On January 9, I spoke at the "Honor the Oath" Rally in Raleigh, NC, organized by the Carolina Liberty PAC and a former NC state legislator. That was the day that members of the NC General Assembly took their oath of office.
Under the cover of Covid, and now in the shadow of the infamous Election Irregularities of that fated 2020 presidential election, with current emerging alleged election fraud in Nevada and Pennsylvania inconveniently slipping into the public discourse, there is proved a colluded ongoing Election Interference in the nomination of the Republican candidate, the likes of which has never occurred in our Constitutional Republic's history, albeit, the question remains: Do you support the plain-sight Election Interference of the Democratic Socialist party, employing its minions in their Propagandistic Media, and their Two Tiered Justice System?
98.13% No, I do not support Election Interference; I am a patriot unto our Constitution.
0.93% Yes, I do support Election Interference; the alternative, Donald Trump, to this mentally diminished president is far worse.
On April 12, 1776, the provincial Congress of North Carolina met at Halifax and voted to authorize its delegates to the Continental Congress to vote for independence from Great Britain. We were the first state to take that bold step and issue such instructions.
A few years later, in 1780, Britain's Lord Cornwallis invaded North Carolina. He passed through Charlotte but was too afraid to stay, saying that it was a "hornet's nest of rebellion." His experience there would be recorded as one of his most humiliating experiences in the Revolution. After fighting in North Carolina, Cornwallis would be too weak to fight on. He would go on to be defeated at Yorktown and each colony would go on to be recognized as an independent state by the British crown.
In 1788, while the state of Virginia (the home of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Washington, and Patrick Henry) proposed twenty alterations to the Constitution and a separate Bill of Rights consisting of twenty items, North Carolina still wasn't satisfied that the federal government was sufficiently limited. It wanted an additional six amendments.
In December 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union and 4 months later, Lincoln forced the first shot by the Confederacy at Fort Sumter. In March 1861, Lincoln then sent a letter to NC's Governor John Ellis and demanded 75,000 troops to subdue the states that had seceded, calling them "rebellious." Governor Ellis promptly replied by telegram, stating: "I regard the levy of troops made by the administration for the purpose of subjugating the states of the South as a violation of the Constitution and as a gross usurption of power. I can be no party to this wicked violation of the laws of the country and to this war upon the liberties of a free people. You will get no troops from North Carolina." North Carolina did not intend to secede from the Union. But given the choice between being forced by President Lincoln to take up arms and use them on its southern neighbors (which had seceded peacefully), it chose to respect the freedoms laid out in the Declaration of Independence and sever its political bonds with the federal government.
North Carolina has a proud history of standing for freedom and standing up against government oppression. I was born and raised in New Jersey but I am so proud to call North Carolina my home now. Many of you know me and know how much I love it here.
Which is why I was honored to be asked to join the Tenth Amendment Center and be involved in projects to help her restore her power, sovereignty, and pride.
As a member of the Tenth Amendment Center, I believe power has been usurped from the states and from We the People and it needs to be restored. I believe that the Ninth and Tenth Amendments hold the answer to our future success as a free state and a free nation - just as our founding state leaders believed. I believe that an oath to the US Constitution is an affirmation of these amendments and a duty to assert them whenever an encroachment by the federal government threatens their integrity. I believe Obamacare was one such encroachment. I believe that in order to honor the oath, our representatives must opt out of any health insurance exchanges.
I ask: Why did North Carolina fight so hard and protest so strongly for a Bill of Rights - specifically, for the Tenth Amendment - if it doesn't plan on standing behind them.
As a member of the Tenth Amendment Center, I know we suffer a constitutional crisis, and I know that there are a few things we can do to restore constitutional government:
First - We must stop the passage of new, unconstitutional laws
Second - We must strike down unconstitutional laws that are already on the books
Third - The states, not the federal court system, must provide the mechanism to invalidate unconstitutional laws because the courts will never do it. The Supreme Court has been a willing accomplice, for too long, in permitting the gradual and continuous expansion of government power.
As a member of the Tenth Amendment Center, I know that the Supremacy Clause has limits to its protection. Not everything the federal government does is supreme law. That would be tyranny. It's bad enough that with the government's heavy-handedness in the economy, with its take-over of certain industries, and with its massive interventionist policies, we already have strong elements of fascism in our country. Our legislators must not shirk their responsibilities and allegiance to our state because of a misunderstanding of the Supremacy Clause. We must never hear a state legislator say that it is not their job to second guess the decisions of the federal government..... It absolutely is. If they don't, then we will continue to lose precious liberties to a government that thinks its objectives are more important than we are.
As a member of the Tenth Amendment Center, I know that the Civil War did not destroy states' rights, as some of our legislators believe. All the Civil War did was settle the issue of slavery and force the South back into the Union. Despite no major battles being fought in our state, North Carolina sent more recruits than any other Southern state to fight for the Confederacy - for the right of self-determination. One in every 7 soldiers that lie dead on the battlefields of the Civil War was a North Carolina son. Their sacrifice will have been completely in vain if we abandon the notion of state sovereignty.
Looking at things from a state sovereignty point of view, saying that Lincoln saved the Union by winning the Civil War is like saying a man saved his marriage by beating his wife into submission.
Any legislator who says that the Tenth Amendment has been minimized by the Civil War or honestly believes that the issue of states' rights has been decided by that conflict should be tossed out. The campaign to remove them in the next election should start immediately.
So now you know why I'm standing up here and why I feel passionately about the Oath of Office.
The Oath of Office is a solemn pledge that lets us know that we can trust our elected servants to conduct themselves constitutionally and ethically with the power we temporarily place in their hands. We hope they that each representative has at least read the US Constitution and the state constitution, particularly Article I, Section 35 which reads: "A frequent recurrence to fundamental principles is absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty."
Knowing the limits of power under the federal Constitution and knowing the objects of good and honest government in our state is what we expect from our representatives. This is a critical first step towards preserving American liberty. Only then can their oaths actually mean something.
And in the spirit of Oaths, why don't we here today pledge an oath of our own - to do our civic duty and hold our representatives accountable. Before God and before one another, let us make the following pledge:
I'll state the pledge first and then we'll all take it together.
"I, Diane Rufino, do solemnly swear that in the interests of the State and in our republic, I will defend my Constitution, both US and state, which alone protect my inalienable God-given rights. I will support and defend them honorably, intelligently, with my fortune or to my personal misfortune. I will hold my representatives accountable to their oaths of office by keeping an eye on their conduct and their votes. I pledge my full efforts to remove any representative from office who disgraces his oath and undermines the sovereignty of this great state, so help me God."
Please put your hands on your heart and repeat after me (and don't forget to state your name) --
"I, ________________, do solemnly swear that in the interests of the State and in our republic, I will defend my Constitution, both US and state, which alone protect my inalienable God-given rights. I will support and defend them honorably, intelligently, with my fortune or to my personal misfortune. I will hold my representatives accountable to their oaths of office by keeping an eye on their conduct and their votes. I pledge my full efforts to remove any representative from office who disgraces his oath and undermines the sovereignty of this great state, so help me God."
Publisher's note:Diane Rufino has her own blog,For Love of God and Country. Come and visit her. She'd love your company.
Understanding that the sanctity of fair elections must exist for a well functioning Democratic Rebublic to continue: Should the electorate be required to show photo identification to vote?
