December, 2014, Part 2, Will The Center Hold: Common Core, Suing The Feds, and Gun Control Rebellion

On a semi-regular basis, we check in with a continuing theme in this blog that we call: “Will the center hold?” Never in my life have I seen a political class so out of control and consequently, we are witnessing a backlash against this overreaching and intrusive political class. 

Which raises a question: are we getting to a point that one day soon we may see Washington enact a law or create a regulation and the rest of the country simply ignores it? What happens when the country tells Washington to go pound sand on something and refuses to support it? Will the center hold or does the country splinter into who know what?

Most of this backlash and pushback is against the un-Constitutional overreach of the Washington political class. Those in Washington have been pushing a variety of issues and actions that do not sit well with large parts of the country. These issues include, but are not limited to, gun control, Common Core education standards, Michelle Obama’s healthy eating/school lunch legislation, Federal government land grabs, NSA spying on innocent citizens, IRS harassment, etc.

Over the past two days, we updated where state and local governments and individual citizens are rebelling against this overreaching and increasingly repressive set of politicians. When reviewing these updates keep in mind the overall question: will the center hold once the rest of the country actually starts to ignore Washington dictates?

Today is the second of two posts to address the “will the center hold” question, the first was posted yesterday.

1) Regarding the push back against Common Core education standards, the Heritage Foundation did a story on their website on December 20, 2014 about how it is being resisted across the country. It was written by Edwin Feulner and was originally published in the Washington Examiner.

Mr. Feulner discusses the reality that parents, teachers, students and lawmakers have become increasingly vocal in their resistance of the Federally developed and implemented Common Core standards and are starting to take action to get out from under those standards. As an example, he cites Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal who once backed Common Core, stating in 2012 that he expected Common Core to “raise expectations for every child.” 

However, two short years later, Jindal decided to pull Louisiana out of the program. He believes that the states and the country were lied to and sold a bad program, likening it “bait and switch.” scam. 

According to this writer, nineteen states have made significant efforts to push back against Common Core. Indiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Louisiana have exited the standards altogether already, and others appear poised to do likewise. Why the rebellion, beyond the obvious reason that where Common Core has already been implemented, learning has degraded? Consider a quote from education researcher Lindsey Burke: 

“Adopting Common Core national standards and tests surrenders control of the content taught in local schools to distant national organizations and bureaucrats in Washington. It is the antithesis of reform that would put control of education in the hands of those closest to students: local school leaders and parents.”

Another Federal, mandated, dictatorial program that is not going anywhere if the trend of dumping Common Core continues to spread, leaving the country again poorer and without a solution.

2) No state has pushed back more against Washington’s overreach than Texas. Consider the push back tally that was recently reported by the www.youngcons.com website:

• Texas is one of 24 states that are suing the Obama administration and the Federal government for his illegal and un-Constitutional orders on immigration.
• The latest four states to join the effort are Arkansas, Michigan, North Dakota and Oklahoma.
• Texas has now sued the Federal government 27 times since Obama came into office six years ago. 
• President George W. Bush was sued three times in eight years by Texas during his eight years in office.

The article goes on to tally the “wins” and losses” in this suing the Federal government game by Texas. And while keeping the Federal government in line is definitely the right thing to do, one would have hoped it could have been done by following current laws on the books and the Constitution by the Washington political class rather than diverting taxpayer wealth into lawyers’ pockets and lawsuits.

3) Sometimes out of control government actions are not confined to Washington’s efforts to control our lives. The Maryland state government recently enacted a law a law banning “assault weapons” and magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. New gun buyers in Maryland must also submit their fingerprints and undergo mandatory gun training. Failure to comply with the law can result in a three-year prison sentence and/or a $5,000 fine.

In response to these attacks on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans, 21 other states have come together in a law suit to abolish the new, restrictive gun control laws in Maryland and make sure that they are not implemented elsewhere. While the law which was immediately challenged and upheld by a Federal judge, it is now being reviewed in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. 

