A change in the voting system would allow principled advocates(instead of the usual cynical pols) of state sovereignty to create a presence in state government. Electing one house of the state legislature by statewide Proportional Representation would create a permanent bloc of pro-Tenth Amendment legislators. Incredibly, when you actually have elected officials the general public takes you more seriously and even the MSM can’t entirely dismiss you.
http://www.proportional-representation.org/

You can be certain that almost all the incumbent politicians are simply posturing on this issue and looking for a chance to back down.

States like Montana that allow constitutional amendments through initiative and referendum can bypass the politicians and enact reforms like PR and Range Voting.
http://rangevoting.org/Duverger.html

What on earth is that supposed to mean? What I do on Election day has no impact?

What – my vote and the influence I may have on the votes of others around me, doesn’t count?

I live in Florida. Do you recall how many votes separated Gore from Bush in 2000?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/good-
magazine/vermont-most-likely-to-s_b_84820.html

I guess it’s jist when sum o’ dem unedumacated rednecks brings it up, it becomes a concern.

Sure there is plenty of hypocrisy all around. But Republicans transforming themselves into big government Democrats AFTER they got power is one of the main reasons if not the primary reason they are OUT of power now, and why people like Gingrich of Contract with America fame, are now widely distrusted by conservatives, and why Republican politicians get booed at Tea Parties.

If you ‘Tarians would stop lumping together conservatives who usually end up holding their noses and voting for the Republican candidate because the only (viable, as in, can actually win) alternative is the Euro-Socialist Party candidate, with the Republican Party itself, you’d make some big strides in building alliances.

The same holds true for the Republicans. Remember the Contract with America? How libertarian did they sound with that? But what happened when they gained the levers of Power? They didn’t seem so libertarian anymore! (and they sounded less libertarian in each congress).

I think there is another Machiavellian philosophy both the Left and the Right share: “The ends justify the means.” It does not matter if the means are the courts, the ballot box, or the congress as long as their goals are accomplished.

I guess I singled out the Left because I finished reading several Left wing blogs such as the Huffington Post on the whole secession issue. In their view it seems that only racist rednecks support secession and that the only government that counts is the federal government. Hell, if anything they would prefer the U.S. become part of a one world government because our federal government isn’t BIG enough!

“Dissent is the Highest form of Patriotism!”

I agree that nothing was “settled” about a state’s right to succeed after the Civil War. Instead, it was truly the beginning of the end of state sovereignty. While I question Governor Perry’s motives, I sincerely hope that Yertle is right and we have a solid ally in him.

It seems to me it’s mainly right-wing conservatives that are complaining about courts upholding marriage rights and asserting that the issue should be settled by “the will of the people” and democracy.

A more accurate statement is that most people (left or right) support majority rule whenever they’re part of the majority. Conversely, most people sound remarkably like libertarians whenever they’re in the minority.