Karen Bracken, "Our Constitution Limits Federal Authority To 18 Enumerated Powers?""The Federal Government is the problem, not the solution." So said President Ronald Reagan. Karen Bracken is the Founder of Tennessee Citizens for State Sovereignty (TNCSS). (www.tncss.weebly.com) (www.tncss.substack.com) . TNCSS intends to be a 'watchdog' group at the state level in Tennessee, which then intends to expand state by state nationwide. TNCSS is supporting a 'Nullification Bill' now before Tennessee's legislature. Karen reminds us that our Federal Government and the Supreme Court are not the final arbiters of the Constitution. The proposed nullification bill intends to manage the overreach of the federal government. She claims the Federal Government is "out of its lane" and has overreached into too many areas, that the Constitution does not authorize their oversight of. For example, the Department of Education is not mandated to exist under our Constitution. Karen directs us to Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S.Constitution. She points to the 18 enumerated powers of the federal government. "If it's not listed there it falls to the state," she says. SHE'S RIGHT! Before "Common Core", before the Clinton Administration, education was a successful laboratory process, where states were not required to have common standards across the nation. "Federalizing education has proven to be a national disaster," she says. The money coming in to colleges from the federal government, superseded the implementation of good education standards. Federal money distracted our politicians from good education system standards, she claims. Studies show a historic drop in national reading and math scores since the adoption of national Common Core curriculum standards. She now wants to invoke nullification when such federal actions are an 'overreach'. Karen Bracken supports this notion of nullification to remove the State of Tennessee from federal oversight by the U.S. Department of Education. She claims the federal government has no Constitutional right or obligation to impose oversight in education. In this interview, education is just one focus. The concept of nullification was born from the notion that instead of taking up arms and fighting another 'civil war', we can fix federal government overreach at the state levels first. Reaching U.S. Representatives and U.S. Senators and seeking their support for this HB 0726 is essential. If Tennessee gets behind Karen Bracken and TNCSS in 2024, look for this movement to spread nationwide. Click the Image Above ☝️ to Watch the Video Now 📺~ OR ~Click the Podcast Player Play Button Below 👇 to Listen Now 🎧 Karen Bracken, "Our Constitution Limits Federal Authority To 18 Enumerated Powers?"Originally Recorded on Tuesday, January 16, 2024Season 2, Episode 230- Learn More at: GeneValentino.com- Image(s) Courtesy of: Gene ValentinoA Special Message from Gene ValentinoGene & Maureen ValentinoABOUT: GrassRoots TruthCast, created by former Escambia County, Florida Commissioner Gene Valentino, broadcasts weekly from Pensacola, Florida. Gene, an investment entrepreneur and avid aviator, is a founding member of VeriJet charter aviation and serves on the company's Board of Directors. When he's not in studio, Gene can usually be found in the skies over the Gulf of Mexico, piloting his ICON A5.Doing “the right thing” is not always easy. It’s not always thought to be wise, most profitable, or popular. Doing the right thing has more to do with “COURAGE”; forged from the principles and beliefs given to you by your parents. There’s an ole’ saying I’ve adopted, “The Politician will tell you what you want to hear. The Leader will tell you what you need to know.” And, telling you what you need to know may not be popular”. So, my Accomplishments here do not show you things I’ve walked away from. As a result, I left A LOT of money on the table. However, God is good! He rewarded me with more wealth than I can speak of with a conscience that is pure and clear. I sleep well at night. I wish for you the same!”Learn more about Gene Valentino by clicking here now. Full Episode Transcript Karen Bracken, "Our Constitution Limits Federal Authority To 18 Enumerated Powers?”Mike Lindell: Hello, I'm Mike Lindell, and I'm here to tell you about my new product from MyPillow. Towels that actually work. Watch this absorbency test. Here's another towel that we randomly went out and bought. Here's one of my towels with a nice design. I don't know if you can see this, but you could line a swimming pool with this.I mean, this is crazy. Get rid of it. Towels that actually work. What a concept. I'm interrupting this commercial to let you know you can get our six piece my towels regularly 69. 98 now only 29. 98 or you can save 25 percent on our brand new kitchen towels made with the same technology as our famous my towels.Also we have bath sheets, bath towels, washcloths, hand towels and so much more and the best part With your promo code, your entire order ships absolutely free. So go to MyPillow. com or call the number on your screen. Use that promo code to get deep discounts on all my towels. And for a limited time, your order ships absolutely free.