“Keep-ing” America, by Andrew Joppa

 

Over the past few weeks, I’ve felt little incentive to invest my time in a futile effort to offer something of value about America. If there were unknowns, or if ideas were prompting significant action, then and only then, would it seem purposeful to use a few hours of my time (and twenty minutes of yours) to move the process along.  It is clear that we know all there is to know about the corruptions that are now defining our once great nation. It is also clear that no actions of purpose are resulting from that obvious awareness. America is dead and the body is getting cold.

 

As an absolute of historical reality, no nation has reached the point of degradation that is now America and recovered by its own internal process.  That is…when the degradation becomes bone deep, then its election process, its public debates or its citizenry cannot reverse the damage and bring a nation back to a state of normalcy.  America will not be any different. We are not immune from the “laws” that dictate the outcomes of a nation’s demise when it reaches this moment. Only two things have altered a nation’s collapse….war or revolution. For example: Hitler, Hirohito and Mussolini were destroyed by their wars and France was permanently altered by its violent revolution. I do not advocate either of these for two reasons…fear of losing and the implications of the damage that will be done to our citizenry.

 

Having presented that picture of our current hopelessness, and to somewhat contradict myself, there is one other potential that is still available to our nation to create some semblance of a return normalcy…at least for some of our citizens.  That last glimmer of hope…although it can’t save the nation may, by political alignments, enable some to escape horror of America in 2023.  It lies within the few states. I’ll elaborate on that theme.

 

A castle’s Keep was the strongest portion of a medieval fortification and the last resort in case of a siege or attack. It was usually a fortified tower built within the walls and used as a last refuge in case of an attack. When all else was lost, the last bastion of defense, and survival, was the castle’s Keep.  In 2023, and beyond, the states are America’s Keep…not all…but the select “most.” The states are, at this point, the strongest portion of our fortification of Freedom. They are our “Keep.”

 

America, I believe, is permanently lost at the federal level.  The enemy that has captured America, and burnt most of it to the ground, has greater numbers, more institutional allies, and far better tactical and strategic positioning on the political federal “battlefield” …than those of us trying to save it. Fighting for the entirety of what once was this great nation cannot possibly result in final victory. In other words, to restore the America that was, the states must legally fight the America that is. Our focus must be on preserving what is left through the states, making that increasingly stronger, not dissipating our resources in acts of futility, and surviving where we can. It is only in the many “Keep” states where that is possible.  It is only within the states that a rallying point may be established to restore America.

 

As with the original castle Keep, the hope was always that by surviving where it could, there remained the hope of eventually rallying your remaining allies, increasing your strength, and ultimately destroying the enemy. While this seldom resolved itself in this positive manner in medieval conflicts, survival for the moment was always superior to the near suicidal attempt to save the castle itself.

 

America has many states that will make up its “Keep;” Texas and Florida to name only two of the largest.  It will only be by unifying those remaining elements of what America was, can that America be, once again, reestablished if only in part.  For those heroic souls that opine that we should draw our swords, and rush headlong into the fray, hoping against hope that we will win back America, it would be that type of futile action that will end any hope of ultimate victory. We would surely be destroyed …permanently be destroyed… as all the events that led us to consider retreating to the Keep should have enabled us to understand. As I write, that is already happening. The Leftist “beast” can’t be defeated head on…we’ve allowed it to become too strong and to infect to many of our citizenry.

 

If a military type of analysis is invoked, it should expose the absurdity of that approach.  Our Democrat/Leftist enemy controls all the high ground in our nation’s capital.  They have massed dozens of divisions in that location. These are legal systems, police systems, bureaucratic systems, and judicial systems. The artillery of the Leftist media is simultaneously lobbing tens of thousands of shells, both from fixed positions and by air, at our locations.

 

They have infiltrated our ranks with many traitors who do their bidding.  They have created an educational training program that, every year, puts more and more fanatical automatons into their field troops.  They control the best equipped, and technologically advanced, military in the world. They fight in a devious, illegal, and immoral manner and impose no limitations on their methods that they use to gain ultimate success.

 

We, on the other hand, control little to no part of the larger Federal system and can offer little resistance to its variety of irrepressible assets. With all of that considered, there are only three possible alternative choices that might be made.  The first is surrender…the next is fighting to our “death” for no purpose or…retreating temporarily to the Keeps. Only one of these choices offers the slightest, albeit limited, hope for ultimate victory and American survival.  We must seek the salvation of America within the states…neither surrender nor falling on our heroic sword will save America.

 

Where do we start? Each state that sees itself as part of a “Keep”, and is legislatively supported, must immediately firm up the legal intentions of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, and their utilization through “Nullification.” What do these critical amendments state…unequivocally? How can they now serve as the primary tool to save America?

