Intepret the Constitution Based on Promises of Federalists
The opponents of the Constitution warned that the federal government would usurp power from the states and engage in tyranny. The most farseeing of its opponents predicted that the power grab would be done via "construction," i.e., faulty interpretations of the Constitution. The Federalists promised that the feds would not abuse their power, and if they did, the states would reign the feds in.
Thomas Jefferson tells us we should interpret the Constitution based on the promises of the Federalists.
And of course, if we are to restore our liberty, it is the people of the states via their state and county representatives that should be doing the interpreting.
HB 1347 - Texas Sovereignty Act
The Texas Sovereignty Act has been filed by Representative Cecil Bell in this 86th Texas Legislative Session (2019). The bill number is HB 1347.
The bill has been assigned to the State Affairs Committee in the Texas House.
I know lots of you have been eagerly waiting to take action that will help pass the Texas Sovereignty Act this session. We now have several actions you can take to help move the legislation along.
ACTION 1: Email (or call) your State Rep and ask them to co-author the Texas Sovereignty Act, HB 1347, authored by Rep. Cecil Bell. If you don’t know your State Rep’s name, use this link to find out: https://www.house.texas.gov/members/find-your-representative/ . If you keep clicking long enough you will get to the rep’s page where you can find out their phone number.
Sadly, most pages for Reps do not have their email address on the page. But you can likely guess it by simple using the following syntax: [email protected] . If that does not work, call the office number to get the right email address. While you are on the phone, make the request verbally.
Do not assume that your rep will not take action. My philosophy of lobbying is: if you don’t ask, you are unlikely to get what you want.
Download Summary of Texas Sovereignty Act – 2019 – HB 1347. Attach this PDF to your email when making your request. For Republicans, you may also want to attach this one pager with Texas GOP Platform planks supporting constitutional enforcement.
For your information, so you can thank them for their past support and urge them to support again, here are the State Reps who either joint authored or co-authored the Texas Sovereignty Act last session (named HB 2338 in that 85th session) that are still in the legislature:
Joint Authors: Cecil Bell (author), Dan Flynn, Rick Miller (has already joint authored again), James White, Matt Schaefer (Note that the tradition is that the author works on who joins on as joint authors. If you are in Rep. Cecil Bell, or Rep. Rick Miller’s district, thank them for leading on this vital issue. )
Co-Authors: Kyle Biedermann, Mike Lang (who is the new Freedom Caucus Chair and who has told me he will either joint or co-author), Jeff Leach (who is planning to support, as well), Will Metcalf, Jonathan Stickland, Valoree Swanson, and Bill Zedler
ACTION 2: If you live in the following State Senators’ districts, please call them and ask them to lead on the Texas Sovereignty Act by filing the companion to HB 1347 in the senate:
SD 7 – Paul Bettencourt
SD 18 – Lois Kolkhorst
SD 30 – Pat Fallon
The syntax for deriving Texas Senate phone numbers is 512-463-01nn, where nn is the district number. Example: Paul Bettencourt in SD 7 is 512-463-0107.
Most Republican Senators have told me that they will not lead by filing the bill. That does not mean that they do not support the bill, but rather they are prioritizing other issues.
But we need a champion in the Senate.
I am telling Republicans this when I ask for their leadership: There is a significant possibility that two years from now in the next Texas legislative session, we will be facing a socialist president and congress that is bent on taking everything Texans hold dear – our guns, our trucks, our airline travel, our cattle, our oil & gas industry, our wealth, and our liberty. The Texas Sovereignty Act is a set of processes by which Texas can more rapidly respond to such a situation. The time to build a firewall is before you are in the raging inferno. We need action THIS SESSION.
If staffs want more information on this, have them contact Tom Glass at 832-472-4726 or via email at [email protected] .
ACTION 3: You can help us communicate better with you on items like this if we have more information than we have on you through Facebook. It will help to know your voting address, your email, and your phone. Please help in that respect by going to https://www.txce.org/join and providing that information. We have it for a lot of you, but it will not hurt to duplicate if you are not sure that we do.
ACTION 4: Educate yourself on the arguments for and against constitutional enforcement. Our website is a good standalone site to introduce you to the concept. The FAQS page is especially helpful in that regard: https://www.txce.org/faqs .
Join the push to win back our liberty!
Texas Constitutional Enforcement was created to be an action organization. Sure, we do lots of education/persuasion about the power of constitutional enforcement to win back our liberty. We have to do that by necessity.
But we are not political scientists here in this group. We do not study politics for the joy of the study. We are political engineers. We study the science because we want to accomplish something - specifically win back our liberty from the progressives and cronies that have stolen it.
Winning liberty is not a spectator sport. Where I grew up, Odessa, there was a civic motto: "If it is to be, it is up to me."
Being educated about the issues is not enough. Voting is not enough. Actively persuading our Texas elected officials to take on our cause is what is needed. THAT is the main purpose of this group.
As the Tenth Amendment Center points out, it is "nullification" season, especially in Texas, where we only get one regular legislative session every two years. Legislators are filing bills for the 86th Texas legislative session that starts on Tuesday, January 8, 2019 and goes until Monday, May 27. We like to call it, "Constitutional Enforcement Season."
State Rep. Cecil Bell has told me that he plans to file the Texas Sovereignty Act again. And in this session, unlike the last one, we will not have the CoS legislation vying for the attention of the legislators when they think about federal push-back.
I hope each one of you will work several items into your plans:
1) Sign up for email updates and provide us with your address so we can determine what state rep and state senate district you live in.
2) Talk to your state rep and state senator about constitutional enforcement and the Texas Sovereignty Act, urging them to support it. Face to face is best. If you want me (Tom Glass) to come along, I will do what I can to schedule that. This can be done in the district before the session starts, or in Austin after it starts, early in the session. Contact me at [email protected] or at 832-472-4726.
3) If you can't meet with your state rep and state senator, I hope you will send a letter or make a call to them asking for that support when the session starts.
4) Schedule vacation time for the next session to come and testify at hearings at the State Capitol when needed, or to walk the halls of the Capitol pushing for the Texas Sovereignty Act during the session when the time is right.
5) Invite me or other Texas Constitutional Enforcement leaders to come speak to a civic group to which you belong. See contact info above.