the reserves — namely, our state legislatures!
Consider the following direct appeal from you to your own state legislators* —
Dear [State Legislator] –
We the People need you. We’re desperate, and we implore you to speak up for us. Frankly, you’re our last best hope!
Our Declaration of Independence explicitly proclaims that to secure our inalienable rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
Today, to cite just three examples, the federal government most assuredly does not have our consent to:
- pass multi-thousand-page, multi-trillion-dollar spending bills at the 11th hour with neither review nor debate,
- admit millions of unvetted immigrants into our country, contrary to established laws and procedures,
- delegate massive legislative and regulatory powers to over 600 unelected and virtually unaccountable federal agencies and departments
You can be our voice with your Declarations of Dissent. These can take the form of resolutions directed toward individual federal laws, regulations, actions, or lack of actions. You may choose to invite constituents to guide you and help you write them. But whatever source you use, it is your voice that we so badly need to hear.
Your declarations will be loud, highly visible, explicit pushback against an overreaching federal government, just as our colonial leaders in the 18th Century first issued many appeals to King George over what the Declaration of Independence later called “abuses and usurpations.”
Your collective voices are the most legitimate but most underused voice that we have. You and your colleagues have the genuine “bully pulpit” of a directly elected state legislature, and we ask that you begin using it forcefully.
This is not a Democrat, Republican, or Independent initiative. It is a We the People initiative, wholly consistent with the Constitution. It is not only within your power to speak for us – it is also your obligation. Please do not deflect, dissemble, or remain silent any longer!
We the People need you now!
[Citizen signature]
Simply stated, our federal government is no longer deriving [its] just powers from the consent of the governed.
Formal and forceful Declarations of Dissent will be a highly visible way for our state legislators to represent our interests in DC. We pay our state legislators’ salaries, they do have the ‘bully pulpit’ of elected office, and we do have every right to expect them to use it, representing us in Washington.
If thousands of us copy, edit, address, and send the letter above, we can enlist our state legislators in the battle against Big Government in Washington.
*As an aid, see this link to find your state legislator names and addresses.
Other links of interest:
Fiscal Responsibility Amendment
Term Limits Amendment
Convention of States
Article V Task Force
3 replies on “Declarations of Dissent – A Forceful New Role for Our State Legislatures”
Great idea for every American Patriot to engage in. We can make a change!
It certainly would be helpful, if any have the courage to use it!
A Declaration of Dissent has no teeth — yet. With enough pressure from constituents, some state legislators might well find the minimal courage needed to simply speak up behalf of We the People — baby steps first.
If speaking up catches on, states may move on to an Article V amendments convention, leading to powerful Constitutional amendments *with* teeth, like the amendment at this URL: https://bityl.co/CKhd