A Few Suggestions to Those Who Represent Us in the North Carolina General Assembly | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Government is best and most responsive to the individual when it is closest to them. We're talking about the local, the county, and even the state level. This is where the individual and his or her concerns matter. In DC, the person doesn't matter at all, let alone his or her concerns and interests. The only worth of a person at the federal level is his or her voting affiliation. This is a very Jeffersonian principle. It is also, at the core, why Greece never solidified into a central government but remained a series of "city-states."

    And so, over the past years, I thought a lot about what our state government and state leaders should be doing with their time in office, and I've come up with a list of nineteen items. I'm hoping that like-minded individual (ie, constituents; voters) and groups will agree, at least to some items, and agree to work together to strategize and come up with action plans, with the ultimate goal of having action taken at the state (or local) level.

    "Strength in numbers!" Some of these ideas are:

    (1) North Carolina should create a State Escrow Account. The purpose of this initiative would be two-fold: (1) To exercise a sovereign duty under the Tenth Amendment which is to check abuses and unconstitutional acts, laws, policies, and spending by the federal government; and (2) To make sure North Carolina citizens do NOT give in to federal tyranny, which includes over-taxation in order to spend that money on unconstitutional objects (ie, in order to "go around the boundaries of the Constitution"). With a State Escrow Account, North Carolina citizens would first send their IRS filings and checks to the state government where an analysis would be done regarding the amount and the constitutionality of the amount of federal taxation. The state would withhold taxation amounts to the IRS that the federal government uses for unconstitutional purposes (like education, welfare, state grants, funds to foreign countries, bail-out funds, etc) See my article "State Escrow Accounts to Curb Federal Funding," www.forloveofgodandcountry.com, November 8, 2015.

    (2) The North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA) should take the lead and call for yearly "Round Table" meetings of all 50 States, and perhaps including a representative or representatives from the federal government. At these meetings, the states can bring up any issues and any problems they have (For example: gang violence, drug trafficking, homelessness, lack of jobs (ideas for job creation), healthcare costs in their state, education issues, how to resist over-reach by the federal government, what to do when they believe the Supreme Court has issued an unconstitutional ruling. With 50 states at the table, each acting as an "independent laboratory" of experimentation and success/failure and applying free market principles, they can certainly more successfully solve their problems and become stronger (sovereign-wise), which is great so that they don't have to look to and depend on the federal government.

    (3) The state legislature should craft and adopt a State Sovereignty Resolution or State Sovereignty Statute. Alternatively, the NCGA can amend the NC state constitution to include a section, with strong language that addresses the natural right and its right under the Tenth Amendment, to exert all of its sovereign rights, including those which challenge and resist abusive and otherwise unconstitutional laws, actions, policies, spending, treaties, etc by the federal government. [See the various State Sovereignty Resolutions that Diane Rufino has written or state sovereignty resolutions introduced or adopted by other states, or model state sovereignty resolutions that have been drafted and promoted by the Tenth Amendment Center]. See my blogsite for my version of a North Carolina State Sovereignty Resolution, dated Feb. 18, 2019 (www.forloveofgodandcountry.com. Also, refer to the sample versions of a state sovereignty resolution in Addendum I (another of my versions) and Addendum II (Montana's House Joint Resolution No. 26, aka, the Montana State Sovereignty Resolution).


    (4) The state legislature should make it a top priority to make North Carolina a model state for true education. BACK TO EDUCATION & ENOUGH WITH PUBLIC SCHOOL INDOCTRINATION!!! North Carolina needs to expand options for education, rather than the historic reliance on public school indoctrination (I mean, public school education). There should be unlimited charter schools, home school consortiums and other home school options, more religious school options, and opportunities at the high school level for trade school training.

    (5) The NCGA should make the in-depth study of our state and nation's founding a top priority in its core education curriculum, as well as an in-depth study of all our founding documents (bringing in English history and roots) and all the reasons, harassment, instigations, and violations of human rights that led to our quest for independence (including a very public declaration with the Declaration of Independence) and ultimately, the American Revolution. In fact, the NCGA should either make this an entirely separate course on American History [with a firm reliance on our founding documents, commentary by our Founding Fathers, the meaning and scope of the Constitution of 1787 as explained clearly in the Federalist Papers, the debates in the individual State Ratifying Conventions (to learn how each state understood what the Constitution meant when they agreed to ratify it - simple compact or contract theory law), and our primary accounts of history (including how quickly the federal government began to ignore the boundaries of our Constitution and how Abraham Lincoln's administration blatantly and unconscionably violated its sacred provisions, "transformed the union" re-interpreted the Constitution, and transformed the federal government and its powers and responsibilities] OR if this study is to be part of another American History course, then it MUST be taught by someone or some group widely recognized as being able to teach the topic authentically, knowledgably, and in detail.

