The plan? It’s crazy, and risky. So was the iPhone. Attack the Achilles heel of the NSA. Water.

Shane Trejo, Tenth Amendment Center national campaign  director of the #NullifyNSA campaign, provided us with this exclusive interview:

The systemic problem of corruption within the federal government seems like an unstoppable juggernaut.  It doesn’t matter which major party is in power, things just keep getting worse.

I think this has been pretty damaging beyond the government policies.  Many people seem to have been inflicted with scandal fatigue because of the endless litany of attacks on our rights.

Meanwhile, the Fed keeps inflating, the debt continues to go up, and accountability is nowhere to be seen.

Worse, I get the impression that the politicians and bureaucrats responsible for our current state of affairs keep getting bonuses, praise, or increases in funding.

This is best evidenced by the NSA scandal. That agency has been shown to be, by sheer volume, the greatest violator of rights on the planet. What’s been the result?  Business as usual. If anything, they’re intent on escalating their program.

It’s easy to get discouraged because it doesn’t seem like anything can be done. People get angry. They call their representatives, they hold protests and the direction of the country never changes.

Reps. Justin Amash and John Conyers led a bi-partisan effort in the House of Representatives to defund the NSA’s illegal spying operation earlier this year. It was a valiant effort, but it fell short, like virtually every effort to limit federal power. 

Simply put, the federal government simply cannot be counted on to regulate itself.

That does not mean reform is impossible. We just have to stop trying the same failed ideas over and over again. Sun Tzu recognized this when he wrote, “He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot will be victorious.” Fighting on their turf – Washington DC, that is – is a battle that cannot be won.

On the other hand, following the advice of Founders like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, and modern libertarian thinkers like Tom Woods and Andrew Napolitano, state-level resistance can be a very effective way to thwart the efforts of the NSA.

Under what is known as the ‘anti-commandeering doctrine,’ the federal government cannot force the states to carry out federal programs – or even help the feds do so. 

While there are a number of Supreme Court cases backing this up, the most well-known one is the 1997 Printz case.  That’s the one where Sheriffs Mack and Printz sued the Clinton administration about being required to carry out the federal gun control scheme known as the Brady Act.  They won.

This is how we fight back: Putting this into play against the NSA means passing the 4^th Amendment Protection Act in states around the country (model legislation here)

The Act bans the state from assisting the NSA or providing any material support. 

For example, in Utah, where the new data center is coming on line, the NSA computers there require a stunning 1.7 million gallons of water per day to keep from overheating. They are already having problems with metldowns at the massive facility, and the water to cool it is being provided by the State of Utah.

Under the 4^th Amendment Protection Act, Utah would be banned from doing this. No water = no NSA data center (emphasis added).

But it’s not just Utah.  There are similar facilities in Texas, Washington, Colorado, Hawaii, Tennessee, Georgia, and West Virginia.   There’s 166 Universities around the country that have partnered with NSA as research centers.  And local law enforcement has a very symbiotic relationship with warrantless data collected by the NSA.  It’s being passed down to locals through the DEA’s Special Operations Division – and back upstream through Fusion Centers.

Passage of the 4^th Amendment Protection Act would attack NSA’s needs and spying capabilities at all these strategic points, and more.

We asked if it can work:

Absolutely, 20+ states are slowly, but surely, putting nails in the coffin of federal marijuana prohibition.  Other states are taking the same path with industrial hemp production. 

In the 1850’s, Northern States were so effective using legislation like this against the Fugitive Slave Act that South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia and Texas all complained about it as nullification when issuing statements outlining their reasons for leaving the Union.

The 4th Amendment Protection Act is just the first step of a comprehensive plan to stop the NSA’s mass-spying program.  At OffNow.org, we’re building a strong coalition that crosses traditional political lines. 

From the Tenth Amendment Center and the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, to Antiwar.com, DownsizeDC, and Revolution Truth, we’re focusing on a single goal. Starting today, we’re setting aside differences to push back against the NSA.  Working together, we can turn it off (emphasis added).

Boldin tells us in an exclusive interview:

We’re not really trying to convince people that the NSA’s mass surveillance program is wrong. There are millions of people around the world who already agree with this. We are, however, working to show people what to do about it. The solution, as James Madison and Thomas Jefferson advised, starts in the states.

The NSA relies on your state in many ways. Whether it’s information sharing with local law enforcement, partnerships with 166 universities to do research and recruiting for the NSA, or states like Utah providing the water to the NSA data center to keep it operational, passage of the state-level 4th Amendment Protection Act would turn that cooperation off.

Rosa Parks showed the world the power of saying “No”, and now perhaps it is time the world harness such power. The Tenth Amendment Center is a national think tank focused on nullifying unconstitutional laws from within the states.

Follow Michael Lotfi On Twitter: @MichaelLotfi & Don’t Forget To Tweet: #NullifyNSA