After my self-imposed obligatory seven-days of Union patriotism (July 4 – 11), I took down my Union flag (American flag), and put my state flag back on my porch. I love my state flag, even more than the American flag, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with me saying that. You see, I’m a Missourian, and Missouri (properly pronounced mə-ZUR-ee, which is Native American Sioux meaning “people with large canoes”) was the first state in the Union to outlaw all abortions (except in cases of medical emergency). It happened within minutes of Roe v Wade being overturned by the US Supreme Court, and that is something to be very proud of. Yes, I am proud of my countrymen here in Missouri, because with God’s help, we made this happen. The authorities we have in our State acted in accordance with the will of the people in Missouri, and that too is something to be proud of.
North Carolina may be “first in flight,” but Missouri is “first in life” and that’s something I think needs to be recognized. Maybe we should put it on our state license plate. Maybe we should make July 19 (the date our state’s founding constitution was adopted) a state holiday. There are a lot of things to be proud of in Missouri, and I think it’s time we start really making a fuss about it. This is my state flag, it flies from my porch, and I plan to celebrate the founding of my state with beer and barbecue on July 19.
While I love the Missouri state flag, and fly it constantly, I am open to a remake if the people of my state are agreeable to it. Anything that more accentuates our state identity, independent of Union identity, is a plus in my book. Getting rid of the five-point stars and US seal, in the middle of our state seal, would accomplish that. Here are some proposals. I would be fine with any of these, though I kind of prefer the one with the circle offset to the left. I like the simplicity of it, but I’m okay with the other two.
I am a Missourian first, and an American second.
Perhaps that statement bothers you. It’s shouldn’t, but I know a lot of Americans will feel uncomfortable with it. That’s all part of the brainwashing we got in our public schools back when we were children. We were told the exact opposite, or at least I was. Were you? I was told that I’m an American first, and a Californian second. (I lived in California at the time.) This mindset comes from the period following America’s civil war, which was intentionally spread for generations, in the hope that obliterating state identity will help prevent another civil war. I absolutely reject this thinking. In fact, I think it is this sort of thinking that will inevitably result in another civil war, because one size does not fit all. What’s good for California is not necessarily good for the Carolinas, and so it’s absurd to think that one set of laws can govern an entire continent. Therefore, I refuse to acquiesce. I am a Missourian. I’m proud to be a Missourian, and I will always be a Missourian before I am an American. The only way that will ever change is if I move to another state. Then I’ll be a citizen of that state before I am an American. This is how our Founding Fathers understood things, and this is how all Americans understood things before the civil war. We need to get back to this way of thinking. That’s the purpose of this essay.
The federal government is dying. And when I say that, I mean it’s dying in its current form. While some Americans may see this as something horrible, I do not. That’s because I recognize that change is part of history, and the age of an overpowering federal union is coming to a close. That, however, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the end of America. It could be, but it doesn’t have to be.
The recent rulings of the United States Supreme Court, in the summer session of 2022, indicate that the Supreme Court recognizes this, and it’s trying to get out in front of the curve. By doing this, the High Court hopes to establish a clear path of redirection for the states to follow, in the hopes of preventing another civil war, and in the hopes of holding the Union together, while preserving the US Constitution, through this time of transition.
It could work. I don’t know if it will, but it’s definitely possible. The Republican Red States seem to be most ready and eager to embrace more power. It’s the Democrat Blue States that seem to be the most reluctant to embrace their newly restored state powers, not because they don’t want power, but because they’ve lived under the illusion of federal power for far too long. They’ve grown comfortable with the prospect of using the federal government to impose their Left-leaning ideology not only on their own Blue States, but on the whole Union as well, against the will of the people in Republican Red States. In this sense, Democrats in Blue States have grown accustomed to being tyrants. This year, the Supreme Court, limited their tyranny to just their own Blue States, and that has come as a shock to them. They’re not taking it well. That’s why they’re protesting in the streets in California and other Blue States, because abortion is no longer legal in Missouri and other Red States nowhere near them.
It really is quite an amazing thing to watch. Pro-abortion protesters in California, and other Blue States, are marching in the streets angrily, screaming at the top of their lungs, trying to block freeways, vandalizing and burning pregnancy centers and churches, while interrupting religious services, all because some states, far across the continent, no longer allow abortion. Most of these people have never been to a Red State, and will probably never go to one, so why do they care? I’ll tell you why. They are upset because they like imposing their will on people far away from them. They are tyrants, and it shows in their actions. The Supreme Court took some of that tyrannical ability away from them, and even though the ruling in Dobbs v Jackson gives more power to their own states, they are inconsolable because it removes their ability to use the federal government to impose their will on other states. So now they’re throwing a temper tantrum in the streets, while destroying pregnancy care centers and places of worship. They’re behaving EXACTLY as we would expect tyrants to behave, and somebody has got to point that out.
