Publication Date:June 28, 2010 Availability:Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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ISBN13: 9781596981492
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Citizens across the country are fed up with the politicians in Washington telling us how to live our lives—and then sticking us with the bill. But what can we do? Actually, we can just say “no.? As New York Times bestselling author Thomas E. Woods, Jr., explains, “nullification? allows states to reject unconstitutional federal laws. For many tea partiers nationwide, nullification is rapidly becoming the only way to stop an over-reaching government drunk on power. From privacy to national healthcare, Woods shows how this growing and popular movement is sweeping across America and empowering states to take action against Obama?s socialist policies and big-government agenda.
Nullification processSeptember 5, 2010 Sheila Dwelly Very informative for people who are tired of the laws coming out of Washington. I enjoyed this book very much.
A must readSeptember 5, 2010 Forrest Rattray(Waveland, MS USA) Good stuff. This is a must read for anyone ever mislead on whom has more authority; the State government or Federal government. Up until I had read this, I was under the popular mindset that the US Federal government had supreme authority over the states, not the other way around. From what little I remember of my high school government class, this is also what was lectured. Thomas Woods once again leads a bullet-proof argument that individual state authorities trump the Federal government (unless its one of the few enumerated laws specifically assigned to the Federal Government via the Constitution)
A Great Defense...of the IndefensibleAugust 31, 2010 David M. Zuniga(Hill Country of Texas) 2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Full disclosure: My book, This Bloodless Liberty was released just before Tom's, and offers Madison's solution, whereas Tom's book offers Jefferson's. Tom Woods is a brilliant Roman Catholic PhD scholar, whereas I'm a Christian engineer and education entrepreneur.
We are told never to discuss religion or politics in polite company; but of course Christians and scholars do nothing else. At this fork in America's road to possible ruin, it is incumbent on every Christian and scholar to dig as deep as required; to lay aside every prejudice and predisposition to get at truth.
Tom Woods' book is the most comprehensive defense of nullification (the indefensible) that I have read, thus I think every student and opponent of nullification should read it. In Part II, Chapter IX, Judge Abel Upshur's 1833 exposition is the typical *petitio principii* that characterizes the book. At least in 1833, men were willing to have their premises corrected, if fallacious. On page 222, having laid down many pages of premises begging the question of federal abuse of power, Judge Upshur says, "Perhaps you can show me that these principles do not lead to nullification? I shall be happy to be undeceived." Oh, that such teachable men existed today in academe! Judge Upshur is guilty of two logical fallacies: begging the question, and the Fallacy of the Excluded Middle. Nullification is NOT the best answer to tyranny, as I prove in 'This Bloodless Liberty'.
Mr. Woods characterizes nullification as a state "defying the federal will". True, but that is the reaction of an inferior, not the action of a sovereign. Interposition (sovereign action to stop further crimes) was Madison's preferred course, and Madison was the primary author of the Constitution. Because it stops further crimes rather than reacting after they are committed, interposition is far superior to nullification, which was preferred by Jefferson.
Tom Woods asks the wrong question throughout his book because he chose the wrong horse in Thomas Jefferson.
In simplest terms: nullification is running away from a bully. Interposition is stopping the bully from doing further damage. Nullification is defiance of a superior, where interposition is law-enforcement by a superior, against an inferior. It's more beneficial to society for law-enforcement to end the career of a criminal, than for one family to lock its doors to the criminal's predations. While that family may 'resist' the criminal, this does not benefit the neighbors who will be the next victims.
Nullification presents an atomized array of sovereign States, scurrying for cover. Wasting millions of man-hours on every crime pulled by Congress is senseless. But more importantly, nullification does little to reinforce rule of law. Presently, the most fearsome and destructive "Illegals" in America are those in Washington, D.C.; law enforcement is far preferable to states running away one at a time.
