It’s safe to say that the U.S. presidential election was the single most anticipated event in the country — and possibly the world — this year. The election campaign itself was riveting, featuring politically motivated criminal prosecutions, the abrupt replacement of the Democratic Party candidate, two attempted assassinations, and much more. And it culminated in Donald Trump’s return as U.S. president. Four turbulent years after Trump was ousted in a rigged election in which Deep State bureaucrats, Big Tech, and the media worked together to defeat him, he is back — and in a prime position to advance his “Make America Great Again” agenda.

However, the presidential election was only one of many elections on November 5. In addition to the races for U.S. House and Senate, voters decided the outcomes of most state legislatures, several governorships, and dozens of state ballot measures, among others. Although many Americans have been led to view the presidency as an all-powerful office, under the American form of government, the down-ballot elections are far more consequential for determining our nation’s trajectory, and have a much greater impact on people’s everyday lives.

The Founding Fathers designed a government with robust checks and balances — both within the federal government and between the federal and state governments. In The Federalist, No. 51, James Madison noted that under the Constitution, the federal government is divided “into distinct and separate departments” in order to “oblige it to control itself,” and the United States is “divided between two distinct governments” — the federal government and the states. This system, Madison noted, provides “a double security … to the rights of the people.” Congress and the states must reclaim the constitutional authority that they have lost over the last century.

What’s next for America? Although the elections have passed, the fight to protect our Constitution, national sovereignty, and God-given rights is far from over. Although the election results provide additional hope that we can keep our Republic, the hard — but essential — work of creating an informed electorate and influencing elected officials to act in accordance with the Constitution must continue.

Trump Returns

Americans fixated on the presidential race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, who abruptly replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate in July after the latter’s cognitive decline became too obvious to deny. Trump won decisively, winning all seven swing states and receiving 312 electoral votes to Harris’ 226. He also won the popular vote, the first time in 20 years a Republican nominee has done so.

Trump made significant gains across the country. Every state and the vast majority of counties swung in his direction compared to the 2020 election. For example, Texas, which Democrats have spent years trying to turn blue, swung more than eight points toward Trump, and Florida solidified its increasingly Republican tilt. Trump even performed well in deep-blue states, obtaining the best Republican performance in New Jersey since 1992, and in Illinois and New York since 1988. Trump performed particularly well among Hispanics, with Hispanic-majority counties swinging an average of 13.3 points toward him, according to a New York Times report. For example, Trump swept Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, historically a solidly Democratic region. He won Starr County, Texas, the most Hispanic county in the United States (97 percent of its residents are Hispanic), with 58 percent of the vote; this was the first time it voted for a Republican presidential nominee since 1892. In a country and an era so divided, Trump performed indisputably well.

The decisive results give Trump momentum to implement his America First agenda. Among key pledges, he has promised to reverse the Biden administration’s open-border policies, restart construction of the border wall, and carry out mass deportations of illegal aliens. His immigration-related appointments, particularly Tom Homan as border czar and Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff for policy, have established records of strongly opposing mass migration. Trump can do much on immigration without Congress, including slashing refugee admissions, building additional border wall, tightening border enforcement via programs such as Remain in Mexico, and empowering Immigration and Customs Enforcement to increase migrant arrests and deportations. However, all these executive actions could be quickly reversed by a future administration, and Trump’s ability to massively ramp up deportations is limited without additional personnel and resources. He will need congressional legislation to implement more lasting reforms.

Four more years: Donald Trump faced intense opposition from the Establishment to his 2024 reelection bid as U.S. president — yet he beat the odds. His decisive victory gives him momentum to advance the America First agenda that he campaigned on. (AP Images)

Trump will shift U.S. foreign policy to prioritize national interests, but it isn’t clear how far he’ll go. During his first term, he withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; and initiated U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO). Trump is expected to repeat these actions. However, he has been silent on full UN withdrawal, and indicated he won’t try to leave NATO, a UN subsidiary. Additionally, many of Trump’s foreign-policy picks have neocon leanings. According to The New American’s Freedom Index, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), nominee for secretary of state; U.S. Representative Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), appointee for national security advisor; and Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, generally support foreign entanglements. Nonetheless, the incoming administration is set to be the most skeptical of foreign entanglements in decades.

