Efforts in more than half of the state legislatures to assert state sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution and prevent unwanted impositions by the federal government are now facing serious partisan opposition.

Most of the bills have been introduced and are supported by Republican legislators and Democrats are doing everything they can to block them and make sure that their states comply with federal mandates issued by a national Congress dominated by their party. They seem more concerned with profiting from their control of the federal government than in protecting the rights of their citizens and being fiscally responsible.

In the last week, three states with Democrat dominated legislatures have rejected state sovereignty resolutions. The Arkansas state sovereignty resolution was defeated in Committee along straight partisan lines with a 10-8 vote. In Washington, the Democratic chairman of the committee on Government and Tribal Affairs killed the bill by refusing to put it on the agenda. In New Hamphire, Representative Dan Itse’s radically-worded sovereignty resolution was one of the first entered and one of the most widely supported. Yet last week, with hundreds protesting in the snow and freezing temperatures outside the New Hampshire State House, it was defeated in a 216-150 vote along party lines. The enthusiasm of the citizens of New Hampshire (shown in the video at right) for their Constitutional rights was not enough to wake up Democratic legislators and convince them to vote against unfunded mandates and federal attacks on citizen rights.

In addition to these three states (where sovereignty has been blocked), two states (Ohio, Florida) are long shots for passage of sovereignty because they are trying to do it through petitioning their state legislatures. That still leaves 23 states with resolutions in some stage of development or consideration. Of those states, 12 have at least one house of their state legislatures dominated by Democrats, including Oklahoma — which has been one of the leaders in the movement. The current trend suggests that none of these states will be able to pass a sovereignty resolution until the composition of their legislatures changes, though there might be a slim hope for Oklahoma and Louisiana, where some of the Democrats are more conservative, and in Kentucky, where the bill has bipartisan support.

That means we’re down to 12 states with a reasonable chance of affirming state sovereignty this legislative session. They include Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming. Of these, South Carolina, and Texas are the farthest along towards passage and Virginia is probably on the fence, based on the past history of Republicans in its legislature.

It has become clear that there is a coordinated Democrat campaign to oppose the sovereignty movement on a nationwide basis in the state legislatures. Although sovereignty remains on the agenda in more than 20 states, with partisan opposition passage in more than a dozen states is very unlikely. If that many states do pass sovereignty measures it will be mostly symbolic, because with barely a quarter of the states on board, it isn’t a big enough accomplishment to send a message which the federal government cannot ignore.

With the economic crisis worsening, federal spending out of control, and the Obama Administration targeting gun rights and raising taxes, popular opposition to overreaching government is growing stronger and stronger. Sadly, the power of the ascendant Democrats both at the national level and in so many state legislatures is too great to challenge effectively through legislating state sovereignty or with a few governors taking a stand against excessive spending. It is becoming increasingly clear that if we are to restore government which serves the best interests of citizens and protects their rights, the people will have to demand change from the grassroots on a nationwide basis with a movement so strong that it cannot be ignored or suppressed by the dominant political establishment in the states or in DC.

It is time to put an end to the politics of partisan greed and the ongoing erosion of our rights by whatever means are necessary. If that cannot be accomplished on the grounds of state sovereignty and by state governments it must be done by individuals in the streets of the nation, in the corridors of power, and at the gates of the enemy. As the economic crisis intensifies and the enemies of liberty use it as a pretext to expand their power, we can’t afford to sit on the sidelines and hope for the best any longer.

The Mercatus Center recently released a study (pdf) by William P. Ruger and Jason Sorens on “Freedom in the 50 States,” which measures economic and social liberty in all fifty states.

According to the authors, the “study improves on prior attempts to score economic freedom for American states in three primary ways: (1) it includes measures of social and personal freedoms such as peaceable citizens’ rights to educate their own children, own and carry firearms, and be free from unreasonable search and seizure; (2) it includes far more variables, even on economic policies alone, than prior studies, and there are no missing data on any variable; and (3) it uses new, more accurate measurements of key variables, particularly state fiscal policies.”

The results:

“We find that the freest states in the country are New Hampshire, Colorado, and South Dakota, which together achieve a virtual tie for first place. All three states feature low taxes and government spending and middling levels of regulation and paternalism. New York is the least free by a considerable margin, followed by New Jersey, Rhode Island, California, and Maryland.”

On personal freedom alone, Alaska is the clear winner, followed by Maine, New Mexico, Arkansas, and Texas. Maryland, Illinois, and New York are at the rear. On economic freedom alone, New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Colorado are the freest, while New York, Maine, and California are the least free.

