Many critics of politics are like a lot of others. The comfortable and habitual thing to do is to talk among ourselves and to those who will listen. It gives us a feeling that we are doing something and even being a part of the solution. What I have seen lacking is that most important component, concerted action. When our elected officials do something good we lay back and say, "well, it's about time...". Seldom do we call them and thank them for the good things they do. We in North Carolina, have just the opportunity we can rally behind. So let's put our noses to the grindstone and push this baby through.
On March 26th, H849 was introduced by Reps. Cleveland, Justice, Blackwood, and Hilton and now has 27 co-sponsors, all Republicans so far. This House Resolution titled "Sovereignty Under the 10th Amendment" was filed in the House and has now had its first reading and assigned to the Rules, Calendar, and Operations Committee. Click on the Committee link and communicate with all of the committee members. They, and they alone, hold the key to get it to the floor.
It is important to understand that this resolution, if passed, will not have the force of law and will not be sent to the NC Senate or to the Governor. This is strictly a House Resolution. I spoke directly with the bill's sponsor, Mr. George Cleveland of District 14 in Onslow County. He says the bill will be stuck in committee unless we can get the Committee Chairman, Bill Owens (Dem) and House Speaker, Joe Hackney (Dem) to move it to the floor for a vote. Getting a bill out of committee is the major hurdle and must be our focus. Letters and calls of support for H849 should be focused on the Committee Chairman and the Speaker of the House. With their support, and only with their support, the measure will find its way to the floor wherein Rep. Cleveland believes it will pass.
You can see below who the primary sponsors are and the names of the co-sponsors. All links should be "live" links.
Representatives Folwell and Neumann have come on board since the first reading! Make sure your representative is on the co-sponsors list.
This link is to the overview of the bill with sponsor & co-sponsor info:
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2009
&BillID=H849
Actual Copy of the bill: (PDF)
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/sessions/2009/bills/house/pdf/h849v0.pdf
The easiest way to make sure you keep current on the progress and status of the bill is to subscribe tto the RSS at this link:
http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2009&BillID=
H849&view=history_rss
The entire House membership, with contact information, can be downloaded here and should serve conveniently as your best tool in tracking your efforts to gain support for the measure. Note all responses from those who gave feedback to your request: http://www.ncleg.net/House/Documents/nchouse.xls
Here is the link to the Rules Committee Chairman: Bill Owens (Dem)
Here is the link to the NC Speaker of the House: Joe Hackney (Dem)
As always, keep your fellow C4L members updated with any news you have or find on this issue. If you find links to news articles / videos, etc. on the net or links to major news outlet articles, post it in a comment to this blog. Especially noteworthy to report are any Democrat supporters of this measure in NC or any other state. Democrats supporting similar measures in other states provide an added push for Dems in our state to support the resolution.
What else can we do?
You can start by posting this blog in your C4L personal page. Post a link to this blog wherever you can think to do so. Create a mass email to your North Carolina contacts and paste in a link to this blog article and encourage them to consider joining with us here at the C4L. Promote my blog link on other social networking sites, forums, and on any "conservative" group sites in the state. Just put it out there, anywhere, everywhere! Mass exposure is better than no exposure.
We must now start preparing a mini-campaign to get voters calling and writing the right people with right message at the right time. Plan your work, work your plan. Form a county group to push each other to stay on task and share ideas if you need to.
This bill has popular support and the timing could not be better!
Gary Hardee
Cell: 704-560-1776
Local Coordinator - Campaign for Liberty
Categories: Campaign For Liberty, Law, Domestic Policy, Republican Party, Democratic Party, Action Item, US Constitution, Executive Power, Philosophy, Revolution, Socialism, State Legislation
Tags: 10th amendment, Sovereignty Resolution, H849, north carolina, nc, Tenth Amendment,
Showing comments 1—8 of 8
Posted 03/27/09
Mike in Virginia
Fredericksburg, VA | You go, Tarheels. Best of luck in getting this passed.
