Nullification is only part of the solution…

Hats off to the Attorney General of Virginia who has vowed to challenge the Healthcare Reform Bill on constitutional grounds the minute it is signed into law by the President. There are also 36 States that have hinted at nullification of the bill at the state level. But that is only part of the solution.

“Nullification is a legal theory that a U.S. State has the right to nullify, or invalidate, any federal law which that state has deemed unconstitutional. The theory is based on a view that the sovereign States formed the Union, and as creators of the compact hold final authority regarding the limits of the power of the central government.”

“Under this, the compact theory, the States and not the Federal Bench are the ultimate interpreters of the extent of the national Government's power. A more extreme assertion of state sovereignty than nullification is the related action of secession, by which a state terminates its political affiliation with the Union.”

The dilemma with nullification is if a state deems Healthcare unconstitutional, the federal government is still going to tax the states to pay for the program. That is why in my platform as Governor we are taking the next step to truly reign in the central government’s power by cutting off the funding that allows the federal government to expand its power.

The Sixteenth Amendment was ratified February 3rd, 1913. It “allows the Congress to levy an income tax without apportioning it among the states or basing it on Census results.” It reads, “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.” But all taxation to fund the federal government still must be for constitutionally authorized purposes.

The real solution to holding the federal government to its constitutional requirements is not only nullification, but a limit on what the federal government is allowed to tax the individual tax payers of the states. We have taken as a given, that no matter what the federal government decides to tax us, we must pay it. If the federal government chooses to tax us at 90% of our income will we allow it? Does the Sixteenth Amendment allow the federal government to ignore its constitutional limitation as stated in Article 1 section 8? Of course not, otherwise we have no constitutional limitations. But that is how the federal government acts today.

It is the role of the Governors and State Legislators to not only nullify healthcare but to limit the amount of taxation that can be imposed on the citizens of their states. The federal programs that are nullified must also include the provision that no additional taxation may be derived from the state for the purpose of the program. Otherwise the states are in the dilemma of paying for a program that the citizens of the state are being forced to pay for.

We need a constitutional convention among the states, not to change it, but to enforce it, and reset the power where it was intended to be; in the United States not in Washington DC…