Federalism
The states are the basic building blocks of our American nation. This structure is called Federalism.
The Tenth Amendment provides, “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.”
One of the most important parts of Federalism is the Electoral College, the state-by-state way we elect the President of the United States.
The Save Our States Project is dedicated to preserving Federalism and the Electoral College because these structures are essential to our security and prosperity and, in the end, to keeping America free.
The “Inter-government” Threat to Federalism
The “separation of powers” is one of the hallmarks of American government. It works horizontally and vertically: governmental power is separated into different branches (legislative, executive, and judicial) and into different layers (state, local, and national). These structures are built into state and federal constitutional law. Their raison d’être is to protect liberty. Maintaining the separation... »
Two great legislators in Harrisburg
Today I had the pleasure of talking with two great legislators in Pennsylvania’s state capitol. The Commonwealth Foundation had suggested I speak with Senator Mike Folmer because of his understanding of and dedication to America’s founding principles. It turns out that Senator Folmer is one of the founders of COOL: the Constitutional Organization Of... »
Co-opting our states
Freedom, the American Founders believed, is best preserved by a separation of powers. The division of government power among different branches and different levels was thought to provide a bulwark to liberty. The combination of powers in one center was, said John Adams, “the very definition of tyranny.” President Barack Obama yesterday signed an executive... »
State Court accepts federal overreach
In America, even those who trample on the Constitution must pretend to revere it, at least in politics. And so as the national government has been gradually–or dramatically–expanded over the last century, politicians and judges have scrupulously crafted alibis to explain why, golly, it turns out gigantic top-down government really was part of our... »
These United States
The balance of power between state and national governments was one of the most contentious issues for the American Founders. The states were important historically, but also as a way to keep government close to the people and to divide government power into as many hands as practical in order to preserve liberty. At the Constitutional... »