On the size and scope of government, Trump has already made encouraging moves. For example, he has appointed Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which will recommend cutting federal bureaucracy, spending, and regulations. Musk previously advocated cutting the federal budget by at least $2 trillion. Trump also plans to “clean out the Deep State” and “end the ongoing weaponization of the justice system,” and his nominations indicate he is serious. He will also prioritize extending and expanding his 2017 tax cuts, and has even floated abolishing income taxes and replacing them with tariffs. Trump will need congressional legislation to cut taxes and abolish federal agencies, and it isn’t likely that Congress will agree to fully abolish income taxes, but he has considerable leeway to rein in the administrative state and cut regulations.

Trump has threatened to massively raise tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and other countries. While he is expected to raise tariffs as president, this may partially be a negotiating stance that’s already bearing fruit: In the days following the election, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suggested purchasing more U.S. liquefied natural gas to avoid tariffs. Trump also has pledged to reinvigorate domestic energy production, particularly oil and gas drilling, and reverse Biden’s radical “net zero” policies.

Not all of Trump’s proposals uphold America’s founding principles. For example, in his “Free Speech Policy Initiative,” Trump promised multiple actions to combat censorship. While some, such as ending federal funding of nonprofit organizations that support censorship, uphold constitutional principles, others, such as asking Congress to pass a “digital bill of rights,” would merely increase unconstitutional federal interference in the private sector. Trump has also voiced support for congressional term limits, which would fail to meaningfully rein in federal overreach. In fact, they would push out constitutionalist congressmen along with Establishment members. And if Congress fails to pass a term-limits amendment, Trump’s advocacy could encourage state legislatures to apply for a dangerous federal constitutional convention.

Meanwhile, Trump has promised “to invoke the six-year renegotiation provision of the USMCA [United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement]” to improve it. However, the USMCA, which originally went into effect during Trump’s first term and builds upon the North American Free Trade Agreement, threatens U.S. sovereignty. Trump would be better served abandoning it altogether. These positions illustrate that while Trump’s proposals may be well-intentioned, they don’t always align with constitutional principles, and some would create new problems in an effort to solve existing ones.

Americans should vigilantly monitor the policies the Trump administration promotes and implements. In his victory speech on election night, Trump declared, “We’re going to fix everything about our country, and we’ve made history for a reason tonight.” How he follows through will determine the direction our country takes.

Congress Is Key

In order to implement much of his agenda, Trump will need a supportive Congress. On issues ranging from taxes and spending to foreign policy, he can do relatively little without congressional legislation. The Founding Fathers intentionally designed our system this way; Article I, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution unequivocally declares, “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States.” Although Congress has unconstitutionally ceded much of its power to the Executive Branch over the last century, the Constitution is clear, and Congress has a clear role to play in Trump’s second term.

Republicans won control of the U.S. Senate and narrowly held on to the U.S. House of Representatives this year, boosting Trump’s ability to enact aspects of his agenda. Republican control of the Senate is also key to confirming Trump’s judicial nominees. If he continues his first-term policy of nominating originalist judges, this will prove decisive in impeding leftist judicial activism.

Although most Americans focus on the political-party affiliation of their congressmen, it is far more important whether they follow the Constitution. In fact, most have poor constitutional adherence, as tracked by The New American’s Freedom Index. However, in recent years, there has been a small but growing cadre of representatives and senators who consistently follow the Constitution — and they performed well in the elections. For example, representatives with near-perfect Freedom Index scores handily won reelection, including Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), and Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.).

In some races, victory was far from guaranteed, but the constitutionalist candidates pulled through. For example, Representative Lauren Boebert’s (R-Colo.) reelection appeared highly in doubt earlier this year amid personal issues and a competitive congressional district. However, she was reelected, albeit in a more conservative district. Additionally, Representative Scott Perry (R-Pa.), a former Freedom Caucus chairman with a respectable 81-percent Freedom Index score, narrowly eked out a win in Pennsylvania’s 10th District; his race had been rated a “toss-up.”

