Only States Can Prevent America From Becoming a Socialist Totalitarian Nation

Only States Can Prevent America From Becoming a Socialist Totalitarian Nation
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the opening of the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 26, 2021. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Robert A. Taft
Updated:
Commentary

Democrats have two years to transform America into a socialist totalitarian state. With their control of the presidency, Congress, and their stranglehold on the Supreme Court—through threats to pack the court—they also know they can achieve their sinister plot.

Even if weak-kneed congressional Republicans came together, which is highly doubtful, they can’t stop their colleagues across the aisle. Worse, H.R. 1, a bill that sanctions the election reforms that led to allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential contest and adds the District of Columbia to our list of states, is ready to be passed, ensuring that Democrats will never lose another election.

The only way to stop this train is to stay true to the Constitution, and only the states can do so.

The Ninth and 10th amendments to the Constitution give states the powers not specifically granted to the federal government. While the Ninth guarantees states’ rights, the 10th disallows future federal interference in state law. Thus, states have the power to counter the smothering interference by the federal government in the following areas: Biden’s executive orders, education, immigration, suppression and/or cancellation of free speech, and election law.

Biden’s Executive Orders

Oklahoma and North Dakota have taken steps to block Biden’s executive orders. The Oklahoma House enacted a law granting the state’s attorney general and state legislature the authority to review the president’s executive orders to determine their constitutionality. If the attorney general decides not to take action on an executive order, the legislature can declare it unconstitutional with a majority vote. North Dakota has a similar law.
As Daniel Horowitz, senior editor of TheBlaze, has observed, “This bill is probably the single most direct and effective way of countering federal power-grabs.” State legislatures could block Biden’s mask mandate, transgender agenda in school sports, and racially biased orders in finance and commerce, and many others.

Education

Since 1967, the federal government has encroached on states’ rights in education. That year, the Department of Education, with support from foundations, stealthily applied scientific social engineering into public schools nationwide. Teachers were instructed to get students to think a certain way about what they were learning, a precursor to indoctrination. Other programs followed, culminating in President Barack Obama’s Common Core initiative, under which schools couldn’t get large sums of federal funds unless they adopted the program.

Consequently, teachers’ unions across the country have taken control of education. With COVID-19 school lockdowns, some states will have denied productive, in-person education for more than a year. Unions emphasize teachers’—not students’—rights and their instruction demonizes American history and caters to the weakest students under a murky collage of white supremacy, victimhood, multi-genders, and misrepresented equality.

Meanwhile, the quality of education continues to sink.

States need to fight back on this broken, federally supported unionized cabal. They—again not the feds—have the constitutional authority and responsibility to maintain and operate their own public school systems, set and regulate the curricula, and approve teaching methods and instructional materials.

Immigration

Five years ago, Texas reported that 952 criminal aliens were arrested on homicide charges and 176,000 criminal aliens were jailed for 472,000 crimes between 2011 and 2015. Whose fault was that? The federal government or the state government? The state government.

According to the Constitution, the federal government has responsibility for matters of naturalization, and that’s it. Thomas Jefferson unequivocally stated that states retained jurisdiction and authority over all other immigration matters. Authors of the 14th Amendment solidified this point, claiming that states could refuse entry to aliens and their right to acquire property in the states. Nonetheless, the federal government has persistently encroached on states’ rights in this field as state governments acquiesced.

When Alabama passed a stringent immigration law, though, the court upheld that the state had the right to check the immigration status of those they suspect may be illegal entrants; require all businesses to use E-Verify; and require all school students to present birth certificates to determine the legal status of their parents.

If states restricted immigration in their states, illegal immigration would either subside or gravitate to sanctuary Democrat-led states.

Suppression of Free Speech/Cancellation

Congressional Democrats sanction the fascist speech suppression and cancellation policies of Big Tech companies. To stop these fascist policies, states must take action.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has moved against these companies. He has introduced legislation that will “check the growing power and influence of big tech” and let Floridians “reclaim their privacy.” And he has suggested fines of $100,000 per day for deplatforming political candidates. Under this new policy, citizens of the Sunshine State would be able to bring charges against these companies for privacy violations, and the Florida AG can bring cases against tech companies under the Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

In a similar move, an Idaho internet provider said it would block Facebook and Twitter from its Wi-Fi service for some customers due to claims of censorship.

Big Tech companies brazenly boast about their power to play judge and jury, knowing full well that the Washington Swamp has their backs. Only states can reverse corporate suppression and cancellation.

Election Fraud

If H.R. 1 passes, the alleged election fraud of the 2020 election will pervade every future election. As Michael Dorstewitz titled his article in Newsmax on this subject, “Under Democrats new voting bill, all 50 states become California.” What does this mean? Republicans would never win another election.

The Constitution states that state legislatures have the power to set election laws for their states, period. Not courts, governors, or secretaries of state. State legislatures. Don’t look to the Congress or Supreme Court to set things straight. States must enact laws that guarantee accurate voting machines, eliminate massive mail-in voting, especially without signature verification, and stress in-person voting.

H.R. 1 has to be stopped and only state legislatures can do it.

These five areas all fall within the purview of the states. The new Democrat socialist government wants to usurp these authorities because they have no regard for the Constitution and know that they couldn’t make these changes if they adhered to the sacred document.

The question is: Will the states do the right thing and take back their constitutional power or continue to relinquish it to the federal government?

Robert A. Taft served as deputy assistant secretary for international operations in the U.S. Department of Commerce during the Clinton administration and subsequently served as president and CEO of the World Trade Centers Association of Florida. He has also served as a U.S. negotiator in the Middle East, worked with the United Nations, and been a consultant to the U.S. Defense Department. He taught international business at Georgetown University and the University of Central Florida, and is the author of five books, including “Growing Your Business Globally.”
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Robert A. Taft
Robert A. Taft
Author
Related Topics