Since the birth of America, the Federalists have been a thorn in the side of the American people. John Adams, a federalist and 2nd president of the US, issued the Sedition Act on July 14, 1798. This act was in direct violation of the 1st amendment, by making it illegal to speak against the president or the federalist-dominated government at the time. Adam’s was not fond of French supporters, which is ironic because, without the French, the colonists never would’ve won the Revolutionary War. Thomas Jefferson, an antifederalist, warned of the dangers of the Federalists obtaining too much power. He feared that federalism would lead to the loss of individual and state rights. He famously stated in a letter in 1810,
,
“I learn with pleasure that republican principles are predominant in your state, because I conscientiously believe that governments founded in them are most friendly to the happiness of the people at large; and especially of a people so capable of self government as ours. I have been ever opposed to the party, so falsely called federalists, because I believe them desirous of introducing, into our government, authorities hereditary or otherwise independant of the national will. These always consume the public contributions and oppress the people with labour & poverty.”
Those warnings have certainly become true in our modern age. The Federal government has more power than ever before. The Federal government makes laws that violate our basic constitutional and state rights. For example, in the early 2000’s Feds violated state voter-approved laws, allowing the use of cannabis by illegally raiding dispensaries. In these raids, they would confiscate or more like steal dispensary owners’ property and illegally imprison them. Feds hog state land and make laws that violate state rights. Like using corrupt agencies like the EPA to trespass on local and private land to quote, “spray for invasive plant species”, doing the complete opposite of protecting the environment by spraying nasty chemicals to achieve this; putting animals and humans at risk for cancer.
In 2014, a family known as the Bundy’s who live in Nevada led an armed standoff with fed agents over a US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) dispute. BLM declared that the Bundy’s could no longer let their cows graze on federal land because of supposedly an endangered tortoise. The feds engaged in coercion by threatening the Bundy’s with unnecessary fines, if they continued to graze their cattle on BLM land. After the standoff, the feds had to back down.
The Bundy’s believe the feds have no right to possess state land. They state in, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17—
that Congress shall have the right:
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock–Yards, and other needful Buildings.
They point out in this clause that the Federal government may only own a 10-mile radius around Washington DC. They do not have the authority or jurisdiction to land outside that, except Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, and dock–Yards. Which Bundy’s land had nothing to do with. The Bundy’s continue to fight to take back state land from the Feds to this day and have even joined up with Patriot groups and constitutional sheriffs in Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada.
But one of the Federal government’s most insidious destructive practices by large, is feds infiltrating Forestry Management in many states. Through this agency, they propose dangerous protocols for dealing with wildfires and pushing for “controlled burns in the summer”, letting wildfires burn and get larger. A policy that was backed by Governor Newsom of California. Wildfires are big money for the feds especially when funding is sometimes in the billions. Wildfires have become a suspicious norm every year, in the name of, “global warming.” A hoax perpetrated by political scientists, who were caught falsifying climate data. Multiple firefighters and citizens have filed many complaints against the Federal Forestry Management, for its suspicious delayed responses to fires being reported. The Federal government must be downsized and stripped of its power, so state rights can thrive again, like the vision of our great forefather, Thomas Jefferson.
Sources:
Alien and Sedition Acts: Facts & Alien Enemies Act (history.com)
How Ammon Bundy Rallied Ranchers Against the Government ‹ Literary Hub (lithub.com)