This constitutionalist cadre also appears set to grow. For example, former Michigan state Senator Tom Barrett, who received a TNA Legislative Scorecard rating of 100 percent, was elected to the House in Michigan’s 7th District, while Freedom Caucus-endorsed candidates Nick Begich III (R-Alaska), Brandon Gill (R-Texas), and Bob Onder (R-Mo.) also won seats, replacing either Democrats or Establishment Republicans.

Not every constitutionalist candidate won election though. For example, former U.S. Representative Yvette Herrell (R-N.M.), who had a 92-percent Freedom Index score, failed to make a comeback in the House. Additionally, Representative Bob Good (R-Va.), who holds an impressive 99-percent Freedom Index score, lost his primary after Trump endorsed his opponent. Meanwhile, the House and Senate GOP leadership will continue to be composed of Establishment politicians (incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota holds a 56-percent lifetime Freedom Index score). Overall, however, constitutionalists made gains, particularly in the House — and because of the narrow partisan split in both chambers, they appear likely to wield a disproportionately high level of influence in the next Congress.

How will congressional Republicans use their new majorities? As noted above, the Senate will focus on confirming Trump’s judicial nominees. Additionally, Congress will prioritize extending and expanding Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which expire next year, and may repeal parts of Biden’s misnamed 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Under current congressional rules, all this can be done with a simple majority in the Senate. Congress will also seek to reinforce Trump’s immigration actions by increasing funding. However, its ability to act on this issue without facing the Senate filibuster is limited.

Federal spending will be a major issue in the next Congress. With a trifecta in Washington, Republicans will have greater leverage in spending negotiations, and the Freedom Caucus will push to reduce spending. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has reportedly said the House won’t pass additional Ukraine funding. However, GOP appropriations subcommittee chairmen have previously resisted attempts to modestly cut funding, and Republican leadership has continued ramming through omnibus and continuing-appropriations bills, despite repeated promises to the contrary. Current federal spending is severely bloated, and the vast majority of it is unconstitutional. Congress should take this opportunity to advance genuine spending reductions, as well as abolish unconstitutional agencies such as the Department of Education.

Other opportunities exist. With a president and a historically large number of congressmen espousing an America First philosophy, next year will present the best opportunity yet to get the United States out of the UN and other entangling alliances. Progress toward this goal already exists. In the outgoing 118th Congress, Representative Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced the Disengaging Entirely From the United Nations Debacle (DEFUND) Act, which would fully withdraw the United States from the UN. This was the first time UN-withdrawal legislation had been introduced in both the House and Senate. Every sponsor and cosponsor — except Senator Mike Braun (R-Ind.), who was elected governor of Indiana — has been reelected, and can advance similar legislation in the incoming Congress.

Constitutionalist cadre: Although long a rare species, there now exists an increasingly influential group of congressmen who consistently vote according to the Constitution, including Representative Chip Roy (R-Texas). Their number will likely grow when the incoming Congress convenes in January. (AP Images)

Another opportunity is auditing and ultimately abolishing the Federal Reserve. Inflation is at the top of most Americans’ minds, and the Federal Reserve is one of its primary causes due to its ability to devalue the U.S. dollar. In the outgoing Congress, legislation to audit the Federal Reserve (the Federal Reserve Transparency Act) and abolish it entirely (the Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act) was introduced in the House and Senate. Furthermore, in November 2023, the U.S. Senate narrowly defeated (in a 46-51 vote) an effort to audit the Fed. Next year, Congress will have a better opportunity to advance these key measures.

Will Congress take advantage of these opportunities? There’s no guarantee it will. In 2017, as Trump began his first term, Republicans also held majorities in Congress. However, despite passing tax cuts, Congress failed to repeal ObamaCare, reduce spending, abolish federal agencies, or advance UN-withdrawal legislation. In fact, Congress actually increased spending. Americans must not let this happen again. In a post on X, Representative Massie declared, “With MAJORITIES in the House and the Senate, we should have at least a dozen bills to shrink government overreach on [Trump’s] desk awaiting his signature by the first day of his term.” Americans should press their representatives and senators to follow suit and advance limited-government policies that uphold the Constitution.

