"We are a nation that has a government, not a government that has a nation" - Ronald Reagan
The United States was founded upon the revolutionary notion that governments are only legitimate when they have the consent of the the governed. A state that governs without the consent of the people must immediately resort to force and intimidation to get its way. Ominously, in our nation the Federal Government has been adding statutes that criminalize failure to cooperate with it and impose increasingly draconian punishments for transgressors. I was recently in a drugstore and posted prominently on the wall was the following notice:
"It is a Federal Crime to Make a False Statement, Punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a $50,000 fine"
For any false statement? Talk about overbroad and vicious.
But that's what happens as your legitimacy leaches away drop by precious drop. People stop cooperating so they must be MADE to cooperate. Punishments must be increased and police powers expanded. Examples must be found and be seen to suffer so that the people will fear the might of the state.
But the Feds seem to have overstepped their bounds with Obamacare. The State of Missouri will go to the polls in early August to vote on nullifying the most egregious mandates of the law. It will almost certainly pass with huge margins - almost 2/3rds of Missouri voters want it repealed. Missouri will join roughly another 20 states who will pass similar measures. And after the mid-terms when many state governments will flip Republican, that number could rise to 30. When large numbers of state politicians feel that it is in their interest to nullify the Federal government's actions, the Feds have lost the critical legitimacy which enabled the vast expansion of their powers in the first place.
It will be a long time before they get it back.
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