 

The Ninth Amendment- The Ninth Amendment was James Madison’s attempt to ensure that the Bill of Rights was not seen as granting to the people of the United States only the specific rights it addressed. It affirms the existence of such “unenumerated” rights outside those expressly protected by the Bill of Rights.

 

The specific wording of Amendment IX:

 

“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

The Ninth Amendment offers a protection to the American people, expressing that Americans have more inherent, fundamental rights, beyond those that are enumerated in the Bill of Rights. Even though the first ten amendments to the Constitution were approved to ensure all citizens were granted the same basic freedoms all persons should have, the Ninth Amendment was critical in its foresight towards the future and enumerable rights. Anywhere the federal government has acted outside its granted powers and suppressed a right merely because it has not been enumerated in The Bill of Rights, the states must act to ensure those rights are restored.

This may, in many cases, create a need to push aside prior Supreme Court rulings that are, in my opinion, clear rejections of the requirements of The Ninth Amendment.  This falls far short of succession, but clearly has the states positioning themselves as a defender of unenumerated rights…regardless of previous positions taken by the Federal government.

 

The Tenth Amendment- More critical for my thesis is The Tenth. This amendment helps to define the concept of federalism, the relationship between Federal and state governments. As Federal activity has increased, so too has the problem of reconciling state and national interests as they apply to the Federal powers to tax, to police, and to regulations such as wage and hour laws, disclosure of personal information in recordkeeping systems, and laws related to strip-mining.

 

The specific wording of Amendment X-

 

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”

The states must aggressively seek out and define all prior circumstances where the Federal Government has usurped the powers that were due the states. As but one example because of its immediacy is…if the Federal Government usurps the states right to design its election system that Federal ruling must be nullified.

Both the Ninth and Tenth Amendments provide the states the right to remove themselves from most Federal actions…since much, if not most of their actions, are outside those granted by The Constitution.  Many of the actions I suggest will put the “Keep” states in direct conflict with the often, illegal actions of the Federal government. The Federal government, of course, will take strong legal…and even forceful…actions.

 

State Nullification- The third leg of the stool to recapture America is Nullification — whereby states nullify the effect on their citizens of unconstitutional U.S. laws. This is where the Ninth and Tenth Amendments can be made operational.  It was designed by the Founders for that very purpose. Two of America’s greatest Founding Fathers (James Madison, the “Father” of the Constitution, and Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence) fully embraced the concept, and nullification was often employed in the Northern states to restrain the federal government, as well as in the South.

 

Nullification is the idea that, if the federal government extends its powers beyond those found in the Constitution, a state has both a right and a duty to resist such usurpations by declaring the law or other unconstitutional action of the federal government null and void. It is important to keep in mind that both federal and state officials — including the members of the federal and state legislatures as well as “all executive and judicial Officers” — are bound by oath to support the U.S. Constitution, under Article VI. State officials who accept unconstitutional federal usurpations within their state borders are neglecting their oath.

 

Since what I’m suggesting is based on strong Constitutional grounds there is nothing inherently illegal…or insurrectionist …or successionist…in these actions. If we fight, it must be using constitutional means as our weapon of choice, on a “battleground” of our choosing, and in our area of greatest strength.

IN SUMMARY:  The Left has seized near total control of the federal government.  This includes the FBI, CIA, The NSA, and the office of The Attorney General. They control the senate and with all reasonable projections for illegality in 2024 holding, they will retain that control and debatably take control of the House. No Leftist coup allows itself to be displaced with a legal election…2024 will not be any different. This is all bolstered by a military that now acts, or will act, as a control agent in the domestic political area.

 

Those supporting the traditional America, and its values, have little strength to bring to this battle…at the federal level. A mere continuance of the useless conflict within the enemy’s area of strength, that is the federal government and their power in that arena, will only ensure our final defeat.

 

That is why we now must seek our strength where it can be found…the states who represent the traditional America. They can, by invoking the Ninth and Tenth Amendments and the strategic use of Nullification, begin to battle the leviathan that threatens to end this glorious American experiment.  There is no other way it can be done. I am not overly optimistic, but any chance of victory is better than none.

 

My commitment to the value of this process can best be explored with the following snapshot of current political reality at the state level. Any further comment is not necessary.

 

As of August 4, 2023, Republicans controlled 54.94% of all state legislative seats nationally, while Democrats held 44.35%. Republicans held a majority in 57 chambers, and Democrats held the majority in 40 chambers. Two chambers (Alaska House and Alaska Senate) were organized under multipartisan, power-sharing coalitions.

 

Population of the 24 fully R-controlled states: 134,035,267

Population of the 15 fully D-controlled states: 120,326,393

 

It is only within the states that any variation of health may be found…but I’m not optimistic.