"The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending against all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks." -Samuel Adams
It's Christmas time here in the state of Missouri, and the Christmas spirit is in full swing across the state with the sense of giving a "hand up" while it's sprinkled with glittery lights and an explosion of Christmas decorations everywhere. It stirs the Christmas magic that Norman Rockwell captured with his paintings. There's not a storefront that doesn't have a Santa or Frosty the snowman in their window or a small festival of lights on display when driving down the main street. In these small towns, Christmas is almost as festive and important as our national holiday of the opening day of deer season. But even with the cover of being the "most wonderful time of year"--There's an uneasiness that folks generally ignore until the first of the year when it's back to being "business as usual". And the pre-filing of bills and resolutions to hit the legislative floor of the hall of Missouri Congress this session is any sign of what's to come- there's no doubt, that the insanity of MoLeg could spill over into the national stage, and be a catalyst for some hard times in the U.S. and our Constitution.
As Missouri already has a few laws on the books that push the boundaries of the "Supremacy Clause" with the Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA) [1]. Then, of course, the "Trigger ban" on abortion which the state robbed folks of their right to privacy under the 14th amendment when the SCOTUS threw Roe vs. Dobbs back to the states back in June 2022. [2] In fact, Missouri has a major problem with the 14th amendment being used in general especially if a person is on death row. Kevin Johnson's tragic saga is a shining example of how much this state believes that folks are not entitled to "Due Process" guaranteed by the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution.[3] Mr. Johnson's case made it to the SCOTUS but the "hail Mary" didn't come through for Mr. Johnson and his execution was carried out. But then brutal dissent from Ketanji Brown Jackson heavily pointed out the state couldn't even follow its own state laws and had no qualms about openly violating the 14th amendment of the Constitution. But that's just the "tip of the brazen iceberg" leading the way to be once again the catalyst to causing a national constitutional crisis.
When we talk about Missouri being an agitator of the national Constitutional crisis, we have to go back to the Dred Scott decision and the Missouri Compromise.[4] The consequences of that SCOTUS decision led to one of the biggest Constitutional Crises that our Republic had faced since its start. Needless to say, Missouri's super majority is determined to repeat that history. Through the lack of acknowledgment of the "Supremacy Clause" in the Constitution [5] by passing SAPA and prefiling a bill to ignore "Presidential executive orders".[6] It's clear that Missouri's super majority is falling right in line with the extreme points of view of Trump and the SCOTUS by basically throwing out constitution and the amendments one by one. [7]. For example, Trump openly called for the termination of the entire Constitution and to be made "King" on his Truth Social account last weekend. And did any of our state and national level Congressional Reps and Senators condemn it? Nope, instead, they give us a deafening silence that it's only heard in the middle of the woods right before a big storm hits.
It's not a stretch to say, that what's going on in Missouri is spilling over into the national scene. A preview of that was seen today with U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler's had a emotional breakdown shown on C-SPAN, because of the "Respect Marriage" bill passed today. [8]. Now with the GOP having control of the House, there's no doubt that we can expect to see more of this extreme point of views not only coming out of our state legislative branch-But on the bigger stage as well. It could be argued that our Constitution is going to be pushed to its limits when it comes to human rights, civil rights, freedom from religion, and liberties over the next two years. There's no doubt that Missouri will once be the catalyst for this insanity at the end of the day.
Now with all this said, there is something that we all must do to keep our Constitution intact, and that's to follow the wise words of Samuel Adams, and push back to protect the 246-year-old institution that we all know. Start extending the olive branch to the folks that might identify themselves as Republican, but are displeased about the direction the GOP has taken. It also means that folks need to start organizing in their communities and getting folks educated on what their state legislative branch is with legislation. It means connecting back with neighbors and being the example that folks need to see through grass root movements. Yes, it's a lot of work, but democracy is a lot of hard work that requires everyone to get involved in. And most importantly take the lesson that Missouri is giving outside of its uncanny ability to give out a gift that's 154 years passed its expiration date. And that lesson is that to get the national platform to where it needs to be--We first must clean up the state legislative branches and start sending our best.
Much love and Peace out,
Jojo
3.
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artI-S4-C1-2/ALDE_00013577/
https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2022/12/01/supreme-court-jackson-sotomayor-missouri-execution
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/tony-messenger/messenger-supreme-court-justice-chastises-missouri-judges-for-kevin-johnson-case/article_a754b33d-c635-57c6-811f-5fb7677e362f.html
4. https://publicaffairs.missouristate.edu/HallOfFame/dred-scott.htm#:~:text=It%20said%20the%20Scotts%20were,for%20the%20American%20Civil%20War.
https://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/africanamerican/scott/scott.asp#:~:text=Missouri's%20Dred%20Scott%20Case%2C%201846,Missouri%20Compromise%20to%20be%20unconstitutional.
5. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/supremacy_clause#
6. https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/politics/2021/12/13/branson-lawmaker-brian-seitz-files-bill-block-presidential-orders-missouri/6447250001/
7. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21-499_gfbh.pdf
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21-147_g31h.pdf
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-rebuked-for-call-to-terminate-constitution-over-2020-election-results
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/11/supreme-court-republican-control-house-alito-mccarthy-gift.html
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/07/politics/takeaways-moore-harper-supreme-court/index.html
8. https://news.yahoo.com/republican-congresswoman-broke-down-tears-184257519.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAABp9tF6ha87ZrWbz_PQd7AeGfKPBvsmBv7EK_WgWdoLds3pY_EiwtQ9x7AfgSmuJ1wiVMPNCQSe9jDEXBTPm7RBDMAXK17glfuV7-6zQFk0rlGGB6RAVGY4p9veWSEVgJXPELpqplPWiusJLIp-ednMx0DE-gSo_FUFgdDIngQiF
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