4) Staying with the protection of Second Amendment rights by an overreaching political class, consider some facts that were included in a November 12, 2014 article in the Reason magazine’s Hit and Run blog that was written by J.D. Tuccille:

• Tens of thousands of Connecticut gun owners became potential felons rather than comply with that state's new gun registration law. 
• New York's similar gun registration law resulted in such low compliance when it went into effect that government officials refused to reveal how many people have and have not abided by the law. This secrecy resulted in the New York State Committee on Open Government saying the secrecy “thumbs its nose at the law” itself.
• Large numbers of Washington state’s residents are not happy about i594, a law that requires background check requirements on even private transactions, and planned a rally in mass disobedience December, 2014. Research shows that the Washington rally did occur and was well attended by over 5,000 Second Amendment rights supporters. 

More examples of citizens rising up to resist politicians violating the Constitution and freedom and liberties. 

Common Core rejection, record number of lawsuits against the Federal government and this Presidential administration, non-violent civil disobedience, and a whole host of other resistance efforts to overreaching politicians continues to raise the issue: what happens if the Washington political class issues a law or regulation and the rest of the country simply ignores it? Will the center hold? More excitement sure to come as the Obama administration strives to create any kind of legacy for this failed presidency, an effort sure to be resisted by the rest of America and Americans.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

Will The Center Hold, April, 2014, Part 1: Common Core Under Fire, Seceding States, and More

After ten days worth of posts looking at various forms of political class insanity, it is time to move on to other topics. For the next several days, we will be taking another look at a question we have posed in previous posts: Given the overreaching, illegal, and un-Constitutional actions of the Federal government and the Washington political class, and the push back from citizens and state governments, will the center hold? Or will the various issues and conflicts eventually result in the breaking apart of the republic and the dissolution of Federal government authority and effectiveness? 

Never before in our history have we been so close to the center of the nation not holding steady and solid. Through wars and depressions and recessions and civil rights movements and other crises, in my opinion we have never been closer to such a splitting of the nation. The fact that we are now closer than ever to such a center implosion speaks volumes of how power hungry, illegal, and incompetent the political class has become. 

The first set of posts on this topic can be accessed starting at: 

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2014/03/will-center-hold-part-1-americans-and.html

1) In one sign of the growing disgust with Washington and this Presidency, news report indicate the Wisconsin Republican Resolutions Committee voted earlier this month to support a proposal establishing a state’s right, “under extreme circumstances, to secede” from the union. The resolution is gaining acceptance among many of the state’s disillusioned residents, many of whom are expected to weigh in on the matter during the state Republican Party convention next month. 

Not all of the state’s Republicans are excited about the idea, including the current state governor, Scott Walker: “I don’t think that one [the resolution] aligns with where most Republican officials are in the state of Wisconsin – certainly not with me.” 

But even if the governor is not interested, there is enough interest and frustration in this state for some of its political actors taking the radical step of thinking and discussing the pros and cons of secession. 

2) Common Core is a Washington effort to put in place a single Federal government curriculum for the nation’s schools. A lot of Americans are against such a domination of local teaching and schools from a faraway Federal government bureaucracy for a number of reasons: 

• Trying to impose a single teaching and education approach on all Americans will likely never work and will end up dumbing down the education process. 
• Early results from states and districts using Common Core materials have resulted in disappointing educational results.
•  Ceding control of local educational processes to a Federal government that has shown the inability to successfully operate any program is not attractive to parents and school districts that prefer to manage their own education processes that are tailored to their local needs. 

As a result of these concerns and others, many states are beginning to opt out of all or some of the Common Core’s components. Recently, South Carolina’s top education administrator announced that South Carolina is pulling out of the Common Core standardized testing group, Smarter Balanced. 

Superintendent of Education Mick Zais sent a letter to state Board of Education members informing them of the move. Zais was sprung to action on this issue as a result of pending legislation in the state legislature that would prevent South Carolina from using the Smarter Balanced tests in schools: “My recommendation was to get ahead of these actions of the General Assembly and show the members of the General Assembly that we believe exploring assessment options is the most prudent course of action for South Carolina.” 

