"State sovereignty"... or nullification?

Most of the red states, including Texas, are working on legislation upholding the right to declare federal legislation as unconstitutional.

They're basing this claim upon the Tenth Amendment, which says that if a power isn't listed in the Constitution or specifically denied to the states by the Constitution, then the federal government doesn't have it- the states or the people retain it.

Although those sponsoring this legislation claim it's in response to the federal stimulus spending package, I can't help thinking about all the other legislation which could fall under this broad brush- anti-discrimination laws being right at the top of the list.

Reading the above article, though, something clicked in my head that didn't when I first heard about the version of the bill in Texas. This isn't the first time this has been tried.

The first time was in 1798, the second in 1833.

It's called nullification.

And it's not merely unconstitutional, but it was one of the major steps on the road to civil war.

And we're already hearing murmurs from the not-so-far-right about secessionist movements- not flaky ones like the "Republic of Texas" or the Alaskan Independence Party, but serious secession movements involving actual elected state legislatures. "Secession" was an option on one poll on the forums for Sean Hannity's website a couple weeks back on their preferred method of violent revolution against Obama (the other two options were "military coup" and "assassination").

And it's the old Confederacy (plus states made from Confederate-leaning territories like Oklahoma and Arizona) leading the way, as ever... led by Republican leaders who are, for the most part, political and occasionally literal descendants of the people who fought against racial integration... and who led the South into rebellion to defend race-based slavery.

I have no intention of ever moving north of the Ohio River, but the way things might be headed, maybe I should start pricing Ryder truck rentals...

"State sovereignty"... or nullification?

Most of the red states, including Texas, are working on legislation upholding the right to declare federal legislation as unconstitutional.

They're basing this claim upon the Tenth Amendment, which says that if a power isn't listed in the Constitution or specifically denied to the states by the Constitution, then the federal government doesn't have it- the states or the people retain it.

Although those sponsoring this legislation claim it's in response to the federal stimulus spending package, I can't help thinking about all the other legislation which could fall under this broad brush- anti-discrimination laws being right at the top of the list.

Reading the above article, though, something clicked in my head that didn't when I first heard about the version of the bill in Texas. This isn't the first time this has been tried.

The first time was in 1798, the second in 1833.

It's called nullification.

And it's not merely unconstitutional, but it was one of the major steps on the road to civil war.

And we're already hearing murmurs from the not-so-far-right about secessionist movements- not flaky ones like the "Republic of Texas" or the Alaskan Independence Party, but serious secession movements involving actual elected state legislatures. "Secession" was an option on one poll on the forums for Sean Hannity's website a couple weeks back on their preferred method of violent revolution against Obama (the other two options were "military coup" and "assassination").

And it's the old Confederacy (plus states made from Confederate-leaning territories like Oklahoma and Arizona) leading the way, as ever... led by Republican leaders who are, for the most part, political and occasionally literal descendants of the people who fought against racial integration... and who led the South into rebellion to defend race-based slavery.

I have no intention of ever moving north of the Ohio River, but the way things might be headed, maybe I should start pricing Ryder truck rentals...