    (6) The NCGA should make a STRONG change to the way that law schools in the state approach teaching Constitutional Law. Instead of teaching students what the Constitution means and what the scope of the powers of the branches of the federal government are through judicial rulings (judge-made law; through the many opinions of the Supreme Court), as if that is the ONLY way the Constitution should be interpreted, the NCGA should require that a preliminary Constitutional Law course be taught that teaches what the Constitution ACTUALLY means - as intended by those who wrote it and signed off on it (see James Madison and the debates and proceedings in the Philadelphia Convention of 1787), as explained by those who wrote it and were delegates at the Convention (See the Federalist Papers, a collection of essays written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay) in order that the States have a clear understanding when considering whether or not to ratify it, and according to those states, in their individual State Ratifying Convention after careful and rigorous debate, who relied on certain meanings and with certain "Ratifying Clauses" and conditions attached, when they agreed to adopt it. Individual men in black robes don't have the power to change the meaning of the provisions, the clauses, and the powers delegated to the federal government in the Constitution (yet they have been doing this for over 200 years). The purpose of a constitution is to be a permanent testament of the powers delegated from the People to the government, and that is exactly the approach law students MUST be taught. If our Constitution is to survive and maintain its original integrity, this approach MUST be included in every North Carolina law school curriculum.

    (7) North Carolina should invest and expand Project Veritas through communication and cooperation with other states.

    (8) North Carolina should invest and expand NC Voter Integrity Project through communication and cooperation with other states. (Jay Delancy, the founder of the NC Voter Integrity Project, would be best to advise and help all other states establish their own groups - and then they all can work together and share data)

    (9) Each state should have its own manufacture and distributor of ammunition. Congress CANNOT interfere with intrastate commerce. North Carolina should take the initiative on this plan.

    (10) The NCGA should discuss this question or idea with its fellow states: Should the States negotiate with the Indian nation (Indian tribes) to: (a) adopt our US Constitution (or better yet, the constitution of the Confederate States of America) as part of its governing documents and (b) have them agree to adhere to it as our Founders intended and envisioned. In this way, we can secure the Constitution of our founding and keep it alive and working should it someday become extinct and irrelevant here in the United States.


    (11) North Carolina sorely needs election reform. Such election Reform should include a strict Voter ID requirement and the manual, hand-counting of ballots. Here in North Carolina, we do not have the infamous Dominion machines, but the troublesome software is the same. This software is where the manipulation of votes takes place. The John Birch Society offers several suggestions to restore election transparency, integrity, and security. In the February 15th issue of The New American magazine, titled "Restoring Election Integrity," election expert Kurt Hyde explains specific changes in election laws and procedures that are needed:

    Reinstate paper ballots

    Reinstate voting and vote counting as public acts

    Reinstate the precinct as the place where voters cast their ballots and where the ballots are counted

    Allow candidates to choose areas to audit the vote

    Mandate that the election process be recorded with video and audio equipment

    Publicly and immediately post precinct vote results

    Mandate the cleaning up of all voter registration lists

    Eliminate same-day voter registration

    Put in place law to protect evidence

    Punish fraud and end early voting

    Require an absolute chain of custody for ballots

    Repeal laws that allow for unattended drop boxes for ballots and laws allowing for no-excuse absentee balloting

    Ballots must have verifying features

    Make it easier to recruit election clerks

    Don't allow government employees or political hacks to run the polls

    Require paper voter sign-in sheets

    As someone connected to the Abbeville Institute wrote: "The key to putting the country on a better path is not in national elections. It doesn't matter an iota who your representative or Senator is, which party holds power, or who the president is. It doesn't even much matter who is on the Supreme Court. We've been on a continual and incremental shift to the left for over 100 years and national elections have not stopped this. They've aided it. The key is in your State elections. We must support and elect people to our State governments who will interpose, nullify, and negate all federal over-reach. Your voice is louder the closer to home that your government is. In DC, you have no representation no matter who you send there. The power is in your State government and this sis where we must effect change."

    (12) The NCGA should pass legislation which would criminalize enforcement of unconstitutional edicts at the county level, and order sheriffs, county commissioners, and local/state prosecutors to carry out such enforcement.

    (13) Leaders in the state legislature, along with groups in North Carolina that are fed up with the Republican Party, should strategize and devise plans in order to build on the momentum that Donald Trump started in 2016 and which he delivered throughout his administration (to Make America Great Again, to Drain the Swamp, and to Give the Government Back to the People). We call this growing momentum "The Great Awakening."


    (14) The NCGA should push forward with Rep. Keith Kidwell's effort to place checks on progressive state governors (like Roy Cooper) by requiring the General Assembly to be called into session in the event of a prolonged emergency in order that the legislature has an opportunity to protect We the People of North Carolina from draconian gubernatorial edicts. Related to this issue, the NCGA should pass or amend existing legislation to set precise boundaries to what types of events or circumstances can be termed "a prolonged emergency." A vague statue is overly ripe for abuse and tyranny.

    (15) The NCGA should move forward with efforts to make North Carolina a "sanctuary state" for the Second Amendment.