Now, in a recent poll by Rasmussen, we learn that after the ruling that overturned Roe, most Democrats (53%) now want to abolish the Supreme Court entirely and replace it with a democratically elected Supreme Court (in other words, replace the justices with politicians), while nearly 40% of Democrats would prefer to give the United Nations (UN) the constitutional power to reverse Supreme Court decisions. This is insane! Nearly 40% of Democrats now want to sign over our national sovereignty to the UN?! And a majority of Democrats want to completely rewrite the US Constitution to put elected politicians on the High Court instead of judges?! Have they completely lost their minds?!
Yes, I’m afraid they have lost their minds. They’ve become drunk with power, to impose their Leftists agenda on other states that don’t want it. This power-lust, to force other people, in other states to bend to their will, and make them do what they want, even when it opposes the will of the people in those other states, is the epitome of the statement that “power corrupts.” We now have a very large segment of the American people, a majority of Democrats, most of whom live in Blue States, who cannot imagine an America where they can’t use the courts to impose their agenda upon other people, in lands far away from them. This is what the Democratic Party has become. This is what Blue State America has become.
The federal government is in jeopardy, not because the Supreme Court took away some of its power, but because it has been abusing that power for decades to impose the will of some states over and upon others. For decades now, these United States have not been a Union, but rather an Empire, wherein the only government that matters is the federal government, while the states have become mere vassals. This is a recipe for disaster and civil war. The US Supreme Court recognizes this, and is doing what it can to change course before a catastrophe happens. I predict that catastrophe is less than ten years away, but with recent Supreme Court rulings, it is now possible (not guaranteed but possible) that the catastrophe can be averted.
Americans are losing faith in all three branches of the federal government, and so it would seem, some of those branches are losing faith in each other as well. It really doesn’t matter which party will be controlling the federal government in 2024, or 2028, or 2032. Whoever is in charge, the federal government is going to have a lot less power and relevance by then. This is evidenced in the number of states that are already nullifying federal law, on everything from gun control to marijuana use. If a man can smoke marijuana freely in Colorado, and a woman can do the same in Missouri with a doctor’s perscription, then we know that the days of federal overreach are coming to a close. Both recreational marijuana use in Colorado, and medical marijuana in Missouri, were enacted without federal consent. Both are still illegal under federal law, but nobody in Colorado or Missouri cares anymore. The federal government doesn’t have the resources to enforce federal law without the states’ help, and a number of states have decided, “we’re not gonna help anymore.” THAT is a sign. It means the power of the federal government is wavering, and diminishing, even without the help of the US Supreme Court.
So now, the Supreme Court is trying to get out ahead of the curve, affirming states rights and state sovereignty, in the hope of preserving the Union while it still has a chance. Will it work? Maybe. Only God knows. I say, however, that the chances of preserving the Union have just greatly improved thanks to this Supreme Court. Whether or not it works depends entirely in the tyrants in the Democrat Blue States now, and whether or not they will eventually accept the new status quo. They can kill all the babies they want within the boundaries of their own Democrat Blue-States, but not in Republican Red States far across the continent and nowhere near them. If these terms are acceptable, the Union may survive. If not, there will soon be conflict, violence, followed by a likely breakup of the Union into multiple smaller countries. In other words, if the tyrants in the Democrat Blue States keep pushing too hard, North America may soon look a lot like South America, broken up into smaller countries. Maybe that’s what the Democrats really want. Who knows?
As for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord God Almighty, and we will do it here with our fellow countrymen in Missouri. Because, you see, that is how we need to start thinking of our states again. The word state means country. It doesn’t mean vassal and it doesn’t mean territory. It means country.
According to Wesbter’s Dictionary and Thesaurus…
STATE (noun)
a body of people composed of one or more nationalities usually with its own territory and government
https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/state
the British monarch is the head of state, while the prime minister is the head of the government
Synonyms for state
commonwealth, country, land, nation, sovereignty (also sovranty)
These United States of America could just as easily be called the “United Countries of America,” if it didn’t sound so lame, and these United States are a Union of states (countries). That’s why, every year, the president of the United States gives a “State of the Union Address,” and not a “State of the Nation Address.” Granted, some news media outlets may call it “State of the Nation,” but that’s not the official name, and it only goes to show how uneducated they are when they do that. These United States of America are a Union, and we must begin referring to them in the plural once again, if we’re going to fully reclaim our state sovereignty and state rights. Language matters. Changing terms, from plural to singular, is how big-government Leftists got us all brainwashed into thinking we are one united country — a Uniformity. We’re not. We never were, and we never will be. We are a Union. That’s different. A Union, by definition, is the coming together of many different things, but the different things do not lose their unique characteristics in the process. In contrast, a Uniformity is when different things lose their individuality and become absorbed into one uniform thing. These United States are a Union, not a Uniformity.