“As for freedom in the different regions of the country, the Mountain and West North Central regions are the freest overall while the Middle Atlantic lags far behind on both economic and personal freedom. Regression analysis demonstrates that states enjoying more economic and personal freedom tend to attract substantially higher rates of internal net migration.”

This is one of the best studies I’ve encountered. I encourage you to review your own states’ profile in the study.

Of course, the Republican Liberty Caucus ranks legislators on its Liberty Index, but this comprehensive study by Profs. Ruger and Sorens will be most useful to grassroots activists interested in continuing to work toward our libertarian ideal.

There’s a lot going on in RLC-land. Some updates from the states:

Arizona: Roy Miller of Phoenix has replaced Bennett Kopp as the new Arizona RLC State Chair. Roy can be reached via e-mail.

Arkansas: Jim Martin of Eureka Springs is the new RLC State Contact. Jim can be reached via e-mail.

Illinois: The state RLC has established a new website at http://www.rlcil.org. The new state Co-Contacts are W. Guy Finley in Round Lake and Robert M.W. Stanford in Normal. Guy and Robert can be reached via e-mail.

Iowa: Roger Barr of Boone has been appointed the new RLC State Contact. Roger can be reached via e-mail.

Louisiana: Aaron Andrus was appointed the RLC state contact in March. Aaron and his wife Jill have four children, ages 8 years to 4 months old, and reside in Lake Charles. Aaron graduated with a BS in Finance from McNeese State University and a Masters in Pastoral Studies from Loyola University New Orleans (2006). He is the Assistant Operations Manager for Seabulk Towing Services, Inc and has been a registered Republican since 1996. We are excited to have Aaron on board. He can be reached via e-mail.

Nevada: RLC National Board member Daniel Rego has moved to Las Vegas and is the new RLC State Co-Contact in the state. Dan can be reached via e-mail.

North Carolina: RLC National Treasurer Jeff Palmer reports: “Spearheaded by the Triangle-Area (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill) RLC Meetup group, which held its largest organizational meeting to date on March 20, the North Carolina RLC approved bylaws, elected an interim Board, heard from our local congressional candidate (who’s now a Board member), and increased its paid membership by more than 50%. A RLCNC rechartering application will be submitted to national shortly. New members came all the way from Wilmington where the Cape Fear Republican Liberty Caucus was founded and promises to absorb the 150+ member Wilmington-Area Ron Paul Meetup group. Seeds have also been planted for local RLC groups in Charlotte, Asheville, and the Triad (Winston-Salem/Greensboro/High Point). Interestingly, three of our new members — including one of our most promising — were libertarian Republicans who just happened to being playing pool in the room where we were about to have our meeting. When it rains, it pours! North Carolina has a delegate selection process separate from and parallel to our upcoming presidential primary and, as the state’s Ron Paul movement has switched gears to the GOP ‘inside-baseball’ that the delegate selection process entails, the RLC here has enhanced its reputation as the putative expert on the process and on working within the GOP.”

Pennsylvania: Shawn McArdle of Erie has been appointed the new RLC State Contact. Shawn can be reached via e-mail.

Tennessee: The state RLC has a new contact, Dr. Joe Dumas of Signal Mountain in Hamilton County. Dr. Dumas is a Professor of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He is a volunteer for Bachman Community Center and Mountain Arts Community Center. He is a rated chess player and is the Senior Tournament Director of the U.S. Chess Federation. The RLC is thankful to have Joe as our state contact. He can be reached via e-mail.

Dr. Joe Dumas

Virginia: A statewide Republican Liberty Caucus chapter meeting is taking place at 3:30 pm on Saturday, March 22 at the Snow Memorial Library in Spotsylvania (north of Richmond and south of Fredericksburg). The featured speaker with be State Senator Ken Cuccinelli, one of the few libertarian-leaning Republicans in the state legislature.

Utah: A statewide Republican Liberty Caucus chapter meeting is taking place at 2:30 pm on Saturday, March 22 at the Sandy Library in Sandy. This is the first official organizing meeting for the RLC in Utah. The state RLC contact is Lowell Nelson, who can be reached via e-mail.

Wisconsin: The state RLC has a new contact, David Baumgardner of La Farge in Vernon County. David is an Eagle Scout who is currently completing his goal of obtaining a Law Degree. He is involved with Boy Scouts of America, the Vernon County Republican Party, GOPAC, the NRA, the Midwest Renewable Energy Association, and the Federalist Society. We welcome David’s enthusiasm to the RLC and look forward to a Wisconsin chapter. David can be reached via e-mail.

David P. Baumgardner

Wyoming: The state RLC has established a new website at http://www.wyrlc.org.