Hopefully by now you are aware that Senator Chris McDaniel and I have filed a citizens class action lawsuit against the PPACA, the liberty-robbing “Obamacare” statute, in the federal court for the Southern District of Mississippi. Please see our prior article on this subject here. The response from liberty-loving Americans has been overwhelming — from Big Media, not so much. I understand their disinterest, though, because really important things like the travails of a billionaire golfer takes up so much of their time.
That’s quite alright, because I would rather come directly to you to make important announcements like this: Lt. Governor Phil Bryant has entered our class action lawsuit against the PPACA as an individual, private citizen. He is serving as a Petitioner, and is the class representative for a uniquely important class: employees of the State of Mississippi.
Lt. Governor Phil Bryant addresses crowd in Jackson, Mississippi
Why this new class is important.
Congress is now dictating what must be — and must not be — in your health insurance plan. In other words, they are controlling the health insurance that your employer is offering you. Socialism is defined as “government ownership or control of all the means of production (farms, factories, mines, and natural resources) and all the means of distribution (transportation, communications, and the instruments of commerce).” Realize, “socialized medicine” is here, right now. Even worse, by controlling what health insurance plans must be offered, Congress and the Executive branch are controlling your employer, and thus your employment.
Your liberty depends on the survival of your republic. The PPACA is a direct attack on the republican form of government.
Every kid who’s ever put hand over heart and recited the Pledge of Allegiance knows that we live in a republic: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
In fact, we have been blessed with what James Madison called “the compound republic of America,” having been guaranteed that each state is a sovereign republic in itself, not just the national government. In this unique and hugely successful system of government, federal control over the states is an anathema:
This separation of the two spheres is one of the Constitution’s structural protections of liberty. “Just as the separation and independence of the coordinate branches of the Federal Government serve to prevent the accumulation of excessive power in any one branch, a healthy balance of power between the States and the Federal Government will reduce the risk of tyranny and abuse from either front.”
Printz v. U.S., 521 U.S. 898 (1997) (Scalia, J). We’ve spent so much time focusing on the separation of powers amongst the three branches of government that we’ve forgotten about the very vital separation of powers between the States and Congress. If the federal government dictates what the States can do, our republic is destroyed, and liberty-robbing tyranny is all that can result.
Congress has chosen to commandeer our state employees, even our elected officials, with the PPACA. Lest you think that “commandeer” is too strong of a word to use, consider that the federal government now controls the terms and conditions of employment for all state workers everywhere. States now must offer health insurance plans dictated only by the federal government; we all recognize that a health insurance plan is one of the most important aspects of the employer-employee relationship. In fact, since it is nothing more than a form of compensation, it really is the most important aspect.
In the Printz v. US case I cited above, Justice Scalia said: “When we were at last confronted squarely with a federal statute that unambiguously required the States to enact or administer a federal regulatory program, our decision should have come as no surprise.” I think you can guess that the Court’s response was rather chilly toward the federal government’s overreaching. In FERC v. Mississipi, the Supreme Court said that “this Court never has sanctioned explicitly a federal command to the States to promulgate and enforce laws and regulations.” FERC v. Mississippi, 456 U.S. 742, 761-62 (1982). Congress may not commandeer state officials, or any state employees, in order to implement federal law. In substance, this is exactly what Congress has done with the PPACA. This is a clear violation of state sovereignty, and utterly destructive of the Constitution’s guarantee of a compound republic.
This class, that of state employees, is uniquely important. Do you really want Congress to dictate the terms of employment between your state government and your state officials and civil servants? Realize, this is 180 degrees out of phase with the intentions of the Framers, and with the clear statements implementing their vision found in the Constitution that they wrote.
Why is it important that Lt. Governor Bryant is a petitioner?
Lt. Governor Bryant is showing that any elected official can do this. Actually, any state employee can do this, but we all recognize how important it is for us to get our elected leaders to take point, and lead.
Lt. Governor Bryant has a long history of fighting for conservative beliefs and traditional values. His persistence in promoting conservative public policy stems from his belief that people, not the government, know best how to take care of themselves. The way I see it, he has been fighting for liberty — freedom — for years. I cannot think of a better person in this great State to represent the new class we have added.
He’s also a candidate for Governor. Think about this — why shouldn’t our candidates, whether currently in office of not, be petitioners? Why shouldn’t we go to town hall meetings, campaign rallies, and press conferences in order to push them into action, not just into making statements?
Here in Mississippi, as in other states, most people want for our state to enter into the lawsuit filed in Florida by fifteen other states. Governor Haley Barbour (the very effective chairman of the Republican Governors Association and a former RNC chairman) has been pushing our Attorney General — a Democrat — to get into the lawsuit, but to no avail. Governor Barbour is quite resourceful, and we hope that he will find a way to work around this obstacle. Regardless, Lt. Governor Bryant isn’t waiting for anyone — he’s taking action now.
Put up or shut up.
Here in Mississippi, I’m proud to say that we’re up to two prominent elected officials (Senator Chris McDaniel and Lt. Governor Phil Bryant) who are taking positive, substantive action to save our healthcare system from the clutches of socialism, and our republican form of government from Congress. How many does your state have? None? Well then, maybe it’s time that you made them earn their pay.
Write a letter, fax or email to the elected officials in your own state and tell them it’s time to stop posturing. Are any of them hiding behind their Attorney General, saying “gee whiz, I want the state to get involved, but we can’t force the AG to do it, sorry guys”? Tell them it’s time to put up, or shut up. It takes courage for an elected state official to do what Lt. Governor Bryant is doing, but that is precisely what we demand of our elected officials — courage to do what is right.
So, what are you waiting for? Get busy.