State Government

Although most Americans focus on elections for president and Congress, state elections are just as important, if not more so. State government has a major impact on people’s everyday lives, including on issues such as property rights, abortion, law enforcement, and election integrity. The Founding Fathers designed a limited federal government, and intended the states to retain the vast majority of powers. In The Federalist, No. 45, Madison noted that the federal government’s constitutional powers are “few and defined,” while the states’ retained powers are “numerous and indefinite.” The 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution extinguishes any ambiguity by declaring, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Accordingly, it’s important to ensure that our state officials uphold America’s founding principles and work to safeguard state sovereignty from federal usurpations.

Overall, Republicans performed well in state elections. In most state legislative races, they either held steady or made gains. Republicans won control of the Michigan House, and tied with Democrats in the Minnesota House. They cemented their newfound dominance in Florida, maintaining supermajorities in the state Legislature. Republicans also expanded their majorities on the supreme courts of North Carolina and Ohio. And in California, George Soros-supported Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, who had implemented far-left crime policies, lost his reelection bid to Nathan Hochman, who ran on a more tough-on-crime platform. However, Republicans notably failed to gain North Carolina’s governorship, as GOP nominee Mark Robinson lost to Democrat Josh Stein by more than 14 points.

Republicans performed particularly strongly down-ballot in Texas, impeding Democrats’ efforts to make inroads in the state. In addition to U.S. Senator Ted Cruz’s comfortable nine-point victory, Republicans swept all state-level and many local races, expanding their legislative majorities and maintaining their hold on the state judiciary. Notably, Supreme Court Justice John Devine, an outspoken constitutionalist, won reelection despite Democratic and Establishment Republican attempts to unseat him. Additionally, the Rio Grande Valley’s red shift extended to the state level, as Republican Adam Hinojosa won election to the Texas Senate’s 27th District, becoming the first Republican state senator to represent any part of the region since 1874.

In some states, the election outcomes extended deeper than mere political-party affiliation, as constitutionalists made historic gains. Most prominently, the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which advocates limited government and constitutional adherence, gained a majority in the state House, with about 34 members in the 62-seat chamber. Most of these gains were made in the August primary elections, when multiple Freedom Caucus-endorsed candidates defeated Establishment-backed Republicans. Additionally, Freedom Caucus-oriented members won a majority in the Wyoming Senate, likely paving the way for more liberty-minded legislation next year.

Not every competitive election saw constitutionalist victories, though. For example, U.S. Representative Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), who holds a 93-percent Freedom Index score, narrowly lost his race for state attorney general. Additionally, the Left flipped a seat on Kentucky’s Supreme Court, a setback for judicial restraint.

As state legislatures convene next year, there are both opportunities and risks. For example, many legislatures will have opportunities to enforce the U.S. Constitution by refusing to follow (i.e., nullifying) unconstitutional federal acts. Article VI of the Constitution declares that state legislators, executive officials, and judges “shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution.” They have a duty to reject laws that violate it. Multiple states have recently enacted robust nullification legislation, such as Missouri’s 2021 Second Amendment Preservation Act, which nullifies a wide range of federal gun-control laws, and Utah’s 2024 Utah Constitutional Sovereignty Act, which created a formal process for rejecting unconstitutional federal acts. Meanwhile, strong “state sovereignty” bills have been introduced in Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming. Legislators and other state officials should follow their oaths by nullifying unconstitutional federal laws.

Similarly, states can push back against the United Nations. In the last two years, three states — Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Tennessee — have enacted legislation doing just that. The former two states’ laws declare that the UN, WHO, and World Economic Forum “shall have no jurisdiction” in their respective states; while the latter’s prohibits state or local government entities from implementing UN programs such as Agenda 2030. Legislators should build upon these efforts by enacting similar legislation that protects individual and property rights from the UN and UN-inspired programs.

Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution declares that “no State shall … make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.” Five states (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming) have taken a step toward complying with this provision by enacting legislation that declares gold and silver as legal tender. Others have enacted legislation nullifying the unconstitutional Federal Reserve, encouraging the use of precious metals as currency, and banning a potential central bank digital currency. Legislators should continue pursuing such legislation until their states fully comply with the Constitution.

