Open Letter to Wyoming Governor

Dear Governor Freudenthal,

Sometimes incrementally and other times in fits and starts, the United States has crept away from its original mandate as a federal republic exercising limited powers over a voluntary union of sovereign States and toward a nation-wide unitary government. During the previous presidential administration, this erosion extended to the Constitution of our Federal Republic reputedly being called a “scrap of paper.”

The “scrap of paper” line may or may not be an apocryphal tale, but it does underline an undeniable imperial pattern in our federal government that has raised its ugly head from time to time in the course of the Republic but which has become very much of a constant and growing theme since the Hoover administration. Unfortunately, the States have largely forgotten that they are the single most important counterbalance to the federal juggernaut and instead have been very much complicit in this erosion of the Constitution as they greedily fight for slops from the federal money trough which has grown remarkably since the institution of the income tax.

Consequently, I have been pleased to learn in conversations with Representative Del McOmie that Representative Pat Childers has crafted a letter to the President and Congress that restates the roll of the State of Wyoming in particular, and of the States in general, as sovereign partners in a contract creating a Federal Republic designed to minimize the seductive but mortal dangers associated with any unbalanced concentration of political power while providing for the general welfare of the People and States authorizing that contract.

I encourage you to add your signature to this letter and to encourage all members of your administration and the Wyoming Legislature to do the same.

This is the text of the letter that Del provided to me:
*********************Start of Letter Text****************
President Barack Obama
Members of the United States Senate
Members of the United State House of Representatives


Mr. President, Senators and Representatives,

The Constitution of the State of Wyoming declares that all power is inherent in the people and all free governments are founded on their authority and instituted for their peace, safety and happiness, for the advance of these ends they have at all time an inalienable and indefeasible right to alter, reform or abolish the government in such manner as they may think proper. We proclaim that the right to self government right may never be expressly delegated to the United States Congress. The Constitution of the State of Wyoming declares that absolute, arbitrary power over the lives, liberty and property of free men exists nowhere in a republic, not even in the largest majority. The people of the State of Wyoming agree that all powers not expressly delegated to the federal government in the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights must be reserved and exercised by individual states.

When Wyoming entered into statehood in 1890, that entrance was accomplished by a contract between Wyoming and the several states, with Congress and the President concurring and acting as the agent for the several states, a contract known as the "Act of Admission". A contract, compact, or treaty must be implemented consistent with the terms and understandings in place at the time it is entered into. The protection of these states' rights is enumerated in amendments to the federal Constitution and Bill of Rights, which state that "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".


Now, we the undersigned declare the following:

(1) That the several states of the United States are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to general government, but by ratifying the federal Constitution and Bill of Rights, they constituted a general government for special purposes and delegated to that government certain definite powers, while reserving all other rights.

(2) That when the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are void and of no force.

(3) That the government created by the federal Constitution and Bill of Rights was not granted the right to determine the extent of the powers delegated to itself, since that would have made its discretion, and not the federal Constitution and Bill of Rights, the measure of its powers.

(4) That the federal Constitution and Bill of Rights delegated to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting of the securities and current coin of the United States, piracies, felonies committed on the high seas, offenses against the law of nations, slavery, and no other crimes.

(5) That all acts of Congress that assume to create, define, or punish crimes, other than those enumerated in the federal constitution and Bill of Rights, are void and of no force.

(6) That the power to create, define, and punish other crimes is reserved by the states.

(7) That power over the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press remains and is reserved by the states or the people, allowing states the right to judge how far the licentiousness of speech and of the press may be abridged without lessening their useful freedom and how far those abuses, which cannot be separated from their use, should be tolerated, rather than allowing the use to be destroyed.

(8) That states are guarded against all abridgment by the United States of the freedom of religious opinions and exercises and retain the right of protecting the same.

(9) That all acts of Congress that abridge freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or freedom of the press are not law and are void.

(10) That power over the freedom of the right to keep and bear arms was reserved to the states and to the people, allowing states the right to judge how far infringements on the right to bear arms should be tolerated, rather than allowing that exercise to be defined by Congress.

(11) That states and the people are guarded against all abridgment by the United States of the right to keep and bear arms and retain the right of protecting that right.

(12) That all acts of Congress that abridge the right to bear arms are not law and are void.

(13) That Congress's interpretation of those parts of the federal Constitution and Bill of Rights that delegate to Congress a power "to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States" and "to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof" has attempted to destroy the limits of its power.

(14) That those parts of the federal Constitution and Bill of Rights, detailed in subsection (13), must not be construed to give unlimited powers to the federal government, and that Congress's inappropriate interpretation must be revised and corrected.

(15) That if Wyoming accepts these inappropriate interpretations and continues to allow Congress to exercise unbridled authority, it would be surrendering its own form of government.

(16) That the people of this state will not submit to undelegated and consequently unlimited powers.

(17) That every state has a right to nullify all assumptions of power by others within their limits, and that without this right, states would be under the dominion and power of anyone who might try to exercise that power.

(18) That it would be a dangerous delusion to silence people's fears for the safety of their rights.

(19) That this state calls on its costates for an expression of their sentiments on acts not authorized by the United States Constitution.

(20) That the rights and liberties of Wyoming and its costates must be protected from any dangers by declaring that Congress is limited by the federal Constitution and Bill of Rights.

(21) That any act by the Congress of the United States, Executive Order of the President of the United States, or Judicial Order of the United States that assumes a power not delegated by the federal Constitution and Bill of Rights diminishing the liberty of this state or its citizens constitutes a nullification of the federal Constitution and Bill of Rights by the government of the United States. Acts that would cause a nullification and a breach include but are not limited to:

(a) Establishing martial law or a state of emergency within a state without the consent of the legislature of that state;

(b) Requiring involuntary servitude or governmental service other than a draft during a declared war or pursuant to or as an alternative to incarceration after due process of law;

(c) Requiring involuntary servitude or governmental service of persons under the age of 18 other than pursuant to or as an alternative to incarceration after due process of law;

(d) Surrendering any power delegated or not delegated to any corporation or foreign government;

(e) Any act regarding religion, further limitations on freedom of political speech, or further limitations on freedom of the press; or

(f) Any act regarding the right to keep and bear arms or further limitations on the right to bear arms, including any restrictions on the type or number of firearms or the amount or type of ammunition any law-abiding citizen may purchase, own, or possess.

(22) That if any act of Congress becomes law or if an Executive Order or Judicial Order is put into force related to the reservations expressed in this resolution, Wyoming's "Act of Admission" is breached and all powers previously delegated to the United States by the federal Constitution and Bill of Rights revert to the states individually.

(23) That any future government of the United States shall require ratification of three-fourths of the states seeking to form a government and shall not be binding upon any state not seeking to form a government.

Sincerely,
*****************End of Letter Text*****************


"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years.”
Sir Alexander Fraser Tytler (unverified)