From time to time a person mightrnwish to give a trusted family member orrnfriend power of attorney so that the delegatedrnperson can act as agent on behalfrnof the first person, who is the principal. Ifrnthe principal desires, with or withoutrncause, to withdraw power of attorneyrnfrom the agent, he can do so at any time.rnThe same happens in business, when individualsrnand groups of people creaternnew corporations. Many of these corporations,rnmonths or years later, are thenrndissolved by the same authority whichrncreated them.rnOur present government was createdrnin accordance with these same principlesrnof law. In effect, states can withdrawrntheir power of attorney from anyone whornworks for the federal government —rnincluding Congress, the President, andrnfederal judges. Further, as a corporaternentih’, the federal government is subjectrnto dissoludon at any time according tornthe pleasure of the states which createdrnit, emulahng the manner in which thernfirst union —under the Arhcles of Confederationrn—was dissolved.rnShortly after George Washington becamernPresident, Alexander Hamilton arguedrn(against Thomas Jefferson) that thernConstitution carried with it “impliedrnpowers.” Hamilton succeeded in convincingrnWashington that implied powersrnallowed the new government to charter arnbank. Over the past 200 years, hiddenrnrights, implied powers, and elastic interpretationsrnof the commerce clause havernso twisted the Constitution that Washingtonrnand Jefferson would not recognizernit today. The Constitution is tattered,rntorn, and hanging by a thread.rnOur federal government today is morernt}’rannical, wasteful, and inefficient thanrnthe British government from which werndeclared our independence in 1776.rnHistorv’ is repeating itself The Declarationrnof Independence states: “The Histor’rnof the present King of Great Britainrnis a History of repeated Injuries andrnUsurpations, all having in direct Objectrnthe Establishment of an absolute Tyrannyrnover these States.” Referring to KingrnGeorge and the British Parliament it alsornstates: “He has erected a Multitude ofrnnew Offices, and sent hither Swarms ofrnOfficers to harass our People, and eat outrntheir Substance.”rnWe would say this a littie differentlyrntoday, but the substance of the complaintrnwould be the same, only now the objectrnis to establish absolute power not onlyrnover the states but over the entire worldrnvia the United Nations. There are onlyrntwo things standing in the way of modernrntyrants: first and foremost, the ownershiprnof some 200 million firearms of thernAmerican people; second, possible officialrnresistance by some of the 50 states ofrnthe American union.rnIf the American people cannot bernconvinced or fooled into giving up theirrnfirearms by federal and state statutes andrnvarious other stratagems, the latter couldrneventually be seized by brute force.rnFirearms could be seized in the wayrnwhich President Franklin Rooseveltrnseized our gold immediately after assumingrnoffice in March 1933. Americansrnwere given 30 days to turn in their gold.rnAfter that, anyone caught with gold becamerna criminal subject to prosecutionrnand imprisonment. Of course, the Presidentrncould simply proclaim some sort ofrnfraudulent “national emergency,” declarernmartial law, and give us ten to 30rndays to turn in all firearms, after whichrnthe BATF, FBI, or possibly U.N. troopsrncould go door-to-door with metal detectorsrnand other state-of-the-art technologyrnto locate contraband.rnA line of defense does exist against thernbrute power of the federal government,rnand that power lies dormant withinrnthe legislatures of the 50 states. Thernsovereignty of each state was preservedrnwhen they organized their federal agent,rnand all states after the first nine came intornthe union on an equal footing. Hawaiirnand Alaska have all the rights, powers,rnand sovereignty as the first nine. Threernof the original 13 states—Virginia, NewrnYork, and Rhode Island—actually stipulatedrnin their ratification documents thatrnthey reserved the right to resume totalrnsovereignty when “it became necessaryrnto their happiness.”rnHow can a state take back its totalrnsovereignty and withdraw all delegatedrnpowers from the federal government?rnOne way, which I do not yet advocate, isrnto secede, separate, or declare independencernas the 13 British colonies did onrnJuly 4, 1776. Yes, secession is lawful andrnthe South was right in their legal argumentsrnin 1860-61, but there is a better,rnmore powerful way which carries little ifrnany risk of bloodshed. It is an idea aheadrnof its time, yet as old as the Constitutionrnand the Declaration of Independence,rnfor both serve as precedents.rnLet’s face it. The present liberal andrnsocialist mind-set of Washington, thernmedia, and especially the Clinton administrationrnwill not change; the federalrnbureaucracy will continue to be arrogant;rnthe IRS will continue to bully andrnintimidate; and BATF and FBI abuse ofrnlaw-abiding citizens will not likely berncurbed unless the states initiate actionrnand exercise their ultimate weapon —rnsovereignty.rnIn the Articles of Confederation it wasrnstipulated in four places that the Unionrnthen was one in “perpetuity,” and thatrnamendments could only be added byrnunanimous consent of all 13 states.rnHowever, as Thomas Jefferson pointedrnout in the Declaration of Independence,rnit is always the right of the people to “alterrnor abolish” any form of government,rnthough such is never done for “light orrntransient reasons.” In abolishing the existingrngovernment of 1788, our forefathersrnaccomplished an extraordinary andrnbloodless revolution.rnThe sovereignty of the present 50rnstates originated with the Declaration ofrnIndependence and was confirmed by thernTreat)’ of Paris (September 3, 1783), inrnwhich Great Britain agreed that the originalrn13 colonies were now recognized asrn”free, sovereign and independent states,”rnor countries: not collectively, but individually.rnOn that day 13 new coimtriesrnwere officially recognized, and our presentrnConstitution changed nothing regardingrnstate sovereignty. Jefferson observed:rn”The federal is, in truth, ourrnforeign government, which departmentrnalone is taken from the sovereignty of thernseparate states.”rnThe Constitution is, in a sense, a temporaryrndelegation of certain powers ofrnsovereign countries to an artificial corporaternentity which they created to serverntheir common needs. In addition to beingrna compact, alliance, or treaty betweenrnsovereign entities, it is also a contractrnand a corporate charter. Like arncorporate charter, it created out of nothingrnan artificial entity to serve specificrnneeds of the “stockholders” —in this instance,rnthe states. Corporations are dissolvedrnby the same authority which createsrnthem, and this holds true for therngovernment of the United States. Inrn1788, nine of 13—69.23 percent of thernexisting states —dissolved the corporaterncharter and started over with a newrngovernment. If the states today shouldrndecide the present government has outlivedrnits usefulness, 35 states — 70 percent,rnfollowing the precedent—can firernthe feds and start over. Delegates fromrnonly 12 states wrote and proposed thernConstitution. But a single state couldrnFEBRUARY 1998/45rnrnrn