Although Trump is poised to crack down on illegal immigration, states can do likewise. Since December 2023, Iowa, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas have enacted laws criminalizing illegal immigration. Other states should follow suit and eliminate all government benefits to illegal aliens, including driver’s licenses, in-state college tuition, and social welfare. And states must ensure trustworthy elections by enacting robust election-integrity legislation. Such measures include ending early and mail-in voting, abolishing automatic voter registration, and requiring paper ballots. State legislatures have so far failed to enact substantive election-integrity laws, but they should act now to secure future elections. On these and other issues, states have good opportunities to uphold constitutional principles.

On the other hand, states also risk implementing false solutions. For example, one can expect a heavy push in more than a dozen states to pass new applications for a federal constitutional convention, or Con-Con, under Article V of the U.S. Constitution. Although federal usurpations result from lack of adherence to the Constitution, a Con-Con threatens to entirely do away with the founding document and its limited-government provisions. Additionally, multiple states, most prominently Texas, will consider proposals for school vouchers and Education Savings Accounts. Although such proposals, which have seen increased momentum in recent years, may appear to be a step toward “school choice,” they would actually strengthen government control over nonpublic-school options. Multiple states have sought to deter illegal immigration by mandating E-Verify. However, E-Verify is a federal program that unconstitutionally regulates employment for all U.S. residents and is a first step toward a national ID. States must avoid false solutions, and instead pursue measures that reapply America’s founding principles.

Meanwhile, Democrat-controlled states are poised to continue implementing far-left policies. For example, California Governor Gavin Newsom has already called a special session “to protect civil rights, reproductive freedom, climate action, and immigrant families.” Other governors, including J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Maura Healey of Massachusetts, and Kathy Hochul of New York, have pledged similar action. Regardless of the situations in their states, Americans must vigilantly ensure that their officials uphold constitutional principles. While Donald Trump works to Make America Great Again — as constitutionalists hope he will — state officials should work to Make America STATES Again by nullifying federal usurpations and restoring a republican form of government at the state level.

Ballot Measures

In the elections, voters decided on 146 ballot measures in 41 states, including 57 citizen-initiated measures that bypassed the regular legislative process. The results were a mixed bag for liberty-minded Americans. Positively, eight states — Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wisconsin — voted to constitutionally prohibit non-citizens from voting in state elections. Additionally, voters rejected ranked-choice voting and jungle primaries in nearly every state where these measures appeared on the ballot. South Dakota voters overturned a state law favoring carbon-capture pipelines at the expense of property rights and local setback ordinances. And of the hundreds of local ballot measures, voters in leftist Berkeley, California — of all places — chose overwhelmingly to reject a new tax on buildings that use natural gas.

However, many ballot measures also went against U.S. founding principles. For example, of the 10 states with abortion referendums on the ballot, seven of them voted to enshrine radical pro-abortion provisions — state-sanctioned murder of preborn children — in their state constitutions, including the conservative-leaning states of Arizona, Missouri, and Montana. Additionally, Colorado voters approved a constitutionally problematic 6.5-percent tax on firearm and ammunition sales, and Washington voters rejected a measure to repeal the state’s cap-and-trade program.

These results illustrate the dangers of direct democracy. The Founding Fathers designed the United States as a constitutional republic, and repeatedly warned against democracy. For example, Madison wrote in The Federalist, No. 10, “Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.” Unlike republics, which operate under the rule of law and protect God-given rights, democracies operate under majority rule, even if the resulting decisions violate individual freedom. Statewide popular initiatives, which bypass state legislators (the people’s elected representatives) and did not even exist before 1898, are a dangerous step away from republican government and toward democracy. (To learn more about the problems of direct democracy, read the article “Restore State Government,” originally published in the October 14, 2024 issue of The New American.)

Legislators and citizens should work to repeal direct democracy and restore a republican form of government in their states. Attempts to rein in the ballot-measure process have occasionally been successful, such as a 2006 measure in Florida to raise the threshold for approving ballot measures to a 60-percent supermajority. Ironically, such reforms require a popular vote to pass, so it is essential to create an informed electorate that understands America’s founding principles.

