Michael Boldin discusses the ways people can stop unconstitutional acts

 According to “Path to Liberty” host Michael Boldin, there are three ways for people to stop unconstitutional acts.

The first thing people can do is demand public officials to stop doing the wrong things. However, Boldin said this strategy is bound to fail.

“Those people are [just] doing the right thing at that moment, or because it’s politically important for them because there’s such an outcry about such an issue. [But] as long as they still have the power to do the wrong thing, then you’re in – as St. George Tucker puts it – a state of slavery,” he said.

Boldin, the founder and executive director of the Tenth Amendment Center (TAC), also referenced Founding Father John Dickinson, who said free people are “those who live under a government so constitutionally checked and controlled, that proper provision is made against its being otherwise exercised.”

The second action that people do is file a federal lawsuit, with the hope that federal judges will limit government power. However, Boldin mentioned that there are problems with this approach as well. The third action that people do, he added, is try to vote the “bums” out with the hope that the new set of people voted in will use their newfound power properly.

The TAC founder pointed out that these three actions – calling out the government, filing a lawsuit in federal court and using the ballot – form part of the whole structure and should not be downplayed. However, he warned against using either of these three as their primary or sole approach.

People’s sovereignty supersedes bad government

Quoting Dickinson, Boldin said a good constitution cannot guarantee that people will have a good government. The best it can do, he added, is to promote good government.  

When a nation has a bad administration, exercising the people’s supreme sovereignty is the only thing that must be done. He also quoted former Supreme Court Justice James Iredell, who said people resisting government the moment it usurps powers not delegated is the way to keep it in check. This response relies on people who understand the Constitution and want it enforced, Boldin added.

According to the “Path to Liberty” host, the American system is based on power from We The People. “All governments are just emanations of a delegation of power from the people,” he said.

When the government does things it is not authorized to do, it is tantamount to usurpation and theft of sovereign power.

Boldin ultimately remarked that it is not about asking the government to stop doing unconstitutional things. Rather, it is about stopping government when it tries to do or always does the wrong thing. He added that free people do not beg, ask and demand freedom – they take it instead.