With a stolen election, stolen culture, stolen courts and stolen dreams, many Americans are realizing that rule by the Left, absolutely corrupt even without absolute power, is unthinkable. Talk of secession, something continually entertained in various states throughout history, is again in the air. The problem is that for the most part, we’ve been supinely submissive in the face of burgeoning leftist tyranny. So it would help if there were something between secession and our current slouching toward servitude. And there is.

Too many conservatives are also waxing defeatist, saying “The republic is dead; our freedoms are gone.” And, yes, if we continue operating inside the box and being “conservative” — as in status-quo oriented — we can kiss our (remaining) liberties goodbye. But the Left isn’t constrained by any box, except what’s physically and politically possible; it doesn’t abide by rules, laws, social codes or conventions except when convenient. So why should we remain in any box except that which is divinely ordained?

Embracing Mao’s sentiment that “[p]olitical power grows out of the barrel of a gun,” the Left trades in violence, violence done to political opponents and to our culture, history, heroes, Constitution and just liberties. Now having seized power in government’s executive and legislative branches via the violence of electoral theft, the Left aims to use that power to become autocratic. As to how we should respond, remember:

Only power negates power.

The Left has been able to steal a national election (and some down-ballot seats, no doubt) via massive vote fraud in, largely, a handful of big Democrat-run cities. Yet despite all the electoral theft, President Trump still won half the states, some by wide margins. It is these states where power should be exercised.

The power I reference is what Thomas Jefferson called the “rightful remedy” for all federal usurpation of states’ domain: nullification. This is the process whereby authorities simply ignore federal dictates, whether handed down by Congress, a bureaucracy or the courts.

There’s nothing unprecedented about nullification. Leftists engage in it continually. For example, their localities often ignore federal drug or immigration laws, and more than a score of states nullified the REAL ID Act of 2005.

Only, leftists don’t call it “nullification” — they just do it. In contrast, conservatives busy themselves conserving the status quo even though it’s leftist-born and generally abide by even unconstitutional federal laws, mandates and court rulings because “this is the way things are done.”

This said, we have seen some pushback, with county sheriffs in recent times refusing to enforce irrational China virus restrictions and some opposition to anti-Second Amendment proposals. But this effort must become widespread and organized — “Nullification!” must become a rallying cry.

To this end, we need a nullification movement. When state officials, from governor to assemblymen and senators, run for office, the first and last question must be: Will you vow to nullify all unjust federal dictates? If they hem and haw at all, they must be immediately disqualified.

In addition, nullification-disposed states should make a compact with one another so that we can enjoy the strength numbers bring.

In reality, nullification (which I’ve been advocating for years) should have been pursued long ago; the federal government has, after all, been trampling states’ powers for at least the better part of a century, and an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But that being water under the bridge, we now require a ton of cure.

The cure of nullification is the obvious next step for anyone serious about combating the burgeoning leftist tyranny. We’ve no other recourse. “As Jefferson warned, if the federal government is allowed to hold a monopoly on determining the extent of its own powers, we have no right to be surprised when it keeps discovering new ones,” wrote author Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

Under this scenario, the federal government “will continue to grow – regardless of elections, the separation of powers, and other much-touted limits on government power,” he continued.

That is reality. So is this: Reasoned argumentation only works with those who’ll yield to reason (the Left won’t). Constitutional constraints only matter to those who respect laws and national contracts (the Left doesn’t). Appealing to courts only bears fruit when judges have a sense of justice and duty and the guts to act rightly even when pariah status results (most don’t). Making this more tragically comical still is that when we seek redress for federal tyranny, we expect relief from the federal government’s own judicial branch!

This didn’t help us with the 2020 election, which the Left got away with stealing. Moreover, it knows it can not only replicate the theft in the future but can expand it; thus have the Democrats introduced a bill taking mail-in voting nationwide. Perhaps they can pass it, too.

Then the states can just pass on it. “Pound sand” would be my response.

The Democrats can hobble border enforcement so that they can further destabilize our country and import more future voters — and Texas can secure its border itself. Let the left-wing, black-robed lawyers issue their contrary “opinions,” as we know they will. My response would be a paraphrase of the paraphrase of Andrew Jackson: “The judges have made their decision. Now let them enforce it.”

Why, states can even consider deporting illegal aliens within their borders and then say they’re just doing the job the feds won’t do (or maybe “deport” them to liberal states and do the latter the favor of enhancing their diversity. It’s called a one-way bus trip and giving people what they voted for).

In other words, I’d even consider assuming certain federal powers just as the feds have stolen states’ powers. “What of the Constitution?” you ask? “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people,” wrote John Adams in 1798. “It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Leftists are the “other.” They also have wholly trampled the Constitution, the “contract” Americans have with one another. And when a party consistently violates a contract to benefit itself at the expense of other contractees, and courts provide no remedy because they’re complicit in the con, the contract is voided.

Leftists have made their intentions crystal clear, calling for 9/11-like “truth commissions,” blacklists and the persecution of Trump supporters. They’re also successfully “cancelling” opponents as they destroy careers, reputations and lives. For how long will we insist on abiding by Queensberry rules while they proceed no-holds-barred?

Painting with a broad brush, conservatives are principle-oriented and, projecting as man will, don’t fully appreciate that the Left is power-oriented. If we’d handled the Soviets during the Cold War as we do our Left, with NATO (no action, talk only), we’d have been singing “The Internationale.”

Only power negates power, and our choice is simple: Accept that and nullify tyranny — or go gentle into that good night.

Contact Selwyn Duke, follow him on Gab or Parler (preferably) or Twitter, or log on to SelwynDuke.com.