It is somewhat akin to a nightmare on Elm Street but this fantasy is playing out on Main Street where it has metastasized into reality. “Change we can believe in” is nothing more than hollow words based on an old worn out and failed vision.  It is a campaign slogan whose cryptic message conveys the idea that government is the panacea for all the ills some see as pervasive within our society. If only this was simply a bad dream and we could wake up with trust and confidence restored in our Nation’s government and capitalistic system. Unfortunately the dangers we face are real and “we the people” must act responsibly and aggressively to insure that whatever stimulative and corrective measures are taken, we preserve our Nation’s Constitution and the freedom guaranteed by it, and particularly “the Bill of Rights.” Abrogation of citizen and state’s rights cannot be tolerated under even the most challenging of economic circumstances. Perhaps the progressives, as the liberals and socialists now call themselves, need a new “looking glass” in which to view the “Alice in Wonderland” adventure they are creating.

 

 We can all identify with Alice. Like Alice we have dozed off to sleep and have fallen down a rabbit hole into a surrealist world. Now we have to dig ourselves out before this fairy tale becomes our reality. Like the Mock Turtle in Wonderland said, “It sounds like uncommon nonsense.” We are just beginning our journey into Wonderland and towards existential crisis. We are being manipulated, deceived and threatened with the erosion of our inalienable rights. Most people are concerned, angered and disillusioned by the cast of characters orchestrating this deceptive scheme. All the inhabitants of Wonderland are involved. The hookah smoking caterpillar and his surrogate, the Mad Hatter are joined with their cohorts the Red Queen and White Knight in a cabal to radically alter the core principles of this Nation. It is somewhat ironic that our best advice may come from Jefferson Airplane’s classic song “White Rabbit.”

 

             “And if you go chasing rabbits and you know you’re going to fall

 

              When logic and proportion have fallen softly dead

 

 It is well past time but perhaps not too late to find our way out of this national crisis where the Federal government’s motto is apparently, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” The answer is with “we the people.” We need to become aggressively involved in finding constitutionally sound solutions.

 

 While many are just beginning to see through this fairy tale, others have already begun to fight back in defense of this monumental attack on “the people’s inalienable rights and the sovereignty of our state(s).”

 

A campaign is “spreading like wildfire” across the Nation. It is called the Tenth Amendment Movement. Legislative bodies in over thirty-three states have passed legislation or are in the process of debating the issue of reasserting constitutional authority guaranteed to the states and to its citizens. The Tenth amendment assures that “we the people” and each sovereign state have and always had rights the Federal government may not constitutionally usurp. These legislative resolutions reaffirm the 10^th Amendment to the Constitution.

 

 

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

 

  

We have through apathy and lack of will allowed the erosion of this amendment that Thomas Jefferson called, “the foundation of the Constitution.” The Louisiana Legislature followed other states and in 1998 amended the State Constitution to reassert its position on the 10^th Amendment. Now more than ever is the time to urge our legislature to rejoin the fight in a collective body of other states to demand satisfaction from the federal government on this critical issue. Unfortunately, over time, states have effectively become vassals of the federal government and its growing bureaucracy. States have been lured by federal funding but are now prisoners of their own devices and in some cases duplicity. It is time to break the chains that allow excessive federal regulation, increased taxes, unfunded mandates and now an arrogant bailout and stimulus plan that totally disregards the limitations of federal power clearly defined in our Constitution. Perhaps it is the federal government’s penchant for political correctness and social engineering over the constitutional rights of others that is most disturbing.   After engaging our state legislature, we must, along with all supporting states, demand constitutional adherence and a return to the ideals of our founding fathers. Let us all be proactive in this effort.

 

The second promising and responsive initiative is the “Tax Day Tea Party,” a national grassroots collaborative organized by several concerned citizens groups and coalitions. Frustrated, angered and disillusioned citizens across the nation have already begun to peacefully assemble in protest of the radical mandates and directives within the federal stimulus plan and other proposed changes. The initial rounds of protests received tremendous support.   This “Tea Party” protest will continue with “Taxed Enough Already (TEA)” rallies to be held simultaneously in towns and cities nationwide. Momentum is growing fast for this April 15^th event. Wealth redistribution, government controlled health plans, legalized illegal immigration, and most pointedly the changes being proposed to our tax system, are being challenged. People are seeing the “change we can believe in” and perceive it as a ruse and a subterfuge for the hidden agendas kept from view. Locally, this rally will be held at the Reagan Memorial at the Trailhead in Covington beginning at 5:00 pm. Unlike the March Hare and Mad Hatter’s tea party with Alice, this one will deal with reality.

 

We cannot stand idly by and watch the continuing lunacy of fairy tale characters feigning hypocritical anger in the halls of congress while continuing their abuses of office. Let there be no doubt, Congress created this mess, with the assistance of corporate greed and failed monetary oversight but we can and will fix it. We will not allow our Nation’s temporal crisis to be an excuse for an unparalleled power grab by the elitist of the federal government.

 

If you want to know the end of this dream, “go ask Alice, I think she’ll know.” In the interim, wake up and get involved before it’s too late. Join with others on April 15^th and write your elected legislators concerning your support for the 10^th Amendment movement.