Furthermore, Zais stated in a letter to the state board of education Suth Carolina: “I want to have a high quality assessment that meets the specific needs of South Carolina, at a competitive price. If we continue to focus only on Smarter Balanced, we lose any opportunity to consider alternatives… In consideration of the foregoing, and the discovery that I have the authority to withdraw South Carolina from its status as a governing state of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, and after full consultation with the Governor’s Office and appropriate members of the General Assembly, I am informing you that I am exercising that authority." 

The “most prudent course of action for South Carolina.” In other words, thanks but no thanks to Washington and the Common Core bureaucracy for his state. Just another example of a state treating Washington’s dictates as a suggestion and not a requirement. One of many states doing the same thing on many different issues. 

3) According to a recent article by the Heritage Foundation, South Carolina is not the only state of in the union actively working against the forced implementation of Common Core in their states:

• In Oklahoma, the state senate passed legislation early in April reducing the state’s involvement with Common Core’s national standards, although there is some dispute as to whether it would fully remove Oklahoma from the standards, or merely change the name of the standards. Governor Mary Fallin , a supporter of Common Core said in a statement that she “support[s] passing legislation that increases classroom rigor and accountability while guaranteeing that Oklahoma public education is protected from federal interference…” 
• The Missouri House of Representatives recently passed legislation to find a Common Core replacement. State Representative Kurt Bahr stated: “We’re going to create the process to have Missouri standards and Missouri assessments.” The Missouri legislation requires that by October 1, 2014, the state board of education must develop new academic standards by the following October 2015, in place of the Common Core, and adopt and implement these standards by the 2016-17 school year.
• The New Orleans Advocate recently reported that in Louisiana, Governor Bobby Jindal, who once was a Common Core supporter, is now encouraging the Louisiana legislature to formally remove the state from the Common Core aligned Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for Colleges and Careers (PARCC) test. This position was announced on the heals of him receiving a letter from eight members of the Louisiana State House of Representatives informing Jindal of his ability to opt out of the standards and encouraging him to do so. 

The Heritage report concludes with the following summary of state government push backs on Common Core and the Federal government: “Fifteen states have now made strides in halting or downgrading their involvement in the standards. Last month, Indiana became the first state to exit Common Core. This is promising momentum in the effort of states to reclaim their educational decision-making authority.” 

When was the last time anyone can remember 30% of the states telling the Federal government to take a hike relative to a Federal program? Will the center hold, at least relative to Common Core? 

4) In early April, Missouri’s House passed veto proof gun rights  legislation that allows Missouri to refuse to enforce past, present and future Federal gun control laws that are viewed to be infringements on gun rights, and state residents would have the right to sue law enforcement for enforcing such laws. The legislation is expected to also pass the state senate. 

The veto proof component of the legislation is important since the state’s Governor indicated that he opposes such legislation, having vetoed a similar bill last year that also sought to nullify some Federal laws. Despite the governor’s resistance, Missouri becomes one of nearly ten other states have passed some form of legislation attempting to limit federal regulation of firearms within their border. 

The Missouri effort also contains several other gun rights components including lowering the minimum age to get a concealed weapons permit and allowing designated school personnel to carry firearms in buildings. 

So let’s review. A growing number of states do not want Washington’s Common Core shaky education standards and tenets and the attached bureaucracy and restrictions, a growing number of states have more respect for the Second Amendment than the Federal government and the Obama Presidency, taking actions to protect the rights of their citizens, and some citizens in at least one state (Wisconsin) are seriously fed up with everything coming out of Washington, so much so that they are willing to split off and form their own country. 

Which raises two interesting questions, questions that we have posed in the past and questions that are becoming closer and closer to a reality everyday: 1) What happens if Washington passes a law and very few states and citizens obey that law? 2) With such widespread disrespect and ignoring of Washington directions, will the center hold? More disobedience and push back on an overreaching Federal government tomorrow.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w