Liberty Stop

It can be difficult to find good candidates for state office. Often, campaigns for state office don't have the funds, and therefore the publicity, to become widely known. However, one good source can be found over at the Tenth Amendment Center.

The Tenth Amendment Center has a Tenth Amendment Pledge. There are actually two "flavors" - the state and the federal.

For our purposes, we are interested in the 10th Amendment State Pledge. However, the current list of Tenth Amendment Pledge Signers lists both state and federal candidates.

It is encouraging to see that California has two candidates - Adnan Shahab (CA-20) and Kathleen Suzy Evans (CA-40) who have signed the pledge. You can see Adnan's pledge here and Suzy's here.

You will also notice that there are many states where no officials or candidates have signed the pledge. Hopefully, some of you reading this will take the initiative and encourage your officials and/or candidates to sign the pledge.

It is time to hold officials and candidates accountable. A good first step is to get their commitment to uphold the rights reserved to the states and the people in the 10th Amendment.

At Take the State, we believe the most effective path to restoring individual liberties in the United States is to reassert States' Rights.

In Conscience of a Conservative, Barry Goldwater wrote,

"Nothing could so far advance the cause of freedom as for state officials throughout the land to assert their rightful claims to lost state power; and for the federal government to withdraw promptly and totally from every jurisdiction which the Constitution reserved to the states."

The states and people have allowed the federal government to encroach on our rights and freedoms for many years, and we should not expect that the federal government will easily give up the power it has accumulated. To restore the proper balance between the states, people, and federal government we believe the following:

1. States are the bulwark of freedom.

2. The federal government has exceeded its legitimate Constitutional authority and has transformed from a limited to an unlimited government.

3. The states and people must do everything within the limits of the law and our Constitution to restrain the power of the federal government.

4. We must elect leaders for state offices who pledge to support the legitimate rights of the states and people as outlined in the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution.

5. States must reject federal government mandates and grants-in-aid which are instruments to coerce and blackmail the states to give up their rights.

6. The 17th Amendment to the Constitution allowing for the direct election of Senators must be repealed and the authority to select Senators be returned to state legislatures.

7. The 16th Amendment to the Constitution allowing for the income tax must be repealed in order to shrink the size and scope of the federal government.

8. The Constitution must be amended to reassert the states' rights over education. The federal government has no legitimate role in education.

9. National Guard units must be restored to their proper role of defending the individual states and the United States rather than being used to augment active duty military units. Furthermore, these units must be under the authority of state governors and not the federal government.

Barry Goldwater, in Conscience of a Conservative, stated,

"The result is that today neither of our two parties maintain a meaningful commitment to the principle of States' Rights. Thus, the cornerstone of the Republic, our chief bulwark against the encroachment of individual freedom by Big Government is fast disappearing under the piling sands of absolutism."

The decision is ours. Will we allow our freedom to be buried under the "piling sands of absolutism", or will we reassert our 10th Amendment Rights and support candidates for state office that will demand the restoration of limited Constitutional government? We must demand our liberty now, so future generations can enjoy its blessings in the future.

Note: This article originally appeared on Take the State. Please visit and sign up to help us restore limited government.