The law is clear, but because the federal judiciary has willfully misrepresented the Supremacy Clause for 200 years, brilliant jurists and scholars like Judge Andrew Napolitano and Tom Woods Jr. beg the question of FEDERAL interpretation and judicial review, ignoring the innate supremacy of STATE judiciaries, as a matter of their standing as parties to the Supreme Law. All that is lacking is proper legal tactics and procedure to stop Leviathan by cutting him up into his accountable components: the individual actors in Congress who, en masse, violate our Supreme Law with impunity.
For even a grammar-school child *should* know that in all matters of the federal government, the Constitution is the Supreme Law. As I explain in Chapter 3 of 'This Bloodless Liberty', the states are the *sovereign parties* to this Supreme Law. But there is a higher legal authority still. Stanford Law School Dean Larry Kramer reminds us of this fact in his superb book, The People Themselves: Popular Constitutionalism and Judicial Review.
But what even Dean Kramer does not mention (being of the 'federal law guild', as he admitted to me) is that since We The People are the *creators* of federal government via that Supreme Law, the Supremacy Clause's stipulation that "the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby" means that when We The People bring a criminal complaint to a State Judge against a member of Congress who is our FELLOW STATE CITIZEN, who is operating illegally in Congress with OUR MONEY, this is an intrastate crime; venue jurisdiction is the STATE Court, not federal. The criminal may happen to be violating the Constitution as a member of Congress, but by the nature of the case and standing of the parties, these cases CANNOT be a federal court matter.
With the AmericaAgain! Indictment Engine(TM) described in my last book, the Gordian knot is cut. Complicit federal courts remain on the sidelines; primordial federalism finally has its day in the sun.
The AmericaAgain! Indictment Engine(TM) is the answer that Americans have been seeking, to end Leviathan's crime spree; to bring federal power back within its legal bounds set out in the Supreme Law. We bring 150 years of federal arrogation (politicians violating what they swore to obey) under law enforcement in the only possible venue: the courts of the States. The sovereign People, at home, indicting their corrupt, complicit servants *severally*, at long last.
N.B.: Nullification can accomplish no such thing.
As a defense of the nullification theory, Tom Woods' book stands above any other I've read, thus my 4-star rating for an erudite author's work.
It is important to note as well that America's norms and nobility -- our system of law, ethics, economics and government -- are products of New Testament Christianity. Not of Roman Catholic canon law; witness any Catholic country and note the difference. Not of Jewish beliefs or institutions; America was demonstrably NOT a 'Judeo-Christian' civilization, but a Christian one, regardless of Neocon propaganda. Compare Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu belief and the abject poverty and hopelessness of cultures shaped by those belief systems. America was rooted in the New Testament gospel of Christ and this is not a 'religious' pronouncement. It is an historical, ethical, and economic one, and ideas have consequences.
Our system of government was designed only for self-governing, godly, sovereign citizens who took the duty of sovereigns seriously; who exercise our sovereign power over our governments with all due diligence. If but a tiny minority (2-3%) will do so in the criminal courts of our 50 States from now on, our lives will be transformed from night to day.
The first American centuries from Jamestown and Plymouth onward, illustrated the profound efficacy of popular sovereignty. Nullification can only illustrate its antithesis. State politicians (legislators, governors and attorneys general) will no more restore rule of law than today's mafia in Congress will do. The job falls -- has always fallen -- to the People themselves. The tactical venue is a new twist, but AmericaAgain! nullifies nullification, just as Madison did.
RonAugust 26, 2010 Ron B. 0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Great background info on the legal process and where it first began at the State level, and how it applies today.
Forgotten Wisdom of the FoundersAugust 19, 2010 Thomas Ross(New Hampshire) 1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Nullification is a very important and timely explanation of how the Founders, such as Jefferson and Madison, envisioned our ability to hold the Federal government to it's constitutional limits. Professor Woods details their Virginia Resolutions of 1798 and Madison's Report of 1800, shows how they've been used in the past and how they can be used in the present.
This is powerful stuff, that hold great hope for our future. Thanks to Tom Woods, we now have the wisdom of our most brilliant Founders, easily available for all to read, and act upon.
