“States’ rights, states’ rights, states’ rights!” — Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), April 15, 2009, at the Alamo
The most conspicuous symptom of American decline is the sallying forth of two well-known American families, both identified with the Northeast, to send their secondary members off to be president in 2016, neither of which has really distinguished itself as Presidents Reagan, Kennedy and Eisenhower had, but are merely familiar; the conservative as comfortable as a old J. Press suit inherited from an elderly uncle, the other simply “inevitable” because they say so. In every culture decline is “inevitable” and “renewal” is called for by the living. When that occurs, it becomes then the most auspicious time and it is this moment in which Greg Abbott assumes the governorship of the great state of Texas on Jan. 20.
{mosads}It is a most auspicious time. Abbott was brought to his seat in the historic Nov. 4 election, in which states from coast to coast sought greater dominion of their own places and chose red. These states are undergoing a fundamental historical and philosophical change; a change specifically from Alexander Hamilton’s vision of a centralized economy and centralized world government, which had dominated at least since Jay’s Treaty in 1794, to Jefferson’s view of the free state on a continent of free and equal republics, self-governing, self-sustaining, self-reliant.
Abbott set the tone for this rising era when as one of his last actions as Texas attorney general he announced that Texas would lead “a 17-state coalition filing suit against President Obama’s immigration executive action, charging that the president is abdicating his responsibility to faithfully enforce laws enacted by Congress,” as the Austin American-Statesman reports.
Abbott — and Texas — has now become the leader of at least 17 states in state-based action against the federal government. It is the second important challenge to the federal government from a coalition of states, the first arising from New Hampshire’s challenge to ObamaCare based on Jefferson’s Kentucky Resolutions in February 2009, when more than 30 states spontaneously joined us in opposition.
In the long term, victory on the specific issues will not be important; what is important is the new coalition of states spontaneously acting together.
This new direction had its birthing moment on April 15, 2009, at the first major Tea Party gathering at the Alamo, with Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) cry from the heart: “States’ rights, states’ rights, states’ rights!” But until now, it could not be considered a “movement.”
This is where Abbott enters, bringing form and maturity; in a word, leadership, to new directions. I’d proposed here an idea suggested first by the late ambassador George Kennan of a “council of elders” for America, what I would call instead a “supercommittee of governors” to replace that which was lost to the states by the 17th Amendment. It might be chosen from the coalition that has joined Texas in its challenge to Washington; a council of 12 with Abbott as leader, to consider form and future.
Much has happened since 2009: The CIA has declared “devolution” to be a global “challenge” worldwide. Britain’s Smith Commission has legitimized devolution for Scotland. Israel advances an organic small-state model and moves toward a Torah-based democracy. Small states today lead the world in freedom and prosperity.
Abbott, and Texas, should take leadership in this new Jeffersonian movement, report on what it mean to us as Americans, and how it can lead to a better, more free and prosperous world.
Quigley is a prize-winning writer who has worked more than 35 years as a book and magazine editor, political commentator and reviewer. For 20 years he has been an amateur farmer, raising Tunis sheep and organic vegetables. He lives in New Hampshire with his wife and four children. Contact him at quigley1985@gmail.com.