Yep, you said it well America (was ) a loosely knit Federation of Republics that over time became overlaid with a FEDERAL Overlord.
IT is the overlaying overlord which needs to be trown off.
The Republics still exist but have been depopulated and the people have been bought up with stolen handouts from the kings table.
I know Im preaching to the choir but their are spectators.
on a side not, speaking of Onion, ever check out the Onion News Network?

James Bovard: More epigrams ...

• America needs fewer laws, not more prisons.

• It is important to have a sounder distinction between democracy and thievery than simply counting votes.

• Beggaring the taxpayer is the main achievement of the welfare state. The federal tax system has turned individuals into sharecroppers of their own lives.

• The key to contemporary American political thinking is the neutering of the State – the idea that modern government has been defanged, domesticated, tamed.

• A law is simply a reflection of the momentary perception of self-interest by a majority of a legislative body.

• Politicians have sought to maximize social progress by maximizing the number of people labeled to be criminals.

• Without a realistic concept of government, political philosophy is only an exercise in moral aesthetics.