​Gene Valentino: Hi, friends. Welcome to another episode of Gene Valentino's Grassroots Truthcast. I'm with Karen Bracken today, and she's from Bristol, Tennessee. She and her husband have been there for some time. She was a former county commissioner, ironically, just like I have. I don't know why you did it, Karen, but, uh, we're all victims of some, uh, punishment from one time to time, I guess.But more importantly, she's the founder of the National Anti UN Agenda 21 Group. She's also founder of Tennessee Against Common Core and co founder of Child Abuse in the Classroom. Very interesting topic. This woman's been around the track. She's experienced a lot of, uh, a lot of, uh, real life experiences, all for the intended purpose of trying to promote our community.And like all of us seem to do from time to time. Uh, uh. A legal challenge, uh, to the ESSA and now has organized 10. This is the one we wanna focus on. Mm-Hmm. , uh, Tennessee citizens for state sovereignty, this was a new term for me, TN, CSS, Tennessee Citizens for state sovereignty and, uh, let it not go unnoticed.She's also a mom, a grandmom, and a proud grandmom at that. So welcome Karen, for joining us here today. ThankKaren Bracken: you for invitingGene Valentino: me. Well, you know, we have so much to discuss. It's really a question of what part of the elephant, part of the elephant you want to eat first. I'd like to start with, uh, the Tennessee Citizens, uh, uh, what am I saying?Tennessee Citizens for State Sovereignty. This is a group that was founded after your term of office as county commissioner. Want to take it from the top and just explain what this group is all about?Karen Bracken: Sure. Um, well, you know, I, I think for many years, like yourself, um, I realized that the federal government is not the answer or the solution.The federal government, as Ronald Reagan would say, is the problem. Um, so, uh, I focus a lot on state legislation, and last year, as I always do, I was following very closely our state legislation, and there was one bill in particular that really caught my attention, and it was called Restoring State Sovereignty Through Nullification Act.Um, so again, I followed that bill very closely. I tried to get people in the state of Tennessee to call legislators and support that legislation, and when it did not move forward, I was very disappointed, and I contacted the sponsor of that legislation, Representative Bud Halsey, and I asked him if he was going to resubmit the bill in 2024.He said that he was, and I told him that I was going to form a of Tennessee citizens to support that legislation and do everything we can to get that bill passed in 2024. So, um, I contacted my good friend, David Vance, and asked him if he would be willing to work with me on this initiative. We've worked together in the past, and of course he agreed, and the rest is history.We, Tennessee Citizens for State Sovereignty. AndGene Valentino: the bill itself tries to focus. I've read it. Um, thank you for sending me those links. And, uh, folks, before I get into it, uh, Karen, give us, give, give us the, uh, website first and foremost, so that people can go and maybe monitor what it is we're going to try to talk about now.Karen Bracken: Okay, well, the website is T N C S S dot Weebly. It's W E E B L Y dot com. That's our website.Gene Valentino: It's um, it's very encompassing and rather attractive. Uh, I'm very Now, let's talk about the whole concept of state nullification. You and I have had a few conversations by phone. One of the things I think America needs is a unification of sorts of the states coming together under one roof.But one of the, and I think you, you and I have agreed to that in part, the, the concern I have is that when one or two or three straights try to splinter off on their own, the question Is it meritorious? Is it justified? And sometimes I would say, boy, I'm having a problem with them doing that. And then I think about Governor Abbott in Texas and his ability to protect his southern border because the federal government, which is within its authority to do so, has not done so.And as a consequence, he's felt the need to step up. And it's not a question of jurisdiction. Uh, the, the federal government should be doing that. The question is, should he have the right to intervene and really take the lead, which is where we are in, uh, January 2024 right now with, um, state, uh, law enforcement officers in Texas having to step up to do with Joe Biden and the federal government is not.I'm using that as an example. There's some issues that distinguish it from the other issues you're talking about. I get it. Am I in the right ballpark? Is that aKaren Bracken: good comparison? Yes. Yeah. I mean, sure, the federal government is supposed to protect our borders, but the governor of every state is also required to protect The citizensGene Valentino: of their state.Absolutely. And they took an oath of office to do so. Mike, my concern is that you have had, you have seen an, a bill in, in the state, uh, assembly of Tennessee, and you've seen it come forward and you've supported it. Why have you supported this nullification bill?Karen Bracken: Well, because, um, I think one of the big issues that we have as Americans is that we do not know our constitution and, um, our, or, you know, the writings of our founders, the Federalist Papers, and basically the federal government was given