That’s important, because we’ve got to change our perspective, you see. We’ve got to change our point of view. The federal government is declining. It’s going to continue to decline indefinitely. It’s gotten too big for its own britches, has infuriated vast numbers of people in multiple states. It has created a global hegemony where more than half the world now hates us, and has amassed a national debt so large that if the interest rates ever go above 3% again, our government will not be able to pay the interest on the bonds, and will have to print more money to do it — causing hyperinflation. For now, we remain the world’s only superpower, but we are a declining superpower, and that won’t last much longer. All the cards are stacked against the federal government now, mostly by the doing of short-sighted federal politicians. The federal government is going to implode. The only question now is will it happen slowly or quickly.
For the sake of all of us, I think we would be better off if it happens slowly. Regardless of how it happens, however, the states will be reclaiming their states rights and sovereignty throughout the remainder of our lives, and we need to mentally prepare for that. That means we’re going to have to get used to the idea that laws will be different in other states, and we’re going to have to get comfortable with understanding that when you drive (or fly) into another state, it’s like driving (or flying) into another country. If we can accept that, the Union can survive. If not, it’s over, and it will end in bloodshed. So it would seem, the justices of this Supreme Court understand this, or at least six of them do. If they survive the wrath of the political Left, they may redirect the federal government’s crash toward a soft landing. This means the Constitution and the Union will survive intact. Again, only God knows. We shall see.
If we are to start thinking as citizens of our respective states first, before we are citizens of these United States, then that means we need to focus on state politics almost exclusively. It means that our consideration of federal politics should be secondary at best, if we even consider it at all. Remember, in the years ahead, federal politics will become less and less relevant, as state politics become more and more relevant. The day is coming, one way or another, with violence or without, that the states will govern their own affairs once more, on just about everything. The role of the federal government will be small, that is if it survives the transition period. Once again, that all depends on the tyrants in the Democrat Blue States, whether or not they will be able to accept not being able to use the federal government to control the Republican Red States. If they can accept this, then the Union (and the federal government) may survive. If they can’t, then the Union (and the federal government) dies in an awful conflagration not seen since the civil war. The Republican Red States seem to be fine with the new arrangement of states rights and reduced federal power. It’s the Democrat Blue States that seem to be struggling with this concept.
This tantrum of tyrants, seen in Blue Democrat states right now, ought to be a final warning sign to practicing Catholics and other Christians of good will. Once these tyrants realize they can’t impose their will on Christians in other states, they will likely turn against Christians in their own states. We’ve seen a little of this with the vandalism and arson against churches. This kind of violence against Christians will only get exponentially worse in the days ahead. Getting your families out of Blue States should be every Christian husband’s priority now, whether Catholic or not.
From a Catholic perspective, states rights is a very good thing. The Catholic Church teaches the Principle of Subsidiarity…
Socialization also presents dangers. Excessive intervention by the state can threaten personal freedom and initiative. The teaching of the Church has elaborated the principle of subsidiarity, according to which “a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to co- ordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1883
In other words, political power should be widely distributed, so that smaller governments (which are more accessible to the people) have the most say in the governance of day to day life. While larger governments (which are the least accessible to the people) should have the least say in the governance of day to day life. It’s worth noting that six of the nine justices, on this current Supreme Court, are Catholic. As Catholics ourselves, we should echo the spirit of their recent rulings and seek to restore power to the states. That means contacting your STATE congressmen, and telling them you want just that — more power to the states. It means contacting your STATE congressmen, and telling them to nullify federal law whenever it seems unjust. It means getting informed on state politics, keeping close contact with your state representative, and even touring your state capital building. We’re going to need a lot more of this, in the years ahead, if we want to save America. Because ultimately, no matter what happens or how this eventually goes down, saving these United States of America means saving your own state first.
Shane Schaetzel is an author of Catholic books and an Evangelical convert to the Catholic Church through Anglicanism. His articles have been featured on LifeSiteNews, ChurchMilitant, The Remnant Newspaper, Forward in Christ, and Catholic Online. You can read Shane’s books at ShaneSchaetzel.Com
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