Wish we could do it in Virginia, but the outlook is grim: too many DC dependents in the northern part of the state. Maybe we'll find a way, though. |
Posted 03/28/09
EThomas
Lenoir, NC | Thank you for the info -- Caldwell County had a very successful meeting last night under the leadership of Jeff Austin. We are planning events to inform the "locals" about supporting our constitution, and other items they need to be award. I'm looking forward to the meeting on the 6th in Hickory and meeting more supporters. Hope to meet you soon, Gary, enjoyed meeting Pat at one of the last meetings in Hickory. I didn't just "sign-up" I plan to be active and help when time allows. EThomas |
Posted 03/30/09
RAM NC
Raleigh, NC | I'm not sure why it is stated that this resolution would not have the 'force of law'. Of course it has the force of law, it is backed by the 10th amendment of the Constitution! :-) |
Posted 04/03/09
Gary Hardee NC
Charlotte, NC | I understand your point RAM though I must stand by the technicalities. This is the NC House expressing its support for adhering to the 10th Amendment. Since it was not introduced as a Joint Resolution it will not involve the NC Senate. Any "Resolution", joint or otherwise, does not require the signature of the Governor. This is an opportunity for us to give some backbone to the NC House and call attention to the 10th Amendment itself, its meaning, and hopefully reinforce, even in our "modern" era, how timely still is our wonderful US Constitution. Maybe we can even inspire someone to read it once in a while!
Let's push this to the floor for a vote! |
Posted 04/13/09
American Vet
Kill Devil Hills, NC | I live on the "Outer Banks of NC"....believe me when I say;there is a different kind of mind set on the "Banks".
Our "Radio Stations",and our "News Papers" NEVER publish anything about what is going on in our country...NOTHING!!
I`m not even sure if we all know who the fake President is.
I believe that efforts to keep the "Small Towns" informed would work to our advantage in a big way.
Lets invent "Johnny Freedom Seed" to spread the word to all the small towns in America
Many Americans want to attend these gatherings,but! they just can not,why? because the don`t know about them...we would have..but we didn`t know it was happening is what I`m hearing.
Our local "Talk Radio" never brings up anything at all to do with the current happenings such as "End the Fed"..nobody talks about such stuff...nobody in a position to inform the masses,informs the masses.Why!!?because they are told what to talk about,what to say ect..just like the "MSM".
"Johnny Freedomseed"..sounds pretty good..hey? |
Posted 04/30/09
hirize
Macclesfield, NC | I just got off of the phone with Committee Chair Bill Owens in reference to the sovereignty bill. He stated in so many words that the bill was just clutter on their agenda and that it would have no impact at all on anything if it were passed. Of course I took issue with his statements advising that many of us felt it was time for NC to send a message from our legislature that they recognized the limitations provided by the 10th amendment on our out-of-control Federal Government. However, he was determined to undermine this bill no matter how valid the plea to support it was. He was very cordial but obviously had his mind made up. I find it stunning that this bill was sponsored by Representatives Cleveland, Blackwood, Justice and Hilton and co-sponsored by Representatives Avila, Blust, Brown, Burr, Burris-Floyd, Current, Dockham, Dollar; Folwell; Frye; Guice; Holloway; Howard; Hurley, Killian, Langdon, McCormick, McElraft, Mills, Moore, Neumann, Randleman, Sager, Starnes, Stevens, Tillis and Wiley, yet in Bill Owens opinion it amounts to nothing more than "clutter"!
I'm sorry to have to deliver this news. It's very very disappointing to all of us who have worked so hard to get this bill sponsored. My deepest regards and thanks to all those fine Representatives that sponsored and co-sponsored this bill. My hat is off to each of them for having the courage to stand up for liberty in the face of political posturing and adversity. This is very telling and no doubt why we have had such a difficult time of getting individual legislators to sponsor bills in the past. It seems they are "discouraged" from sponsoring certain legislation that does not suit the "powers that be". This is not to encourage that anyone give up on this issue. It's far to critical. I personally feel that now is the time to focus on Bill Owens and Joe Hackney and put as much heat on them as we collectively can. We really need to let them know that they represent us and we will not accept their individual opinion, for whatever reasons, over the opinion of the citizens they are there to represent. This sort of thing is what we are up against here in North Carolina and the only way to change it is to continue to challenge it.
|
Posted 06/10/09
hopeisslavery
Raleigh, NC | I don't think my congressman, David E. Price will support this bill since he was for the bail outs originally, and the tenth amendment could let us ("god forbid") refuse to take the bail outs.
I'm almost afraid to contact him about it because he might try to verbally attack the cosponsors. |
Posted 06/10/09
hopeisslavery
Raleigh, NC | I don't think my congressman, David E. Price will support this bill since he was for the bail outs originally, and the tenth amendment could let us ("god forbid") refuse to take the bail outs.
I'm almost afraid to contact him about it because he might try to verbally attack the cosponsors. |
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