extremely limited powers.The states were given almost indefinite powers, and we've kind of turned the, uh, you know, the pyramid of authority upside down. Um, the federal, the federal government is not the final arbiter of the Constitution, nor is the Supreme Court. It is the states. The states created the federal government. The states gave the federal government very limited, enumerated powers, 18 of them to be exact.And everything else is the authority of the state. And, and that's been turned totally upside down over manyGene Valentino: decades. And why is that? Sometimes, uh, you and I were both county commissioners and, uh, let me ask the question by throwing a statement out first. When I was county commissioner, I could see that in the history of governance under this constitutional republic we're living in, that there were times when our five county commissioners in Escambia County, Florida, were very powerful.In fact, one would argue, uh, they were too powerful. They were dictating, they, they weren't setting, they were not only trying to set policy, they were also trying to, uh, manage operations of government, which is where they, in, Our case is where some of them got in legal trouble. On the other hand there's other periods in history in this county where the pendulum swung back the other way and you found that the administration was too powerful and they were the tail wagging the dog in effect.They were, they were minimizing the effectiveness of the elected official. and denying him or her the ability to, to come forward with good policy, but is it because it was at cross purposes with, with what was being done, uh, in government, uh, uh, in the county level by these self serving administrators or administration and staff.Your comment on that and how that relates to this bill.Karen Bracken: Well, I mean, you're, you're talking about, well, just like the states have more authority than the federal government, the state itself has more authority than the cities and the counties. The state created the cities andGene Valentino: the counties. And so probably what, what I'm getting at is there's a, there's a tendency at times in government to cause one arm of government to over, uh, manage the, uh, the entitlements that they were, that they were given or that they were authorized to, to enforce.In your case in Tennessee, Talk about how the nullification process is so important, uh, to, um, correct an over, an overreach of government. Tell me why you think this is so important.Karen Bracken: Well, because the federal government has totally moved outside of its lane. You know, they're in our backyard. They're, they're playing in a lane that they do not have the authority to play in.They've had that, they've done this for decades. Um, I believe that a lot of the reason is money. I believe that, um, you know, they use the power of the purse to control the states. You know, as soon as the states try to, uh, take their rightful authority, Uh, the first thing they say is, uh, well, we're gonna, you know, take away your federal funding.If you don't obey, we're gonna take away your federal funding, and legislators just collapse at the thoughts of, you know, losing federal funding, and it's also a lack of backbone. Uh, it's also a lack of, of education. Many of our elected officials, I don't think they've ever even read the Constitution. They don't know.Oh boy.Gene Valentino: Right. You hit the nail on the head there, boy. I'll tell ya. Um, listening to some of them, um, comment at the microphone, uh, in, in, in cross purposes against the very laws they're supposed to be upholding. Start with the legislation that's sponsored and ready to go with, um, tell them, talk about the five different pathways to invoke nullification and what that means in Tennessee.Right,Karen Bracken: I'll grab the bill. Yeah, there, the legislation has, um, five different pathways. Okay, it is not legalizing nullification because nullification is already legal. Um, it is a right and, um, the bill has five different pathways in which to invoke nullification when the federal government steps outside of its lane, which it does most of the time.Um, the governor. Can, um, issue an executive order of nullification, members of the state assembly can issue, um, a bill of nullification, the judges in the state of Tennessee, uh, 10, combination of 10 cities or counties, or a petition of 2, 000 voters. They're, they're the five different ways. NowGene Valentino: the, what would be nullified?It would be something from the federal level that the citizens of Tennessee feel are, are overreaching or, or just not within the, the bailiwick of authority of the feds. Is that correct? Yeah, IKaren Bracken: mean, if you look at different things like mandating education, education, the federal government has no authority over education and look at where they are with the Department of Education.Totally unconstitutional. Yeah. Um, so we could always. Nullify any mandates that come down regarding education. Uh, marriage. The federal government, the Supreme Court, has no authority over marriage. Um, you know, so basically anything that goes outside, if you look at Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, that 18 enumerated powers. Anything that is not listed there belongs to the state.