Tyranny of the majority: Democracy is antithetical to God-given rights, and frequently leads to excessive government overreach. Colorado’s ballot measure imposing a 6.5-percent tax on firearms and ammunition serves as a recent example of this.

What’s Next: Taking Action

Now that the elections are behind us, the hardest — but most important — work begins: making sure that our elected officials implement policies that uphold U.S. founding principles. Although it’s tempting to sit back and relax after an election that largely delivered good news for liberty-minded Americans, it’s essential that we hold our officials accountable and ensure they don’t waste opportunities to enact limited-government legislation. Representative Massie emphasized this point in a post on X on November 6: “We must not squander this moment in history. The fight has just begun.”

The Montana Legislature over the last two years provides a cautionary example of the importance of not squandering opportunities. In 2022, the Republican Party gained supermajorities in both the state House and Senate, the first time it had done so since the Great Depression. The party gained enough seats to propose state constitutional amendments, or even scrap the state constitution entirely, without Democratic support. This was important, since Montana’s constitution, adopted in 1972, is basically a leftist document that enshrines multiple big-government and technocratic policies. However, largely because of a cohort of moderate Republicans, the Legislature failed to pass a single amendment, even on politically easy topics such as strengthening protections for the right to keep and bear arms. According to Kyle Schmauch, spokesman for the Senate Republican Caucus, after the November 5 elections, “nothing happened last session that took a supermajority to accomplish.” In the elections, the Republican Party lost multiple seats due to redistricting, and is now far short of a supermajority. This is what a wasted opportunity looks like.

So, what must we do? First, we must hold our elected officials accountable to the U.S. Constitution and American founding principles. There’s no guarantee that they will obey their oath “to support this Constitution”; in fact, it’s rare that legislators — of either party — do. For this reason, The New American publishes the Freedom Index and Congressional Scorecards for U.S. representatives and senators, and Legislative Scorecards for state legislators. These scorecards, available for free at TheFreedomIndex.org, rate federal and state legislators based on their adherence to constitutional principles. Print and distribute them to your fellow citizens and legislators to create an informed electorate.

In addition to creating awareness about legislators’ records, we must influence them to vote constitutionally on pending legislation. This includes regularly contacting and meeting with them to advocate for or against those bills. The John Birch Society, the parent organization of The New American, publishes legislative alerts about the most important bills — covering a wide range of topics — in both Congress and state legislatures. Visit JBS.org/alerts to view and subscribe to them. Use these alerts to easily contact your officials, and share them with your fellow citizens to get them involved.

One of the most important topics is getting the United States out of the UN. Take advantage of the rising tide of Americanism by urging your incoming U.S. representative and senators to reintroduce and enact UN-withdrawal legislation such as the DEFUND Act. The John Birch Society is already gearing up for this effort. According to JBS President Martin Ohlson, “Our opportunity to finally get out of the UN is greater than ever. In the coming months, The John Birch Society will be massively ramping up its Get US Out! campaign to pressure Congress to fully restore U.S. sovereignty.” Getting out of the UN would strike a major blow to globalism, so press Congress to act quickly.

Conservative-leaning state legislators may be tempted to put bold, limited-government legislation on the back burner, since someone on “their side” has been elected president. We must not allow this. The massive buildup of federal and state acts that violate the U.S. Constitution and contradict American founding principles did not happen overnight, and is not the result of one person or political party. Simply having a good president in office will not reverse these policies. Accordingly, urge your state legislators to intensify their efforts to nullify unconstitutional federal laws and restore a republican form of government at the state level. The John Birch Society publishes a wide array of resources to help you inform your elected officials; a highly recommended tool for state legislators is the “Make America STATES Again” reprint. This and other tools are available on ShopJBS.org.

All these actions require organization to be most effective. The John Birch Society, founded in 1958, exists to provide that organization, as well as inform people about the core threats to American freedom and independence. As Donald Trump takes office next year, and Congress and state legislatures convene, the JBS will stand at the forefront of advocating constitutional principles and holding elected officials accountable to their oaths of office. But we need your help and participation to accomplish this — we will not win if patriots sit on the sidelines. If you are motivated to take action to protect our constitutional Republic, we invite you to join our efforts. Begin by visiting JBS.org/join.