Montana, America’s last best hope, is looking to legislate three common sense initiatives that will point the entire country in the right direction. America as a whole has strayed from the Constitution and our Founding Fathers‘ vision of government, and this state is showing the way back. With its Democratic governor and two Democratic U.S. senators, Montana’s Republican legislature plans to introduce a broad state nullification act that will block any federal law Montanans consider unconstitutional.
House Bill No. 382, sponsored by Rep. Derek Skees, is known as “An act prohibiting infringement of the state of Montana’s constitutional right to nullification of any federal statute, mandate, or executive order considered unconstitutional by the state.” The bill provides a retroactive date for its application.
This bill is being championed by Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely (ret.), a Bigfork native. The general heads up the Patriots Union, which has distributed this bill as a model to 30 state legislatures through a large, patriotic network of conservatives.
Montana Bill No. 382 is based on the format of the Model State Nullification Reaffirmation Act of Wyoming.
Not content to restore the Tenth Amendment, Montana’s state legislature is also deliberating about the constitutional definition of “a well-regulated militia.” House Bill No. 278, sponsored by Rep. Wendy Warburton of Havre, calls for “home guards” of legally authorized law abiding Montanans to assist the governor and sheriffs during emergencies. Warbuton says the “slow response and poor organization” during major disasters like Hurricane Katrina prompted her to sponsor this bill. “Really, the bill is just about local volunteers being prepared in case of emergency to support the National Guard, support the sheriff, [and] support the governor as needed,” she said.
Anti-gun advocates are gearing up for a major battle against this legislation, arguing that the Second Amendment defines “a well regulated militia” as the National Guard. But the Supreme Court’s Heller decision specifically ruled that the right to own firearms “is not conditional on membership in a militia.” It seems opponents of Warburton’s bill want to deny anyone outside of the federal government the right to keep and bear arms, including our country’s own citizens.
The wonderful Code of the West is the third initiative being considered by Montana state lawmakers. A state motto including ethical behavior spelled out in James P. Owen’s “Cowboy Ethics: What Wall Street Can Learn from the Code of the West” is also on their to-do list. Living each day with courage, taking pride in your daily work, and always finishing what you start seem like a good plan for Montana, and America, to me.
As Delta’s pilots dip low over Montana’s magnificent Flathead Valley, each year I fly into this last best place. I see the sun’s glint through the narrow window reveal the Flathead River below, and I feel a sense of peace, safety, and security come over me that I haven’t felt anywhere else. The people out there healed me in common sense ways totally apart from the current slash, burn, and poison mentality of our current medical establishment. May Montana now show America the way out, the way home.
To contact your Congressional Representative use this link:
http://www.contactingthecongress.org/
The material for this essay was drawn from my personal observations and these links:
http://www.newswithviews.com/JBWilliams/williams130.htm
This article originally appeared on CoachIsRight.com and is reprinted with permission.
